Blakeley Menghini, Viola
Fall is here! It’s great to be back with the Griffon String Quartet at the start of our season. Our days have been filled with rehearsals, meetings, and teaching, of course.

This summer was great! In June, my husband and I drove to Toronto (more on that later). I also spent a few weeks in Door County to help Julie in the Midsummer’s office. In July, the Griffon reunited for a road trip to Illinois Wesleyan and Kansas State University. We had a great time reviewing our Spring program and teaching some amazing students at chamber music camp. Although the drive was long, we had a great time. I ate the best chicken sandwich of my entire life in Kansas City on the long drive home. Poor Ryan celebrated his birthday with 16 hours of travel.

This past April, my husband Ben was accepted to the University of Toronto for a PhD in Theology. He finished his master’s degree at Eden Seminary in St. Louis in 2015, right before we moved to Madison for me to start my DMA at UW-Madison. As I finished my degree, he started to research PhD programs. He was captivated by the faculty at the University of Toronto and fell in love with the idea of attending there. We went for a final visit the day after our last Griffon program of the season. We had so much fun exploring the city, and we met his wonderful host mom. He moved to Toronto on August 30 to begin his program.

I’m still getting used to the long-distance marriage situation, but we are so excited for this opportunity. Ben will return to Wisconsin when his studies are complete, and he will dissertate remotely. In the meantime, our cat Concs and I are holding down the fort here in De Pere. Concs looks forward to rehearsals at my apartment so he can see his Griffon buddies.