Logan P. McCarty ’96 leads a double life. For the last four years, his day job as the head teaching fellow for Chemistry 5: “Introduction for Principles of Chemistry” has made him famous among pre-meds, who laud him for his fun teaching style and know him only as the TF who concludes the final lectures with a song. But in between balancing chemical equations and teaching first-years the solubility equilibrium, McCarty’s found time to pursue his other passion—opera.

For the last five years, McCarty has performed with the professional Cape Cod Opera Company and—as an added bonus—has become the inspiration for an all-singing animated children’s television show.

McCarty says that performing has made him a better teacher—and vice versa.

“Teaching a class is like giving a performance,” he says, “The ways that your movement communicates on stage is relevant to lectures. Conversely, I’m more comfortable performing on stage when I’ve given lectures in front of 200 people.”

Music on the Brain

McCarty’s passion for music extends to his days as an undergraduate, when the chemistry concentrator—who taught sections for the Harvard Extension School’s versions of Chem. 5 and Chemistry 7: “Principles of Chemistry”—sang as a member of the Glee Club. Even after graduating and entering a master’s program in the chemistry department, McCarty sang with the group and stayed close to the Harvard community as a resident tutor in Eliot House.

In 1998, while performing with the Harvard Gilbert and Sullivan Players in the musical Iolanthe, McCarty was approached by Elizabeth Canterbury, a student at the Longy School of Music—located just a few paces from the Yard on Garden Street. Canterbury suggested that McCarty audition for the head opera tutor position at Longy—advice McCarty took to heart.

After finishing his master’s degree in 1998, he enrolled at the Longy School of Music graduate program in Opera Performance, where he studied for two years while continuing to teach sections at Harvard.

“It was a random thing to do, very spontaneous. My family thought it was a little weird, but my [younger] brother had made a similar transition...so that made it easier,” says McCarty.

Justin A. McCarty, Class of 1996, left Harvard College after three months to attend the New England Conservatory to study double-bass, but has since graduated and now works alongside the elder McCarty as a TF in the chemistry department.

After finishing his degree in music, McCarty focused on performing with the professional Cape Cod Opera Company, most recently in their production of Madame Butterfly.

“Logan Likes His Lyrics”

While singing at a local church performance two years ago, McCarty caught the attention of local television personality Dominic “Fred” Grandinetti, a volunteer who has hosted an award-winning children’s television show, “Drawing with Fred,” on the local Watertown Channel since 1992.

“[The show] teaches kids how to draw cartoon characters, and draws on the tradition of classic animated figures such as Popeye and Casper,” Grandinetti says.

When Grandinetti heard McCarty sing, he immediately envisioned the possibility of merging opera and cartoons and invited McCarty to guest-host soon after.