His involvement in “Drawing with Fred,” he explains, stems from his belief in the importance of exposing children to classical music.
“I found it exciting to think about the opportunity to present opera in a different context, where it might not be so intimidating,” McCarty says.
To this end, McCarty has also been involved in the Cape Cod Opera’s community outreach program, where members of the company travel to high schools to perform excerpts from famous operas.
“I have this memory of performing
Rigiletto in a high school cafeteria at 9 a.m. and thinking ‘how am I going to make this relevant to these kids?’” McCarty recalls. “But when you explain the plot in terms of a teenage crush, an overprotective father, hot guys and slimeballs, then high school students can start to relate.”
Harvard students are not surprised by McCarty’s innovative and dynamic approach to teaching opera.
“Logan was very creative in his teaching of chemistry,” says Kelly A. Morrissey ’04, who was one of McCarty’s students when he served as a non-resident Chemistry tutor in Eliot House last year. “He performed in lecture at the end of Chem. 5 last year, so I knew that in addition to being a chemistry genius and excellent teacher, he was also a very talented musician,” says Morrissey.
With McCarty’s life seemingly pursuing two divergent paths, it remains to be seen whether he will forsake the corridors of the Science Center for the more expansive world of opera full-time.
“I wouldn’t want to give up either of them, so I think I will keep teaching as my primary profession—but perhaps in high schools rather than college level—and pursue singing on the side,” McCarty explains.
In the meantime, McCarty foresees the sort of nightmare schedule he endured in the lead-up the Cape Cod Opera production. “I had rehearsals all day in the weeks preceding the performance,” he recalls, “which meant that I was teaching review sessions for chemistry, jumping in the car to fight peak hour traffic, and then an hour later standing on stage performing opera. It was crazy.”