The Syracuse Years
Mr. Schaefer has been involved in music his whole life. Growing up in Syracuse, NY, his mother Lois was the longtime soloist at the Second Church of Christ, Scientist on East Genesee St. He attended McKinley-Brighton on Newell St. before relocating to Oswego County. While at Paul V. Moore HS in Central Square, he was involved in numerous band, chorus and musical theater productions. In his Junior year, he was approached to join an ad hoc community chorus for Beethoven’s 9th with the Syracuse Symphony under the late Christopher Keane.
The Buffalo Years
After graduating High School in Central Square, he moved to Buffalo to attend Daemen College, later transferring to and graduating from Buffalo State College. Despite a demanding career as an advertising writer, he made time to sing with the Buffalo Schola Cantorum under the late Thomas Swan; the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under Julius Rudel, Semyon Bychkov, and Maximiano Valdes; as well as the prestigious Westminster Presbyterian Choir under Garrett Martin. He also performed the US and Canadian National Anthems for the Buffalo Bisons AAA Baseball club for several seasons.
Rochester, Batavia & the Finger Lakes
After 14 years in Buffalo, Mr. Schaefer relocated to Rochester, NY for 19 years, then on to Batavia for 7. Along with a career shift to retail sales, he was able to maintain his musical presence with the Rochester Oratorio Society under Eric Townell, The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra under Andreas Delfs, the Finger Lakes Choral Festival under Adrian Horn, the Chautauqua Symphony under Uri Segal, the Redwood Symphony of San Francisco, and the Maui Symphony Orchestra, as well as several local churcheshttps://img1.wsimg.com/isteam/ip/e2ed4d07-23b8-457e-b931-99c6023303bf/Effects%20Portrait.jpg/:/cr=t:14.24%25,l:22.15%25,w:56.18%25,h:56.18%25/rs=w:400,cg:true,m. He has performed abroad in Toronto, England, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Clermont and Avignon in France, and Geneva, Switzerland. The pandemic forced yet another career change to Uber driver, while family concerns led to a relocation in Geneva, NY.
