The first musical blog entry: Pat Matos-Puente '76/'77

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 00:46:50 +0000

Greetings to my fellow Holy Family musicians! I hope this blog forum can be the start of a virtual reunion--hopefully, we'll make it into a real musical reunion soon. Here's my musical life in a nutshell:

I majored in music in Wellesley College, a decision that definately got me into Medical School and certainly made my life more fun! I studied oboe with Josef Marx for the 2 summers after High School in NYC, and with Fernand Gillet in Boston (a BSO legend; he was 92 when my lessons began!). I started the Wellesley College Orchestra (still going strong) and conducted it for 2 years. In medical school, I had a violin/piano/oboe trio; at Mt Sinai, I played with the hospital orchestra and did the Bach Double concerto for oboe and violin. I found a great chamber music group in Montclair, NJ; we played Brandenbergs and Mozart concertos until we dropped! I moved to China, and later, Japan, where playing opportunities were few. I finally went back to taking lessons, having found a great teacher in Japan who had studied with Joseph Robinson. Returning to NY, I now have a woodwind quintet that meets in my home in Northport, and I play principal oboe for the Stony Brook Univ. wind ensemble., and the Northport Community band. The Stony Brook Band is playing the Overture to Candide. It's a lot harder to play this piece than it is to conduct it; I only hope I can play it without crying!!

My 16 yr old son Charlie plays string bass at St Anthony's (their orchestra has over 70 kids, in addition to concert and symphonic bands); my 13 yr old daughter Susan sings and (begrudgingly) plays the violin. My husband Jorge is not a musician but he is a great listener and my most loyal fan.

I hereby volunteer to organize a musical reunion. Send me your ideas and your where-abouts, and we'll see what comes of it.

Holy Family DHS Alumni Site

The first musical blog entry: Pat Matos-Puente '76/'77