Going to 布里奇沃特 really opened up a lot of doors and opportunities for me. The education at 布里奇沃特 was excellent, and the preparation we got was top-notch.
If you asked 戴夫·哈丁 about what he loves, 会有, 当然, 林恩, 他结婚57年的妻子. He also looks back fondly over a long career as a well-respected math teacher at Milton High School. 然后是古典音乐, and his favorite place to hear it: Tanglewood, a world-class outdoor venue located in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge that is the summer home of the Boston Pops and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
正是后一种激情引领了奥巴马. 哈丁, 还有他的妻子, to devote more than four decades of summers to volunteering at Tanglewood, often logging more than 100 hours per season.
The 哈丁s began volunteering as ushers in 1980. The summer gig provided complete immersion in the world of classical music – for free, no less (当然 their work as ushers counts as something). The experience must have been to their liking, for they’ve been back every summer since, 除了2020年夏天的新冠肺炎.
“When we started, we knew very little about classical music, but we learned gradually,” Mr. 哈丁说.
That learning has taken place every summer as the couple returned to the famed music shed. They became regulars that Tanglewood came to count on. And in 1984, when there was an opening, the venue hired Mr. 哈丁担任助理领班. “They were looking for someone who was there a lot, and my wife and I were there for every single concert,他说. 最终, the more physical aspects of the job became too much, 他回来了, in 2015, 给志愿者队伍引座员.
The Brockton native graduated from the city’s high school in 1958. He earned two degrees from 布里奇沃特 State and spent most of his career at Milton High, 1999年退休. 在他任职的最后十年里. 哈丁 served as the math department chair.
至于坦格伍德的关系, it was simply a byproduct of the 哈丁’s burgeoning love of classical music and the fact that, as public school teachers (林恩 哈丁 taught French and history at Randolph High School) they had summers off. 这对夫妇当时住在布伦特里, but eventually bought a second home in Egremont, 离坦格伍德不远. (They now live in Pittsfield and split their time between that Western Massachusetts city and St. 佛罗里达州圣彼得堡.)
Mr. 哈丁 has fond memories of his time at 布里奇沃特 State, where he majored in math and chemistry. “I knew I was going to have to commute and had to pay for my education myself,” he recalled. “布里奇沃特 was reasonably priced, and I had a few friends going there I could commute with.” Classmate Bob Eaton was the friend he rode and studied with back then.
The school laid the foundation for the rest of his life, Mr. 哈丁说. “Going to 布里奇沃特 really opened up a lot of doors and opportunities for me,他说. “The education at 布里奇沃特 was excellent, and the preparation we got was top-notch.”
而奥. 哈丁 listened to rock music in his student days, 他是, 在时间, drawn to the finer strains of classical. 这一切都始于许多年前, after he and his wife traveled to Boston to see a Metropolitan Opera production of Don Giovanni. “We loved it and started investigating classical music and opera. 我们很快就上钩了. I can’t imagine life without it now,他说.
Next came regular visits to see the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and eventually to summers in Western Massachusetts. At Tanglewood in 1980 during a presentation the couple attended, 然后开启, 哈利斯特德曼, asked if anyone in the crowd would like to volunteer. The 哈丁s stepped forward and have never looked back.
Their time volunteering at Tanglewood gave the couple the chance to see such classical music legends as Leonard Bernstein and Yo-Yo Ma, 在许多其他方面. No less important, through their Tanglewood connection they began making interesting friends. “一旦我们卷入坦格伍德, there were retired teachers and businessmen and lawyers, and we found that when we worked with them, 我们有很多共同点, 我们交了很多一辈子的朋友. 我们刚刚成为一个大家庭。. 哈丁说.
事实上, the couple is so much a part of the fabric of Tanglewood, they’ve even raised money to sponsor two Tanglewood Music Center fellowships.
The 哈丁s may have just wrapped up another season at Tanglewood, but they are already looking forward to next summer. 四十多年后, 田园环境的魅力, the world-class music and all the friends they’ve made still provide a powerful draw. “My wife is already talking about hitting the 50-year mark,” Mr. 哈丁说.