Christopher Stowens, update

When I first moved to Boston in 1976 to attend the New England Conservatory of Music, I was happy to meet a lot of composers––professional aas well as students. My teachers included William Thomas McKinley, Donald Martino, Malcom Peyton, Robert Cogan and Gunther Schuller. By our 2nd year, a group of us congealed into a group that was to be called COMPOSERS IN RED SNEAKERS. The first incarnation of this group was comprised of Robert Aldridge, Christopher Stowens, Thomas Oboe Lee, Gary Philo, Amy Reich, and me. Aldridge is the Chair of the Music Department at Montclair State University in New Jersey, Tom Lee is on the faculty of of Boston College, Amy and Gary, still married and happy, are in New York city teaching, working and composing, and I’m here at UCLA. Where Chris?

Chris, the one who made up the name COMPOSERS IN RED SNEAKERS, sent me an update on his life post-Governor Dummer (America’s oldest prep school) life and it looks like a fun one. He and his partner Sonya Nelescu, Sonya have several blogs: one, Serene Gypsies, is a travel blog, and the other, OAXACA – THE YEAR AFTER deals with Chris’s new life in Oaxaca, Mexico. Chris writes:

Sonya Melescu is an internationally acclaimed fine art and wedding photographer based in the Virgin Islands. A succesful New York fashion photographer, she has been in St. Thomas, USVI since 1994. She has won awards for her photo images and become a well known and admired wedding photographer. Her work is displayed nationally and internationally. Christopher Stowens is also internationally acclaimed, but we are not sure for what. He is a musician, composer, videographer and writer. His latest CD, Back in the Day is available on iTunes. Remember to support a starving musician today.

Chris is amassing an impressive collection of videos from his travels and life. Here is one from Oaxaca called “Dancing with Fireworks.”