I formerly did choir in high school and some of the freshman year. I loved doing it but I had other time commitments at the time that prevented me from doing this. From my attending this rehearsal, I felt like I connected more with myself and what I was doing. I heard about how much time they practiced, which is insane from how much it differs at times,  and how they chose songs. The way that each signer has an incredible range on how they can sing was actually amazing and how easy they can swap their style from one another. If I had a choice, I would watch Aaron during his performance and actually pay to see it, as the rehersal was truly amazing.

Meeting Gabor Csalog and Tony Arnold was a unique experience, but I feel like I didn’t really understand much of what they were talking about. I’m not sure whether it was because the dining room was too loud to clearly hear anything, or it was because it had been a while since I had picked up an instrument, but I had a hard time understanding any of what they were saying. There was some background on how they met each other and some talk about the pieces they were performing were written for specific singers. One good piece of advice I gleaned was the idea that no matter how good you are, there’s always someone better than you. As a mediocre violin player in my high school orchestra, I had resigned myself to this fate, but it was encouraging to hear that these professional musicians with years of experience always found that there was someone ahead of them. I also found it interesting that Tony had started relatively late in her singing career but didn’t find this a detriment; this was also inspiring.

I recently had the opportunity to have a conversation over a casual dinner with renowned musicians Gabor Csalog and Tony Arnold. To begin with, they described their extravagant yet busy livelihoods that consist of constant traveling. Also, they offered stories of their childhood and musical upbringing, explaining how they reached their level of expertise as musical artists. I chuckled when Tony Arnold mentioned that she begged for piano lessons as a child and struggled during her college years because everyone around her was so naturally talented and gifted as musicians. Arnold explained that she initially had an idea of what she wanted to do but no technical ability to support that idea. It was uplifting to consider that even an illustrious vocalist like herself felt burdened when she attended a university filled with amazing peers.

On March 14th, I had the opportunity to have dinner with a small group of talented music professionals, including Gabor Csalog and Tony Arnold. We had casual conversations about their networks within the Cornell community.

One key takeaway is that Cornell is a large institution but can be broken down into small interest groups. As long as an individual follows his/her passion, it is easy to find a group and belonging at Cornell.

Last week I had the pleasure of dining with a small party of talented music professionals, including Hungarian musician Gabor Csalog and renowned vocalist Tony Arnold, last week. It was a very casual affair, and over the course of the conversation I realized just how interwoven Cornell’s various networks are, specifically in the music department. I learned that Mr. Csalog had an uncle who worked on the Mars Rover with one of my former professors, Dr. Steven Squyres, and that Tony’s mentor’s daughter was the wife of one of the heads of the music department who was also present. I mentioned my involvement in the Chorale here on campus and got a general “ahh” of recognition for Stephen Spinelli, the conductor of that growing ensemble. The world seems so small and so full of talented and famous people here at Cornell, and I got to eat ice cream with some of them. It was a really inspiring and warm experience.