October 19, 2005
Churches find musical paths off Broadway
Couple brings international music talent to both West Senior High, church choirs
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Easing out of the fast lane and leaving their Broadway careers behind, Rick and Lynn Church have settled into Traverse City to concentrate on what's really important: Sammy, 5, and Jack, 2.
Leaving behind Christmas dinner with the Placido Domingo family, an infinity of culture in Manhattan and peaking careers, they have settled into their Elmwood Township home to parent, teach and just enjoy life in a slower lane.
"In February 2004 we moved here with two kids, two cats, two cars and a fish - in the middle of a snowstorm," recalled Rick. "Our New York friends think were out here being attacked by bears and that there's no indoor plumbing."
"We didn't stop our careers, we changed careers and because we waited late to have kids we could afford to do it," he added.
Both Michigan natives, the couple met in the 1970s as undergrads at Central Michigan University where they took all of the same classes. They reconnected and married seven years ago, joining two parallel careers: hers in performing both opera and musical theater and his as a musical director, conductor, pianist, arranger and voice teacher.
Drawn by family back to Michigan, the couple were also spurred to leave New York by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Living in midtown Manhattan, the fear of that day is indelibly etched in their minds. At a doctor's appointment midtown, Lynn caught the last subway uptown after the World Trade Center towers fell. Rick, at home with Sammy, frantically searched for information and tried to reach his wife.
The East Coast power outage at the end of the summer of 2003, which blacked out whole states when Lynn was a week from her due date with Jack, and health problems of their parents back in Michigan were the final straws.
"New York is an adult playground," said Rick. "Kids can be brought up there, it's so artistic. If it had been just us, we'd still be there."
Though they had connections at Interlochen Arts Academy, where both have been on the summer camp faculty for years, they moved here without jobs. Determined to do whatever it took - flip burgers, anything - they sold their apartment, bought a house in Michigan and soon learned how much they needed to buy snow shovels and a snow blower.
The first spring melt brought it all home to them.
"When the snow melted, there was grass instead of cement and I told Sammy, 'Yeah, we own that grass," said Rick.
Lynn, a renowned opera soprano who has performed top roles around the world, knew Mel Larimer from singing with him at Interlochen. From this, they connected with Mel's son, Russ, who is the choral director at West High School.
"Russ had been offering me a job as accompanist before we even moved here," recalled Rick, who is now accompanies three choirs at the school.
Rick spent 15 years as music director, conductor and pianist on cruise ships, two years teaching at New York University, and countless years as musical director and conductor at shows and productions in New York.
Both he and his wife's resume are thick with accomplishments on the national and international stage, each in their respective domain. She established a career as an international opera singer and then moved into musical theater, performing the role of Carlotta in "Phantom of the Opera" for a Toronto theater company.
"I love singing opera, I absolutely love it, but at my first fitting for Phantom, I tried on a $28,000 gown and I said, 'Oh, that's the difference - the budget!'" Lynn laughingly recalled.
The pair now focus on being parents while they teach private voice students both at their home and at West High School. The Churches relate how astounded they are at the caliber of talent found in the choral programs at the high schools and heap praise on both Larimer and Jeff Cobb, choral director at Central.
"They are so into the choral scene, they are both incredible though they have different styles," said Rick, who also teaches a musical theater class at West, directs the children's choir at the Central United Methodist Church and is the pianist for the annual Rotary Show. "Both are so classically oriented but they are educated in jazz and piano."
The couple are also pleased at the depth of the general arts scene in the region, another pleasant surprise that helped them wean from a New Yorker's 'center of the world' mindset.
"For Traverse City not being a large metropolitan area, there's lots of culture here," noted Lynn. "There's a symphony, a playhouse and some fantastic artists here."