In fall 2022, TU’s School of Music and Montereau Retirement Community began a new partnership established to grow relationships between TU music students and the residents at Montereau. Coordinated by Montereau CEO Scott Nield and TU President Brad R. Carson, the innovative program was designed to foster intergenerational bonding and interaction, and according to all involved, has been an unprecedented success.
For the 2022-23 school year, TU sopranos Jordan Demetriades and Madyson Mitchell shared an apartment at the beautiful Montereau facility and dined regularly with the residents – all free of charge. In exchange, the students sang recitals and gave informal musical performances throughout the year. In addition, they spent many hours each month socializing, talking, playing games, and participating in other activities with the residents.
The first concert of the new year, a collaboration between the TU singers and a string quartet from the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, occurred just after Valentine’s Day. Surrounded by candlelight, the performers created an atmospheric mood perfectly suited for the program titled Love Songs from the Movies.
Other programs in the spring continued with popular musical offerings accompanied by School of Music collaborative pianist James Gregory at the keyboard: The Great American Songbook in March and On the Radio: Hits from the ’60s and ’70s in May. The spring programs concluded with sing-alongs with the residents joining in enthusiastically!
Demetriades and Mitchell were sad to leave their new Montereau friends in May. Demetriades will return to the TU campus for her senior year as a music and speech pathology double major in the fall. Mitchell is excited to move to Baltimore, where she will begin pursuing a master of music in vocal performance at the Peabody Institute of Music at Johns Hopkins University. Each expressed their deepest gratitude for the warm Montereau memories they will carry with them the rest of their lives.