Trumbull choir teacher leaves the stage
TRUMBULL — Since announcing her retirement after 33 years as Trumbull High’s choir director, Anne Tornillo has been busy as ever, teaching her classes online and also squeezing in three Zoom calls with former students calling in from Seattle, Bangladesh and Washington, D. C.
“I am so proud of all my former students and what they’re doing,” she said. “I’m thrilled that these kids all have music in their lives.”
Tornillo, the school’s 2015 Teacher of the Year, has been at Trumbull High since 1987, when she took over a 65- member concert choir and a select singing group with 16 members.
During her time at the school, the choir’s numbers have more than tripled, and Tornillo added a men’s and women’s ensemble plus a freshman choir to the mix.
“It was a very small program, and it’s just continued to grow by leaps and bounds,” Tornillo said. “It’s a blessing, but it’s also a giant challenge I gave myself.”
Embracing the challenge has paid off, both professionally and in terms of the experiences Trumbull High choir students have had over the years. There is an old saying about how to get to Carnegie Hall ( practice, practice, practice). Trumbull High choirs have been invited to perform at the venue nine times, including three world premieres.
The singers have also performed “The Messiah” at Lincoln Center and been the featured choir in the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular. Then there have been the tours of Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic to perform in venues as spectacular as Notre Dame Cathedral, Salzburg Cathedral and St. Peter’s Basilica.
Despite taking choirs around the world, Tornillo said Carnegie Hall remains the greatest honor.
“That was always the goal, the big thing,” she said. “A colleague that I knew from student teaching had recommended us for a program where choirs are called to come in and augment the production companies and we got on the list.”
From that first invitation, eight more followed as the choir gained a reputation for quality performances.
If performances in historic venues are some of the big moments that stand out in Tornillo’s memory, there are plenty of smaller moments that she values too, she said,
“I just love watching the students learn, and seeing what they bring to the music,” she said. “Singing is like anything else. If you put in the work, you’re going to get better. The beauty of choir is that you can have average ability and your skill level will get higher and higher, and you can be part of something beautiful while you’re on the journey.”
And Tornillo said she hoped that the students had taken the time to appreciate the beauty around them, too.
“I always told them when you’re on stage at Carnegie Hall, or St. Peter’s, make sure you’re present in the moment, because these experiences won’t come often,” she said.
Still, all journeys end, and Tornillo said this felt like the right time to exit the stage. It was not an easy decision, she said.
“It seemed I kept waffling because I love my job and I love the kids,” she said. “It’s bittersweet. It’s emotional. Only people who have been really blessed in their careers understand that.”
In early May, she wrote a retirement letter. Then another. Then another.
“I didn’t want anyone to hear online, or from someone else,” she said.