Michael and Karen Kitt\u2019s donation to NAU\u2019s music department will serve generations of student musicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michael and Karen Kitt aren\u2019t from northern Arizona. Neither of them attended NAU. Neither is a musician. So why did the couple choose the NAU School of Music as the recipient of an overwhelmingly generous gift? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The answer is threefold: avid intellectual curiosity, a deep appreciation for creative expression, and an insatiable zest for life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Kitts\u2019 gift is the largest donation the College of Arts and Letters (CAL<\/a>) has ever received. In appreciation of the Kitts\u2019 sizable gift to CAL\u2019s School of Music, the department has been officially renamed the Kitt School of Music<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Set against the stories of their lives, the Kitts\u2019 beneficence makes perfect sense. Michael and Karen both grew up and went to college in New York. Both developed a passion for music in childhood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Karen\u2019s family encouraged her when she wanted to play the violin in elementary and middle school. In college, her roommate was a piano major. Mike grew up in a musical family. \u201cI was the one who had no musical talent,\u201d he quips. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After college\u2014they are both first-generation college graduates, Mike with degrees in chemistry and business management, and Karen in political science\u2014they each led successful professional lives in Manhattan. Karen was 25 years into an IT career at Verizon when a reorganization effort gave her the chance for early retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo at the age of 46 and a half they said \u2018Karen, would you like to retire with full pension, healthcare, dental care, telephone discounts?\u2019 I said, \u2018Where do I sign?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Around the same time, she started dating and then married her neighbor, Mike. From the beginning, music was integral to their life together. \u201cMusic, a love of classical music, was something we both developed before we met,\u201d Mike says. \u201cMusic was something we had in common.\u201d The couple took full advantage of the cultural riches of Manhattan, attending numerous concerts at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and many other venues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soon after they married, Mike retired from a 30-year career in strategic planning at pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. They wasted no time launching into a lifetime of adventures. The Kitts traveled\u2026a lot. They bought a motor home and toured the United States and Canada, driving 73,000 miles over the course of 11 years\u2014enough to circle the globe nearly three times. They\u2019ve been to every National Park west of the Mississippi. Mike’s lifelong passion for astronomy resulted in many trips to Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory. They met every experience with curiosity and enthusiasm. And at every step along the way, there was music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In December 2012, after living in the Catskill Mountains in southeastern New York and Palm Desert, California, they moved to Flagstaff full-time. A quiet retirement was never a consideration. Both Karen and Mike jumped feet first into enjoying and serving in the community. \u201cIt\u2019s just our natural inclination to get involved,\u201d Mike says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They formed relationships with the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra, the Museum of Northern Arizona, The Arboretum, and other groups around town, continuing their association with Lowell Observatory. \u201cWhen we came to Flagstaff, NAU wasn\u2019t even on our radar,\u201d says Mike. In the beginning, NAU was just a place to take nice walks. But soon, the couple\u2019s passion for music drew them to campus for more than just walks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve always enjoyed music,\u201d Mike says. \u201cIt was very natural for us to come to NAU for some performances. And we were quite impressed. We realized that there\u2019s a lot of unrealized potential there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That potential is a product of NAU\u2019s ability to attract the best and brightest. Mike calls it \u201cthe Flagstaff effect.\u201d He adds, \u201cthere are people who could go to almost any university, but they\u2019re looking at quality of life and the kind of lifestyle and general atmosphere that NAU offers. And so we attract good people, whether it\u2019s faculty or students. Really, really high quality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Kitts made some initial donations to the music department. Over the years, their support deepened as they watched the talented faculty take gifted but untested students and form them into accomplished musicians. They also saw that the department was underresourced. So their philanthropy increased, and in 2019, they were the principal backers of the new Kitt Recital Hall<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The vision, says Kitt School of Music Director Eric Lenz<\/a>, went beyond providing a quality space for students. \u201cMichael and Karen consider music a powerful force capable of bridging our university with the community and region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nCounterpoint (the simultaneous sound of two or more melodies<\/em>)*<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Allargando (gradually decreasing<\/a> in tempo<\/a> and broadening in manner<\/em>)*<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Accelerando (a gradually increasing tempo<\/em>)*<\/h3>\n\n\n\n