The career path of Charles Quintin Sullivan was largely determined by the placement of his crib near the piano on which his four older siblings were each required to practice at least an hour every day. Born in 1943 on January 27th (Mozart’s birthday) in Sparta, Wisconsin, he grew up on a farm near Kendall, Wisconsin (population about 500). The accidental death of his father when Charles was 9, and the death of his mother from a stroke when he had just turned 15, put his continuing welfare in the hands of those same four siblings. The consolidation of several area schools led to the decision to move to Milwaukee for his senior year, where he graduated in 1960 as the first valedictorian of Oak Creek High School.

 

Multiple attractions to a career in architecture, law, or the priesthood competed with the inevitable choice of music as a course of study when the time came to choose a degree program. But increasing involvement in music department activities, along with nearly full-time employment in church music, shortly led to a commitment to a life in music and a degree in music education from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

 

Sullivan’s education continued with additional studies at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University (MN), and the New England Conservatory of Music, with a teaching fellowship at the (then) Wisconsin College-Conservatory of Music leading to a master’s degree. His training as a conductor includes work with Kenneth Schermerhorn and Roger Wagner, as well as with Fiora Contina and John Nelson as recipient of a fellowship to the Aspen Institute’s advanced conducting seminar in 1976.

 

Charles has been active in Milwaukee’s cultural scene since founding the Sullivan Chamber Ensemble (later the Sullivan Ensemble) in 1971, which grew from an ensemble performance requirement as part of his master’s degree program. This semiprofessional collective of singers and instrumentalists presented more than 200 performances of over 120 programs of choral and orchestral music ranging from chant to avant-garde, in performances ranging from solo recitals and chamber operas to large choral and orchestral works before disbanding in 1982. The chorus re-formed in 1988 for a brief series, including a tour to Chicago, La Crosse, Minneapolis, and St. Cloud. An active collaborator, the Ensemble worked with groups including the Milwaukee and Waukesha Symphony Orchestras, and provided significant performance experience to area students, as well as valuable exposure for professional singers and instrumentalists in the area. Among its honors, the Ensemble was invited to perform for the National Convention of the American Choral Directors in 1978, the year before Sullivan was named the Milwaukee Jaycee’s Outstanding Young Artist of the Year. During that time he also incorporated Kaleidoscope Artists Management, Ltd, to help local performers and potential presenters find each other.

 

Sullivan got his start as a conductor and organist while still in grade school in his hometown of Kendall, Wisconsin. Since that early start he has continued to serve in music and liturgy roles in churches of multiple religious traditions in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Washington, and Massachusetts, including diocesan leadership positions in Minnesota and Ohio. He is currently continuing a long-term appointment as Chapel Musician at St. John’s On The Lake in Milwaukee. He is a long-time member of the American Guild of Organists, having served various leadership roles in the Columbus (OH) and Milwaukee Chapters, and a member of the American Choral Directors Association.

 

He has initiated and led multiple children’s choir training programs, including formation of the first children’s choir to sing with the Milwaukee Symphony in its (then) new Performing Arts Center in 1973, and he has planned and conducted major choral events for the Brookfield Schools and for the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. He has taught in both secular and religious-affiliated education programs at all levels from kindergarten through graduate level, including an appointment at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus (OH) and the UWM Professional Theatre Training Program.

 

From 1979 to 1982 Sullivan served as Interim Director during the formation of IMPAC (Independent Milwaukee Performing Arts Companies), working as liaison between six performing arts companies (including the Sullivan Ensemble), the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee Public Schools, and Milwaukee County, on a collaborative project to repurpose Milwaukee’s Lincoln High School as Lincoln Center for the Arts. During that same period he became Director of Music at Plymouth Church, where he founded the Plymouth Chorale, which continues to thrive.

 

From 1985-1992 he was Executive Producer/Director of the highly successful liturgical drama productions at The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, presenting multiple sold-out staged performances of the Medieval Play of Daniel and Britten’s St. Nicolas. The only interruption in his participation in the Milwaukee arts scene over the past 50 years was for his appointment as Director of Music for the Catholic Cathedral and Diocese of Columbus (OH) from 1992 to 1999, where his duties included conducting a professional choir and managing a concert series that included members of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, as well as performances at the Columbus Art Museum and as part of the Lancaster (OH) Festival.

 

Shortly after returning to Milwaukee in mid-1999, he was invited to take on leadership of Early Music Now (Milwaukee’s internationally recognized presenter of Medieval, Renaissance, and early Baroque artists). Serving as Executive and Artistic Director until his retirement from that organization in 2017, he successfully expanded the scope of the organization’s programming, outreach, organizational stability, and international recognition. He served a term on the national board of Early Music America, presenting workshops coaching performers on working with small presenters.

 

He retired from Early Music Now in 2017, with the intention of exploring other musical opportunities and resuming his own conducting and performance activities. A major new project in collaboration with the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Musica Sacra Milwaukee, was about to announce its inaugural event when the pandemic intervened and postponed that project, probably permanently.

 

But the pandemic also supplied a new opportunity. Saint John’s On The Lake, a senior residence community where Sullivan has had an association since 2004, and continues to serve as Chapel Musician, invited him to prepare and present weekly programs for the residents during a time when outside programming was prohibited. He agreed to supply varied programs of piano and organ music called “Musical Explorations” that have extended beyond the Covid shutdown, although with less frequency, recently performing the 75th program in that series.