Robert Santacroce

I met Christopher on November 26 last year.  It was my mother’s 79th birthday and she was visiting from Florida.  She saw that Melinda O’Neal, Professor Emerita of Music at Dartmouth College would be presenting a lecture/concert about Berlioz at Cadogan Hall.  Professor O’Neal gave a shout out to her former student Christopher Quentin.  During…

In 2018 I was asked to play for a carol concert for SKY and asked my colleague Peter Stark if he could recommend someone to lead this – ‘someone warm, kind, inclusive, communicative and joyful’ – Peter said ‘I have the very person – Chris McMullen-Laird’. And he was all these things, and more.

I met Christopher (Zeke) back in 2011 or 2012 here on Cape Cod, where his grandfather and family have a home in Yarmouth. I was the Artistic Director of Cape Cod Opera, at the time, and was always interested in meeting, auditioning and giving young and emerging artists an opportunity for work, as I had…

In memory of Christopher

There are no words to convey my sadness at this news.  Zeke touched me deeply with his positive energy, creativity, and humor.  The picture of us gathering and sipping green Waldmeister from the Dartmouth Club of Germany’s winning cup is indelibly in my mind.  Such carefree days.  He was taken much too soon and the…

Dear Chris, Those vibrant and energetic blue eyes caught me from the first time and will never be forgotten. You could see in them the passion, warmth, energy, aliveness, wisdom and desire that Chris had for everything he did. Every encounter with him was a source of inspiration, a learning experience, not only on how…