Black History Month: Remembering Calvin O. Dash
Dear Blog Visitors: As we celebrate Black History Month, I fondly recall a man who was a huge influence in my life. I am referring to the late Dr. Calvin O. Dash, who lived from 1924-2005. Calvin Dash excelled at a time when it was often very difficult for African Americans to pursue their chosen fields. In his case, the chosen field was operatic music. Although the world could have been his stage, he chose teaching instead, and I was honored to be one of his students. Calvin received his doctorate from the Juilliard School of Music. Although he had hoped to teach at the Eastman School of Music, he instead taught magnificently at Franklin High School in Rochester, New York and later ran his own music school for many years in the Washington, DC area. I was very privileged indeed to have Dr. Dash as my high school choir director, in addition to taking private voice lessons from him and singing in his church choir while I was in college. Calvin had a very strict demeanor, because he ...