Rex and Cathy Rund both spent their youth on central Illinois grain and livestock farms, a sophisticated background that inevitably led to their love of classical music!?  They discovered each other at Eastern Illinois University, where Rex multitasked by earning his masters in choral conducting while wooing Cathy, who studied vocal performance.  They fell for each other during opera rehearsals, playing the romantic leads opposite each other. They both won numerous academic and artistic awards; Cathy won more.  They were frequent opponents in vocal competitions; Cathy won every time. 

Presumably in a tiff over the competition thing, Rex took both his swine husbandry skills and the same conducting baton he still wields to a 2½-year stint with the Peace Corps in Haiti. Cathy followed him as a missionary a year later, teaching general music, choir, and piano to inner-city students at Haiti’s only classical music school, while Rex conducted the adult choir as a secondary project to his work with pig farmers. They got engaged on a mountainside overlooking the lights of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. Rex was named “Peace Corps Volunteer of the Year” for the Western Hemisphere in 1987, an award presented at the White House by George Bush, Sr.

They returned from Haiti to the States long enough to get married, and then it was off to seven years in Austria, where Cathy had been awarded a Rotary International Scholarship to study opera at the world-renowned Mozarteum in Salzburg. She studied under legendary Mozart soprano Wilma Lipp on her way to winning the conservatory’s top prize for opera performance, the Lilli Lehmann Medallion.  She was also a finalist in the European-wide Deutsche Rundfunk opera auditions.  Upon graduation from the Mozarteum, she was engaged as a soloist for four years (1991-95) at the Vienna Staatsoper, one of the world’s elite opera houses, where she became Vienna’s favorite Papagena in Mozart’s The Magic Flute.  She also appeared as a soloist in Monte Carlo and Oslo.  Rex taught math, English, and music in international schools in Salzburg and Vienna.  He sang in the Salzburg Cathedral Choir and, with Cathy, led the music at a Catholic parish in Vienna.

Since returning to America in 1995, Rex and Cathy both use their musical talent mostly in God’s service as music directors at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church in Carmel and St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church in Westfield, respectively.  They collaborated last year as conductor and cantor for the principal Mass at the national convention of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, leading 3300 church musicians from around the world in worship and song.  This past June they led their church choirs on a choral pilgrimage to Salzburg, Assisi, and Rome, singing at Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica with Pope Benedict XVI on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.  They have both been honored as “Distinguished Young Alumni” of their alma mater, EIU.

Cathy has enjoyed numerous collaborations with David Bowden and the Carmel, Columbus, and Terre Haute Symphony Orchestras, and has become an Indiana audience favorite.  Rex has served as guest conductor/clinician at choral festivals in the Midwest and in Vienna. He is a published author and is listed in the current edition of Who’s Who in America.  He and Cathy both speak German and Haitian Creole; their English is passable.

Rex and Cathy take great pride and delight in their three children: Jacob (who died of cancer in 2002), Emma, and Marian.  The girls are both excellent singers, to no one’s surprise!  Emma, a sixth grader at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School, is a budding oboist, enjoys crafts and sewing, and has already performed several joint concerts with mom and dad.  They all enjoy country life at their home near Sheridan, where they are avid gardeners. Cathy and the girls raise rare poultry breeds for farm fresh eggs.  Rex enjoys training for and running marathons – ten to date.  He has won running medals; Cathy has not.   

Rex Rund

Cathy Rund