Lighting up Emerson Auditorium

If Lauren Coletti ’27 has a second home on campus, it’s Emerson Auditorium. It’s a space she loves, and practically lives in.

“I play saxophone, euphonium, trumpet and bass clarinet, but mostly I sing,” said Coletti, who is majoring in music and minoring in musical theater and vocal performance. “Between performances and classes, Emerson has been the center of my time here at Union. I spent the entirety of my freshman year in there for Jazz Ensemble rehearsals!”

Which is why she noticed right away when the auditorium got a new state-of-the-art lighting system (it was installed over winter break).

"When we move around a ton on stage – like for Japanese drumming – the old lights would get so hot. We would sweat right through whatever we were wearing,” said Coletti, who is also a member of Union College Schola Cantorum and Concert Choir. “The old lights were also loud. It was hard to create silence during a performance when the room was constantly buzzing.”

“It was also difficult for large groups that needed to use the pit for performances since there was no way to light anything but the actual stage. Sometimes, groups would pull in living room lamps just to light the space enough to see the performers’ faces,” she continued. “Just having class in Emerson this term, the temperature is non-existent and the new panel is going to be a dream to work with when it comes to crafting solo performances for my ‘Musical Theater: Solo Cabaret’ class.”

The new system is courtesy of Michael DiPietro ’70 and his wife, Alice Fishman, who generously made a gift that enabled the Department of Music to completely overhaul Emerson’s lighting.

“The Music Department is incredibly grateful. As it has grown in recent years, our ensembles have expanded in enrollment, choice of repertoire and quality of performance,” said Jennifer Milioto Matsue, chair of the Department of Music and professor of music. “These lights will allow more creative freedom in how we present our concerts and raise our level of professionalism.”

Evan Schieren ’28, bass guitarist for the student rock band, Dutchmen’s Revenge, agrees.

“This investment in the Music Department is incredible for students because it’s so important that we stay up to date with current technology,” said Schieren, who is majoring in music and minoring in musical theater and vocal performance. “These lights give performers an introduction to lighting design and how it shapes performances.”

“One of the reasons I came to Union is because alumni stay connected to the school for years after graduation,” he added. “Their contributions are incredibly appreciated by all the students and faculty here.”

Schieren, who is a singer, also plays the trombone, piano and guitar, and is a member of the Union College Concert Choir, Schola Cantorum and Jazz Band.

“I love how our alumni donors not only lead the drive for improvements at Union but also have a great sense of what needs renovations,” he said. “I’d like to thank Michael and Alice for their contributions and invite them to come see the difference they’ve made.”

For their part, DiPietro and Fishman are thrilled to help students and honor Alice’s father at the same time. Sidney “Steve” Fishman was the master of properties for shows in most theaters on Broadway in the 1960s and 70s.

“My father began as a stagehand who raised curtains, moved furniture and helped change sets, but gradually, because he was a very artistic person, he was promoted to master of properties,” Fishman recalled.

While DiPietro is a musician and a performer, Fishman has always been shy of the spotlight. She remembers the exact moment, however, when she understood the appeal of the stage.

“My mother had reluctantly permitted me to travel alone on the subway from Queens into Manhattan to attend the opening night of a play. I ended up hearing the show from the wardrobe room below stage with the seamstress,” she said. “At its conclusion, the thunderous applause vibrated from my feet through my whole body. I can still feel it and remember thinking: ‘Now I know why they do this.’”

“The applause is both magnetic and contagious, and once you experience it, you want to experience it again,” continued Fishman, a retired librarian and archivist. “My father often repeated the phrase that there is no business like show business and that the applause is for the entire company, not just the actors.”

DiPietro’s connection to the stage at Union began right after he started his junior year at Colonie Central High School.

“My music teacher, Henry Carr, played trumpet in the Albany Symphony Orchestra, and the conductor of the orchestra at that time was Union music professor William ‘Edgar’ Curtis,” he explained. “When Edgar found out that I was a bassoonist, he invited me to join the Woodwind Quintet at Union. I played with the quintet my junior and senior years and ultimately chose Union for my undergraduate education.”

The recipient of the Elmer Tidmarsh Scholarship in music and a New York State Regents Scholarship, DiPietro thrived at Union. He majored in biology and performed with the Glee Club and orchestra, and the Madrigals.

“I liked the intimate environment at Union and the ability to get to know my professors. I valued the liberal arts setting and was able to join activities and classrooms where students were pursuing a wide range of majors – not just science and engineering,” DiPietro explained.

Coletti values this too.

“It’s amazing that donors understand the importance of all studies. We’re a liberal arts school with a huge focus on engineering, but the study of liberal arts and humanities flows through the veins of this campus,” she said. “The arts at Union are so diverse because of the diversity of majors in our classes and performances.”

Indeed, DiPietro himself loves both science and art. He went on to become a pediatric radiologist and spent his entire career at the University of Michigan Medical School, where he became the first John F. Holt Collegiate Professor of Radiology. He was the principal bassoonist in the Campus Symphony Orchestra for over 20 years and spent 17 years as the principal bassoonist with Michigan Medicine’s Life Sciences Orchestra as a founding member.

Now professor emeritus of radiology and pediatrics, he still performs with several semi-professional organizations, including the Sarasota-Bradenton Pops Orchestra, the Bradenton Symphony Orchestra and the Lakewood Ranch Wind Ensemble.

DiPietro and Fishman split their time between Ann Arbor, Mich., and Longboat Key, Fla.