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"Prince of Pops" graces WSU stage, students

Candice LeGrand/ For The South End

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Published: Sunday, November 16, 2008

Updated: Sunday, November 16, 2008

Grammy award winner Erich Kunzel, maestro of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, visited Wayne State University this past weekend to perform with the WSU Symphonic Chorus and speak to students in the WSU Department of Music.

Kunzel, also known as "The Prince of Pops," has been performing in Detroit for over 30 years. With over 85 albums under his belt, and 55 of them appearing on the Top Ten Billboard Charts, it is no wonder Kunzel was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2006.

 

Last September, he was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame.

 

He has collaborated with several icons such as Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington and recently performed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

With such talent and aptitude in music, it is surprising to learn that Kunzel was a chemistry major in college.

"I walked up to my chemistry teacher and said, 'You're a lousy teacher; I'm going to walk out of this door, you’re going to give me an E and I'll never come back,' "Kunzel said, describing the start of his musical career at Dartmouth University.

Among the several other attributes Kunzel brings to music, in the spring of 2010, he will open the Cincinnati School for Creative and Performing Arts, which will audition and house 1,500 students from K-12.

Kunzel credits his drive and ambition to his superlative music career.

"I love what I'm doing,” he said.

 

"Whatever you do, don't do it less than 100 percent.”

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