Kaua‘i loses ‘true music man’

Kaua‘i lost a “true music man” Saturday with the passing of David Conrad, Kaua‘i High School’s longtime choral director. Conrad, 53, died Saturday at Kentucky’s St. Elizabeth Medical Center South, four days after undergoing open heart surgery.

Originally from Butler, Ky., Conrad joined Kaua‘i High in 1990. A talented vocalist and pianist, his true gift was directing. Colleagues say he built the choral program from the ground up, demanding excellence from his students and bringing out the best in them.

Nina Saraos will continue Conrad’s work as the choral instructor, having substitute taught his classes over the past five years.

“He brought a sense of pride (to the program),” she said. “This is his legacy.”

At the core of his teaching style was discipline — something that Tony Kilbert, events manager for Kaua‘i Community College’s Performing Arts Center, noticed time and again.

“He was going for absolute excellence,” Kilbert said. “He was a task-master.”

Still, for all his structure, Conrad inspired his students and earned their respect. Just one note on the piano had the power to quiet a cacophony of teenage energy, prompting silence as the chorus waited for his cue.

“You knew he meant business even when he wasn’t talking, but you could still feel his heart and his caring,” Kilbert recalled.

Upon hearing the news of Conrad’s passing, there was an “outpouring of sadness” among his students, who gathered at the choral room Sunday to grieve, Saraos said. But there was laughter, too, as they recalled fond memories from within those four walls.

“Mr. Conrad was a great teacher because he dedicated his life to his students,” Kaua‘i High senior Jorey Cantu, 17, said. “He called us his children and was a father to us. He was not afraid to get involved in our lives. He nurtured, protected, and guided us through thick and thin.”

Conrad’s proudest accomplishment was taking 32 students to participate in the New York City Opera’s weeklong Student Ovations program in March. He painstakingly planned the trip for two years, and with the help of the community raised the majority of the $130,000-plus cost.

Fulfilling a longtime dream for Conrad, the students were given the opportunity to study, rehearse and perform with some of the foremost conductors, instrumentalists and singers in the world at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

During seven whirlwind days in the Big Apple, the group watched the opera’s production of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” from the fifth and sixth rows, visited Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, participated in a musical exchange with famed LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, and performed in Manhattan’s historic St. Paul’s Chapel.

Saraos, who accompanied the group as a chaperone, said she and Conrad “just kind of grinned” to see the teens bursting with excitement.

“You knew they were having fun when they started to conspire to move to New York,” she said.

But for Conrad, the experience went beyond entertainment — it was yet another challenge to his students to think big.

“I’d like for the New York Opera people to say, ‘Now these kids could sing anything,’ so the children can realize their level of excellence — that they can get there from here,” Conrad told The Garden Island in a December 2007 interview, a few months before the trip.

On Kaua‘i, his accomplishments included arranging choral performances backed by the full Kaua‘i Community College orchestra. He also started a piano lab at Kaua‘i High School.

“When he had a vision, he knew how to plot it to get to his dream,” Saraos said. “Working with David really taught me you have to put your heart and soul into what you’re doing, otherwise you fall flat.”

Looking forward, Saraos said she doesn’t presume to fill Conrad’s shoes; however, she does intend to honor his memory — and she’s counting on the veteran choral students to help her.

Cantu, who would have completed four years under Conrad’s instruction this year, said her teacher aimed to enable his students to get by without him.

“We did not know that we would be carrying out this (ability) so soon,” Cantu said. “He prepared us, and now we have to show him and make him proud.”

The chorus plans to dedicate an upcoming concert to its beloved teacher.

Conrad is survived by parents Louis and Geneva Conrad, and brothers Paul Conrad and Monte Conrad. A service was held yesterday in Alexandria, Ky.

• Blake Jones, business writer/assistant editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or bjones@kauaipubco.com