The Forum Founders

           Catherine Carl     Dan Manley     Dennis Pajot     Steve Ralsten     Gary Smith

      Gary Smith   Born 1954   Production Control career in Aerospace and Occasional Writer on the side (or edge).  Born In Anaheim, California in the shadow of Disneyland and Angel Stadium.  Was able not to learn how to play a single instrument or even sing on key.  Can play records, CDs and radios well; videos and DVDs are still a struggle.  Compensated for this lacking early on by enjoying classical music.  Initially, when he was a know-it-all teenager, he really admired Beethoven and began collecting his works.  However, in 1978, once he acquired (on a 10 Day Free Trial) a record set of Mozart’s Late Piano Concertos, and actually listened to #20 in d K.466 for the first time, he not only did not return the set, but he immediately began an impassioned hunt to collect everything this man had ever touched.  It has not stopped to this day, 26 years later, nor will it.  My wife Ellen happily tolerates this drive, for which I am forever indebted to her.  Through the wonders of the Internet, I have found the other Mozartean friends that have joined together here to honor Mozart.  The joy that Mozart brings to us, I hope, is reflected in the site we share here with you!

      Steve Ralsten   Born 1950    I’ve been a Classical music lover since I was a young child. My father loved Beethoven and played the Symphonies over and over. As a five year old I would get out his records and play them myself. I started piano lessons at age 6, but as sometimes happens with young boys the call of the outdoors overpowered the piano teacher and I quit at age 13. I stayed involved in music through high school band and orchestra. I attended Cal State Long Beach as a music major for two years, playing French horn in orchestra and wind ensemble. I transferred to California Institute of the Arts in 1970 where I graduated with dual major in music performance and photography. After college my time was split between music jobs with LA area orchestras and work as a stage manager at Disneyland. My career has changed to work on audio in the motion picture business but my love of music has continued. I’m a rather late bloomer with Mozart. I played and loved the horn concertos and several wind serenades as a college student, but being a brass player was more attracted to the powerful brass writing of the romantic composers. It wasn’t until I rented Amadeus in 2000, that the spark between myself and Mozart’s music was lit. The music spoke to me in a way it hadn’t before. I am now a major fan of Mozart, and the 18^th century musical world. I’ve been learning piano again, and focus my playing on Mozart with some Beethoven. I am thrilled to have met many new friends through Mozart and am proud to have had a part in creating this website. I want it to be a constantly changing tribute to Mozart and his influence on our world.

     Dennis Pajot    Born 1949 in Milwaukee,WI. 55 years later, still residing in Milwaukee, WI. My guess is 40 years from now (if lucky) will still be residing in Milwaukee, WI.

A major fan of the music of the British Invasion rock and roll groups of the mid 1960's, I started to get interested in Classical music in the very early 1980's. Like most others my entry point was the Beethoven symphonies, but quickly turned to Mozart and Haydn. Having a personality that is not happy to just listen (or watch), I need to know what is behind and around the music. So I began to read the what, when, where and why of the works I enjoyed. This eventually took me to the less traveled road of fragments and ultimately investigations into why works had been (mis)attributed to Mozart. This became so interesting that I almost exclusively have taken this path in the past few years. Believing knowledge is useless if not shared, I have truly enjoyed my 5 or so years of interaction with Mozart lovers on the internet.

Over the years I have gathered a (much too large?) record and CD collection of hundreds of composers and thousands of compositions of the classical era. But every once in a while I still thrill at the record player playing (very loud) "Ticket to Ride" by the Beatles, or a long forgotten song by the Searchers or Dave Clark 5!!
 

      Dan Manley    Born 1964   Like Steve, I also had piano lessons from age 6-13, however Mozart always seemed to appeal to me more than Beethoven from the get-go. As a rebellious youth used to tear around my home state of Rhode Island blasting the late piano concertos in my hopped-up 442. Moved to California in 1982, have worked in various industries including an entertainment industry company in Hollywood, and had my own business designing/building high-end custom furniture for around 11 years. Currently working for a specialty building manufacturer doing AutoCAD design and project management. I do try and play some Mozart on my keyboard everyday (K333 is my favorite sonata) – as well as some Blues, and am hoping to pass my love for Mozart’s music ( as well as Art and Muscle cars..) on to my son.

Feel very fortunate to have met the founders of this site on the internet some years back, have learned a great deal about Mozart’s life and music through them and appreciate their continuing friendship and inspiration. I know others will benefit from the knowledge and passion brought to the site by them and hope that this will become a favorite place to visit for lovers of Mozart – and classical music – everywhere.

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