By Lou Foster, Pines Village resident
Pines Village, where my wife, Ruth, and I have lived since 2008, has the motto “We Celebrate Life.” Taking this to heart in 2026, I am celebrating by making my debuts in five musical events in the first six months of being age 96. None of these events had I anticipated at the beginning of the year.
Before I talk about these events, I must note that at this stage of life, I must cope with many of the problems typical of old age. I wear hearing aids, can read music only at very close range, experience episodes of AFib, use a walker for stability, and no longer drive. I have survived two different cancers thanks to a radical prostatectomy and Mohs surgery, and have undergone open-heart surgery for a double bypass and replacement of my aortic valve.
Despite these typical components of senior life, I feel there is much to celebrate in 2026, especially in doing new things in the musical aspect of my life.
A piano recital without playing the piano
The first new thing involved playing in a piano recital. This requires some explanation since I do not play the piano.
Early in 2026, our younger son, Charlie, who had recently retired from his career as a middle school teacher, decided to resume his piano lessons after a gap of 50 years since his childhood lessons. Perhaps he was influenced by my example of resuming oboe lessons after a gap of 75 years.
One of his goals in returning to the piano was to learn how to accompany another musician, so he asked me, playing the oboe, to be his guinea pig. Almost every week in the spring, we played together.
His teacher, Jeanne Foster, scheduled a recital shortly after my 96th birthday. Charlie was to play two pieces. He accompanied me in the first as I played “Gabriel’s Oboe” by Ennio Morricone, taken from the 1986 movie The Mission. Then I played a descant on the oboe to finish “Amazing Grace,” his second number.
That is how I made my debut in a piano recital without playing the piano.
Taking the stage and playing a solo
The second new thing was singing in a musical in August 2026. I had never been in a stage performance before, but the Memorial Opera House in Valparaiso, in conjunction with Pines Village, decided to perform Into the Woods Sr. by Stephen Sondheim.
This “senior”-shortened version of the musical was limited to actors who were at least 55 years of age, so I was more than qualified in terms of longevity. Fortunately, I was cast in the modest part of Rapunzel’s Prince.
In the end, the cast was able to do only two of the three scheduled performances because of the great storm that struck our area on August 11. Nevertheless, it was well received by an audience where most of the individuals had no electrical power in their homes. I have written about this in a separate memoir called Into the Woods Sr.
The third new thing was playing as a soloist with a large ensemble. That is quite different from playing regularly in such a group.
I had played clarinet, oboe, and English horn in various orchestras from third grade through college. I have played in two different community bands since 2023, but this year, Carrie Carlson, the director of the Northwest Indiana Community String Orchestra, known as the Rusty Strings, asked if I would play “Gabriel’s Oboe” with them.
At first, I thought it would be performed in the summer, but it was delayed until the two October concerts of the Rusty Strings. Both concerts went very well, and I consider them to be the high point of my oboe career.
More firsts and a possible world premiere
My fourth new thing was in October. It was again in a piano recital with my son Charlie at the keyboard. This time I played an accompaniment he gave me for “Erie Canal,” followed by “The Entertainer,” composed by Scott Joplin, in which I debuted in creating my own accompaniment for Charlie’s piano playing.
The last new thing occurred on November 8, my half birthday, in a performance by the Village Chamber Group, a quintet consisting of an oboe, two violins, a viola, and a cello.
What was new for me was playing a duet on my oboe with a string player and playing several cadenzas in a public performance. We played the second and third movements of Eugene Bozza’s Shepherds of Provence, originally written for oboe and English horn.
The latter instrument is the alto of the double-reed family, but the other chamber group members only play string instruments. So the solution in this performance was to have the alto of the string family, namely the viola, play the English horn part.
Jenifer Ring, our viola player, was game to give it a go. We both enjoyed playing this unusual piece, and the audience seemed to like it, too.
My oboe teacher, who has played the English horn in this duet several times, said he liked the viola version better than the original and joked that it was a world premiere.
Five new things musically have occurred in my life at age 96: some small, others larger. In addition, I have played in nine community band concerts this year and anticipate playing in four more before the year ends.
This is how I am celebrating life in 2026.
