Guided by his Light

The Guild for Early Music will perform in honor of Eugene Roan.

By: Anthony Stoeckert
   On Oct. 28, John Burkhalter will have his recorder (or English flute) in hand to perform at the Early Music Festival at Grounds For Sculpture, playing the music he’s been performing as a member of the Practitioners of Musick for years. This performance, though, will have a deeper meaning than those that have preceded it, as it will serve as a tribute to Eugene Roan, Mr. Burkhalter’s partner in music and life for more than 30 years.
   When asked what it will be like to perform without Mr. Roan, who died Sept. 21 from complications stemming from heart surgery he underwent a year earlier, Mr. Burkhalter replies, "Difficult." Still, he never once doubted that the work of the Practitioners of Musick would go on.
   "The most important thing for me as a musician and as his partner for 30 years was to continue our work," Mr. Burkhalter says. "The best way to honor and remember him is to continue to play, it’s essentially carrying the torch. The worst thing for me would have been to stop playing, it’s inconceivable that that could happen to me."
   The Early Music Festival is presented by the Guild for Early Music, of which Mr. Roan and Mr. Burkhalter were founding members. The festival celebrates the guild, its mission and the popularity of early music in Central Jersey and Bucks County, Pa.
   "(The area) does seem to be a hotbed of early music," says Amy Warren, a Guild member who will perform with La Spirita at the festival. "Over the last 30 years early music has become popular again. There’s a great passion for it out here and this is one of the central areas of the country where it’s going on."
   La Spirita is a viola da gamba (a bowed string instrument similar to the cello) quartet, and sets an example of some of the rare instruments that can be heard at the festival. "You get to see wonderful instruments you won’t see anywhere else," says Ms. Warren. "It’s a nice eclectic concert that I think anyone will enjoy."
   In continuing the Practitioners of Musick, Mr. Burkhalter plans to perform with three different harpsichord players depending on scheduling. Janet Palumbo will join Mr. Burkhalter at the Early Music Festival, and two students of Mr. Roan’s, Gavin Black and Michael Diorio, will play at other events.
   "At this point, I have the resources of three brilliant harpsichordists who can assist me in the work Gene and I started," Mr. Burkhalter says. "So the Practioners of Musick will continue as a practical and viable ensemble. The great sadness for all of us is that we will not have Gene with us as an active participant, but his legacy will surround us." At the Early Music Festival, The Practitioners will play music written by composers prominent in 18th-century London, specifically pieces by Handel. It’s music Mr. Burkhalter says Mr. Roan was particularly fond of.
   Another important part of Mr. Roan’s and Mr. Burkhalter’s story is their relationship as a couple. They met in 1974 when Mr. Burkhalter was involved in a museum exhibition that he says fascinated Mr. Roan. "The result of that marvelous encounter was a relationship that lasted more than 30 years," Mr. Burkhalter says.
   Music was a vital part of that relationship, as they played together "almost from day one." The merging of music and history was a natural for Mr. Roan and Mr. Burkhalter, as both had ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War. For them, studying American cultural history added to their understanding of the music.
   "One informs the other," he says. "Our attitude was that we could not flourish as musicians with the kind of honesty and integrity that we wanted, if we weren’t well-connected with the historical legacy and American cultural history, particularly the period of the music we were playing."
   Mr. Burkhalter adds that he and Mr. Roan played about 30 to 45 engagements a year for the National Park Services and various historical societies along the East Coast, playing more than 70 one year. "It was a partnership of music and friendship and love…" he says."
   Theirs was a partnership that served as an inspiration to other gay couples.
   "In a lot of ways, Gene and I inspired quite a number of younger (gay) couples who just simply found it beautiful, wonderful and astonishing that two people, such as me and Gene, maintained a very strong and stable relationship all these years," he says. "And it inspired many of Gene’s students, that’s another legacy."
   Mr. Roan was professor emeritus at Westminster Choir College, where he taught for 50 years and chaired the organ, harpsichord and piano department. Mr. Burkhalter says Mr. Roan took great pride in the accomplishments of his students, many of whom went on to serve in major roles with various cathedrals and music organizations in cities like New York, Philadelphia and Chicago.
   Mr. Roan also took pride in his family history. His cousin, Caroline Miller, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1934 for her book Lamb In His Bosom, which Mr. Burkhalter says was based on family stories from the early 19th century. One of Mr. Roan’s ancestors was Tennessee’s second governor, and his great, great uncle was Jeb Stuart, the confederate Civil War general who was played by Errol Flynn in the 1940 film Santa Fe Trail.
   That relation was something Mr. Burkhalter didn’t know about until he came across Stuart’s obituary one day.
   "He was a very modest man, a southern gentleman, born and raised in south Georgia," Mr. Burkhalter says of Mr. Roan. "He came from a highly respected Southern family. Many of his family members in the past, in which he took great pride, were active in the politics before and after the Civil War, which he always called the War of Northern Aggression, proving that you could take the boy out of the South but you couldn’t take the South out of the boy.
   "He was very modest, and he would never let the light shine on him," Mr. Burkhalter continues. "He always managed to find a way in which the light would shine away from him, but onto his students, onto his colleagues and onto his friends. He was man for which (the words) grace and dignity and true gentleman clearly apply."
The Early Music Festival of the Guild for Early Music will be held at Grounds For Sculpture, 18 Fairgrounds Road, Hamilton, Oct. 28, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission to Grounds For Sculpture on Saturdays is $8, $7 seniors/students, $4 12 and under. For information, call (609) 586-0616. On the Web: www.groundsforsculpture.org. Guild for Early Music on the Web: www.guildforearlymusic.org