The unexpected death of someone close always comes as a profound shock. So it is for us as we learned last week of the death of colleague and longtime Chestnut Hill Local classical music critic Michael Caruso. He died May 24 after a brief illness at age 77.
Caruso is remembered as a skilled reviewer who wrote from deep knowledge and experience, with equal parts passion and kindness. His death comes as a loss to many, including his family, friends, two faith communities, and members of the music community – including Settlement Music School, where he taught piano – who knew and loved him as one of their own.
Caruso started playing piano at age 6. In some ways, his musical career seemed preordained.
“We had an uncle, Frank Caruso, who was a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music,” Michael’s brother Bob said. “He was a composer and a pianist. I’m sure that’s what sparked [Michael’s] interest in piano because Uncle Frank was always playing piano. He was actually Michael’s first piano teacher.”
There was one more significant inspiration. Their mother, Angelina, was a wonderful vocalist with a beautiful voice, a soloist in her church choir.
Bob also took piano lessons from Uncle Frank. He concedes that the same bug never bit him, though he and his brother were always around music. He remembers Saturday morning radio shows from The Metropolitan Opera. “That was always on in the house every Saturday. I couldn’t get out of the house fast enough, but Michael and my mother loved to listen to it.”
Later on, Bob remembers Michael playing piano in high school performances and singing in the choir. Like many adolescent musicians, Michael was in a band in the late 1960s that played all the standards of the day, including The Beatles, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. Through it all, Bob recalls, Michael knew without question what he wanted to do with his life. “He had made his mind up early that music was the career path he was going to follow.”
Michael Caruso went on to obtain his undergraduate music degree in piano performance from the Philadelphia Musical Academy in 1971 and received his Master of Music degree in piano from the Peabody Conservatory of Music of Johns Hopkins University in 1973.
In what some might regard as an unexpected detour, Caruso went on to write from 1976 until 1986 as an entertainment editor for the Delaware County Daily Times and its sister publication, the News of Delaware County, as well as the Main Line Times.
Looking back on that career choice, Bob said Michael had concluded that “music critics and people of that sort were more in demand. It was more of a full-time job then than it is now.”
Michael might have continued in that position, Bob said, at least in a part-time capacity, but in the end, Michael had become drawn to piano teaching at the Bryn Mawr Conservatory of Music and later, Settlement Music School.
That said, Michael Caruso’s days as a journalist were far from over.
During his years in Delaware County, he had befriended then-Chestnut Hill Local theater critic Clark Groome. “He and I used to see each other at theater opening nights,” Groome recalls. At about the time Caruso decided to start teaching piano, Groome recommended that he apply to then-editor Marie Jones to take over writing classical music reviews from a departing writer. He was hired, and in 1986 he began writing for the Local. His column was titled “Noteworthy.”
“I was always thrilled that he came on board,” Groome said, “because we were friends. And he always cared about the Local and the people who were involved in the music.”
Right from the start, Caruso fit in.
“I have worked for the Local in either a part-time or full-time capacity for 44 years,” features editor Len Lear said. “For about 25 of those years I edited his copy every week, and I can say without any hesitation that he was one of the nicest people I have ever met at the Local. ...We had many enjoyable conversations about a range of issues over the years, not just classical music, and I always found him to be highly intelligent, well informed, caring and compassionate. I will miss Michael and his column very deeply.”
Added Kristin Holmes, Local deputy editor: “Michael’s column was always about more than the music. He placed works in their historical and cultural context, writing with insight about the lives of legendary composers, and the times that informed their artistry. Michael also never failed to tell the stories of the contemporary community of musicians. He showed that they were more than just performers on a concert stage.”
“As acting publisher of the Chestnut Hill Local, I want to honor the extraordinary legacy Michael Caruso leaves behind,” said Laura Lucas, board president of the Chestnut Hill Community Association, which owns the newspaper. “For four decades, he elevated our coverage with his deep knowledge of classical music and his unwavering commitment to the cultural life of this community. His writing brought warmth, accessibility, and a genuine love of music to our readers. Michael was a treasured colleague and a vital voice in our pages, and he will be deeply missed.”
Caruso’s loss is felt just as keenly in the music community.
Donald Nally, conductor of The Crossing, the Grammy-winning chamber choir, offered this remembrance.
“Michael was such a good friend to so many local ensembles. He was devout in all things: his faith, his music, his teaching, the music making of others, journalism, the Greater Chestnut Hill area. He was a welcome and wonderful presence, whether that be in his words in the Local previewing an upcoming event, in his sprightly company at concerts or in his follow-up reviews, always fair and honest. By always showing up, he helped us all, for decades. The community of The Crossing will miss him greatly.”
Pianist Marja Kaisla recalled, “I knew Michael for nearly 40 years, from the time I moved to the United States barely as an adult. I knew him first as a colleague, then as a music critic who reviewed many of my concerts as well as those of countless others. Over the years that relationship would grow into a delightful friendship.
