A single prayer, a lifetime of music

By Charleston Southern on April 5, 2011 - 12:28 pm in Serving / no comments

When David Cuttino was a child he battled a serious illness. In fact, his parents were worried he wouldn’t live. The family turned to God in prayer.

“ Lord, if you save him, I’ll make sure he works for You,” his father prayed.

He did save him and, indeed, Cuttino’s life became a product of his Christian faith.

Dr. David Cuttino was a music professor from 1965-2000, and his life and legacy were celebrated during the Cuttino Choir Reunion Concert as part of Homecoming.

Jasmine Lee, a 1986 alumnus and minister of music at Broadacres Baptist Church in Cayce, S.C., said, “The thing that impresses me the most, even to this day, is he lived ministry. He didn’t have to teach me how to do it because we just observed his life. He was real. What he taught, he lived.”

“ His faith was unshakeable,” said Carole Cuttino, the late professor’s daughter.

“ One of the biggest tributes to him is not musical; everyone knows he was a musician,” said Cuttino’s son, Walter. “The thing that has impressed me the most is the huge impact he made on people’s lives. That, to me, is the greatest tribute.”

But make no mistake Cuttino was a great musician, for a man who earned his first college degree in engineering. A Sumter, S.C., native, Cuttino enrolled at The Citadel to study civil engineering. While at the school, Cuttino would rise before his fellow cadets, grab his trumpet and play Reveille in the morning and Taps in the evening before bed.

Music was Cuttino’s gift from God. It was his life’s passion and the lingering whisper of a father’s prayer that would eventually lead him into ministry.

By 1965, when he was hired at the Baptist College, Cuttino had become a minister of music and an ordained minister. He wrote the lyrics and music to the university’s alma mater. Today, a copy of the handwritten lyrics hangs in a small wooden frame inside the alumni office at Charleston Southern.

Cuttino loved music – period. Christian, gospel, choir, hymns, even secular music. He was a big fan of Frank Sinatra and Big Band music.

“ We were a musical family,” remembers Walter. “It was just part of life for us.”

Throughout his high school years Walter toured with the Baptist College concert choir as a drummer. “I got to know his style,” he said. “One of the things I am eternally thankful for is he taught me how to sight-read. He made a game out of it; he didn’t force me to do it. He made it fun.”

Without any pressure or arm twisting, Walter Cuttino’s first music teacher was his father.

“ When I went into high school, and later into college, it put me so far ahead,” he said. “I didn’t even realize it. I couldn’t thank him enough. I can’t put a price tag on how valuable that was.”

Walter Cuttino received his bachelor of music in voice from the University of South Carolina and his master of music in voice and an artist diploma in opera from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. He performed throughout Europe, with more than 950 operatic appearances to his credit. He has also performed more than 250 concerts, including a concert tour with the late Leonard Bernstein to London and Moscow.

In 1996, Walter Cuttino returned to USC to teach voice. Today, most of his teaching involves one-on-one vocal instruction.

“ You become their teacher and mentor,” said Walter. “They stay in touch with you after they graduate. In Dad’s case they stayed in touch decades after they graduated.”

Walter’s resume is exceedingly more fascinating when you consider, like his father, music was not on the short list of career choices.

“ I did not intentionally attempt to emulate and imitate my father professionally,” he said. “I was going to go to law school. I was already accepted when I decided to go to a couple auditions for graduate school in music.”

Two music degrees and 14 years in Europe later, Walter’s life is firmly planted in music, not law. The father-son musicians would perform together hundreds of times. Whether he was living in Cincinnati or across the globe in Europe, Walter would come home once a year and perform in a series of concerts alongside his father.

“ I never planned to follow in his footsteps, to be just like him,” said Walter. “The thing that is almost spooky to me now is that Dad was a singer, he was a tenor – I’m a tenor; Dad was a university professor – I’m a university professor; Dad was a choral conductor – I’m a choral conductor; Dad had four children – I have four children; Dad was a church music director – I’m a church music director.”

When the legendary CSU professor passed away in 2009, e-mails, letters and cards flooded Walt and Carole’s inbox. Friends, church members and students shared their experiences. Then, last February, Lee organized a planning team that included Charleston Southern alums Robbie Sox ’74, Rob Pierce ’85, Marilyn Reed Thomson, John Salter ’83, Mike Reed ’8) and Richard Waitt ’85.

“ Dr. Cuttino invested so much in all our lives,” said Lee. “I have talked to older graduates, and it’s exciting. The camaraderie—people are so excited because they’re going to see people, and sing with people, they haven’t seen since they were students here.”

Cuttino was remembered as a quiet but funny man. “He loved to laugh,” said Lee. “He was not just a professor; he was a friend, a mentor and a minister.” He was funny in more ways too. Cuttino also owned a pet tarantula named Charlotte. “He would walk around campus with that tarantula on his shoulder,” remembers Walter.

“ Everything I do, he did,” said Walter. “So everything I do now reminds me of him. I will be conducting the choir or working with a student, and I will just feel him.”

That feeling returned when Walter Cuttino came to campus to conduct the reunion choir. The engineer and the lawyer were back on tour making beautiful music.

Tags: David Cuttino Horton School of Music