Programs

Dave Davis (class of ’80) was a third grader at Hale Elementary in South Minneapolis when his music teacher suggested he and a couple of other boys audition for the Minnesota Boychoir. Soon, Dave, Eric Larsen, Steven Holtzleiter and Terrill Patterson were singing together under the direction of Boychoir conductor, Paul Pfeiffer. Dave says, “Mr. Pfeiffer was, shall we say, firm. He scared the heck out of us! There is no doubt that his discipline pushed us to excel. Although I was young, I knew that the music we created was extraordinary.” In 1980, the choir was invited to sing at a prestigious music competition in Vienna, and Dave recalls their being “every bit as good as the world-famous Vienna Boys Choir.”

Dave recalls other Boychoir singers from that era, Rollie Ransom (“a nice kid and star soprano soloist”) and Scott Skorheim---who he says taught him to break a few rules! He remembers fellow altos Jon Westgaard, a “funny and charismatic” kid, and Mr. Pfeiffer’s son, Kurt, who brought a measure of toughness to the section. Dave also has warm memories of Virginia Pfeiffer, who wrote and directed the Boychoir skits, substitute conductor Dr. Leon Thurmond, and accompanist William Bailey.

When asked about any takeaways from his time in the choir, Dave remembers once being asked by Mr. Pfeiffer to take a solo in “Little Lamb”, which had a few soaring soprano phrases. “I was incredibly honored . . . and incredibly nervous. I practiced for a week at home, with my mom playing the piano, but I was terrified and couldn’t sleep.” He eventually told the conductor he would pass on the solo. He says, “In the back of my mind, I assumed I would get a chance to take it back if I changed my mind. As the season progressed, every time I heard Rollie sing those lines, I regretted that decision more and more. I never got another chance.” He says he learned “when opportunity knocks, you need to push through temporary discomfort and grab it.”

“Years later, as a young executive at NBCUniversal, I was recruited [by] Paramount, [for] a role for which I was woefully unprepared, and I was intimidated. Drawing on this experience in the Boychoir, I accepted the role and embraced the challenge and achieved great success.”

Dave continues to embrace challenges, now as an executive at technology start-up Protege, which licenses movies, TV, and more to generative-AI companies for model training. He lives in Manhattan Beach, California with his wife Lynne and is “the proud father of two amazing daughters.” As far as singing goes, he says, “Sadly, my singing career has been consigned to my living room, accompanied by my poor guitar-playing, and occasionally karaoke with friends. It always makes me happy to sing.”

Like many Boychoir singers before him, Jacob Campen ('16) was first introduced to the choir by his dad. In 2007, he made the journey to downtown St. Paul and auditioned with Mr. J. at the Landmark Center Boychoir office and started singing with the choir that season. Jacob joined many others from the class of 2016---Henry Henson, Eddie Hoey, Dawson DeBaker, Luke Bilotta, Sam Hohenshell, and Ayden McCloskey---discovering "an environment where it was OK to be yourself and express yourself through music without judgement."

Jacob recalls the countless hours spent in the backstage green room at Orchestra Hall during rehearsals and performances of Hansel and Gretel, Scandinavian Christmas, and Leonard Bernstein's Mass. He remembers the 2009 Alaskan cruise tour and the 2010 tour to the Pacific International Children's Choir Festival in Oregon. There, he and his Boychoir friends enjoyed climbing their 'favorite tree' on the University of Oregon campus and "sharing their music with children's choirs from around the world." 

After high school, Jacob attended Iowa State University, where he joined the Iowa State Singers---directed by Dr. James Rodde, a Morris Nilsen Boys Choir alum. He graduated in 2020 with a BS in Electrical Engineering and a minor in music. He currently lives in St. Louis Park and works as a research and development electrical engineer at Ecolab. He feels the Boychoir provided him with a framework of personal and professional conduct that greatly helped him through his college and work endeavors and gave him a lifelong love of singing!

Even now the Boychoir continues to be a part of Jacob's life. He lends his voice to both Adult Choir and AlumSing. He's also attended some of the Alumni Happy Hour events where he says he enjoyed reflective conversations with other alums about "our foundational experiences" and how the choir "shaped how we present ourselves and...interact with the world even to this day." Jacob says "the sense of community and belonging was an important part of the choir. The commitment required...built a sense of resilience and an ability to enjoy the process of creating something great."