“Michael committed himself equally to each concert he’d later review by listening carefully to musical details, immersing himself in the emotional rollercoaster of the music, and afterward writing about it in a cohesive way, including some history surrounding the composition, capturing the essence of his impressions by finding the most descriptive adjectives, and perhaps most importantly, inspiring the musicians with his consistently informative and sincere reviews. Michael was truly ‘noteworthy.’”
Shannon Cline, executive director of Piffaro: The Renaissance Band, had this to say: “He was a regular and welcome presence at Piffaro concerts – an engaged audience member who would catch you off guard with a sharp and funny observation during intermission, and an insightful and generous reviewer whose love for the music always shone through.”
Andrew Kotylo, music director of St. Paul’s Church offered the following thoughts:
Michael was a terrific supporter of the music program at St. Paul's music program and, until his illness prevented it, he never failed to attend or write a "review" of our Sunday afternoon choral services for The Local. He was an ardent Roman Catholic, had a wicked sense of humor, and had a truly unique perspective on all things musical. They really broke the mold when they made Michael. He also had a very good heart and was a loyal friend. He will be greatly missed.
And from the Philadelphia Orchestra:
The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts mourns the passing of Michael Caruso, with whom we worked over many years, and whose thoughtful coverage of our performances brought classical music to life for countless readers.
Caruso also will be remembered fondly by his Settlement Music School colleagues and students. The school’s chief executive officer, Helen Eaton, said he was “known for his wit, warmth and extraordinary love of music. He joined Settlement’s piano faculty 40 years ago, and from his second-floor studio at our Mary Louise Curtis branch, he built something rare: a teaching life measured not in years, but in generations. He taught children who grew up and brought their own children to him. He had the gift of making every student – young or old, beginner or advanced – feel welcomed, supported and capable of more than they imagined, all with so much laughter along the way. And he was so proud to share that ‘I am not one teacher for all, but a different teacher for each of my 51 students.’”
No remembrance of Caruso would be complete without a firm understanding of his faith. He was a member of Old St. Joseph’s Church in the city’s historic area, and also attended services at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill and was considered a member of that community.
Groome, a member of St. Paul’s, came to understand that facet of Caruso’s life through his writing.
“Everybody knew about his writing and commitment to music,” Groome said. “He covered everything and he did it well and he did it for a long time. He was a very interesting writer. But he always made it clear in his review of things when they were related to his religion. That was how he did it. It showed his commitment to his music and to his faith, and I thought that was rather admirable.”
Pianist Kaisla came to know and appreciate this side of Caruso as well. She knew that he was ill but “he was almost blasé about the whole situation, probably because of his strong Catholic faith. After all, his dream as a boy was to become a priest before majoring in piano performance at the Peabody Conservatory. He said he was as sure he would ‘sit by St. Peter in Heaven’ as he was about where middle C was on the keyboard.”
Another close friend, Mark Bani, director of music and organist at Old St. Joseph’s, remembers Caruso as a lector, responsible for liturgical readings during the Mass. He also was an altar server, assisting the priests.
Bani admired the piano recitals at the church that Caruso arranged with Settlement School students, and “sometimes he was part of the program, too. And it was always a joy when I would be getting ready to play a prelude or postlude or when the choir was singing at Mass. We would so frequently look down and see Michael attending. That was always a special joy because he enjoyed our music so much here.”
Caruso, he says, was an inspiring person of great conviction and wonderful character. The fervor with which he lived his life brought out the best in his friends and students.
Bani, echoing Kaisla’s comments, noted Caruso’s deep knowledge of history, particularly church history. “It was always fun to have lunch with him on a Sunday, and inevitably the conversation would get around to church history,” he said. “So, he was really knowledgeable, but he was also a guy who lived life to the fullest. He tended to bring out the best in people. He felt very deeply. Everything he did, he felt deeply and with passion.”
Because Caruso was a fighter, Bani said, everyone expected him to pull through his illness. When he didn’t, passing away on the Christian holy day of Pentecost, it came as a shock.
And yet, on the other hand, everyone knew that such a great soul had died, Bani says. Perhaps there was a sign.
“My choir is a pretty good group,” Bani said, “but we had a moment in one of our anthems and we found out it was right around the time that Michael passed away. We were in the middle of the anthem, and we all derailed for about two measures. So there were about five seconds of complete confusion in the music. We all sort of stopped and got lost on the page. I feel like it was Michael’s spirit passing through the church on his way to Heaven and just making a statement as he went on his way that he’s still going to be with us.”
Caruso is survived by his brother Bob and Bob’s wife Sandra, and numerous cousins.
A memorial gathering in his honor will be held Friday, July 17, at Old St. Joseph’s Church, 321 Willings Alley in Philadelphia, at 10 a.m., followed by a Mass at 11.
