I
’ve got a milestone birthday coming up this year, and let’s just say it doesn’t start with a 4, 5, or 6. While that alone might tempt me to pull the covers over my head or dive into a (second) pint of ice cream, I need only think of two very important people in my life who are a couple decades ahead of me: my dear friend Mary Costa and my beloved father Howard Skinner. Both born in 1930, both turning 96 this year – and both making 96 look very, very good.
Mary can be seen all over town, attending musical events, hosting family get-togethers, and checking on those of us who are lucky enough to be on her personal watch list. Her piercing blue eyes have not lost their intensity. When she takes your hands in hers and holds you in her laser-focused eye lock – well, let’s just say that’s about as close to a religious experience as one can get. Having reached career heights most people only dream of, Mary lives to support and encourage young artists and is never without something both kind and insightful to offer. And beautiful? Heavens, I could go on for days. Simply put, her beauty does not fade.
Now, about my dad – the other conductor in my life.
Dad was here in Knoxville a few years back – a mere 94-year-old leading Dvorak’s Te Deum and Stabat Mater with full orchestra and choir. What was promised as his farewell concert didn’t quite turn out that way. As he says, he’s like a kamikaze pilot on his twelfth mission. Last fall, he conducted a full symphonic concert with Beethoven in the Rockies and is planning Messiah in our Colorado hometown for December 2026 (with me at his side). He reads so voraciously I’m convinced the Amazon fulfillment center near his house is no coincidence. He plays chess at least three times a week, studies musical scores daily, maintains a weightlifting regime, and on those occasions when he runs out of reading material, he shifts to translating the text from Beethoven’s Christ on the Mount of Olives from the original German.
And here I sit with my ice cream.
But then I remember these two. I slither off the couch, go for a walk, call a friend, pick up a book or a score, and remember there is still much work to be done. Because I hear both Mary and Dad saying, “Those Messiah arias aren’t going to sing themselves.”
Author’s note: Mary Costa’s 96th birthday is April 5, which happens to be Easter Sunday. To evoke Messiah once again: “Rejoice!”
