USD Magazine Spring 2021

To say that Basil Considine ’03 (BA) is the musical sort is an understatement. For one thing, he began viola lessons at the age of five, playing on a small- sized instrument meant for ease of use for tiny-fingered youngsters. O

ne of 11 children — he has four brothers and six sisters — he says that a love of mu- sic is shared by his siblings. “It’s very common in the family,” he says. “My elder sister does experimental pop music in the Portland, Oregon area. I followed more of the classical music track.” Spoiler alert: His path eventu- ally led to the creation of Game of Thrones: The Musical , a pro- duction he describes as involv- ing the “killing a lot of puppets very quickly.” But that’s getting ahead of ourselves. Rewind. At the age of eight, Considine auditioned for and was accepted into what was then known as the Boston Arch- diocesan Choir School (subse- quently renamed the St. Paul’s Choir School), the only boys’ choir school in the U.S. affiliated with the Catholic Church. “Because of that, some oppor- tunities were opened to me at an unusual age, including to sing as a soprano soloist with the Bos- ton Symphony Orchestra, with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and other groups like that,” he says. There’s a sense that the conversation is warming up, which is a good thing, given that he’d mentioned (via Zoom) that the high is 50 degrees on this fall day in Minneapolis. This likely explains why he’s wearing a scarf — and what may very well be a jacket — indoors. “I grew up knowing John Wil- liams, who conducted the Boston Pops. I would go sing holiday concerts with him a couple times a year. And then when I learned that he had written soundtracks for Star Wars and things like that, I thought, ‘Oh, everyone has a conductor like this in their town,

right?’ Little did I realize.” In conversation, Considine manages the neat trick of being both erudite and personable with- out coming across as pedantic. What’s evident is the love he has for his craft. While music was always part of his life, it began to take on a different form when he got to high school. “That’s when theater entered my life,” he says with a laugh. “With great protest, I was drafted into the choir for a show to reinforce the voices. And I mumbled and grumbled my way through it, until the first dress rehearsal. And then I fell in love.” But not, as it turns out, with a fellow cast member. “It was when I saw the cos- tumes, the lights, the acting, as opposed to just singing the music. The musical was Li’l Abner , and I had no prior familiarity with the comic strip. I just thought, ‘Oh, these, songs are so hokey and cheesy.’” But when the show came together on stage, Considine was most definitely smitten. By the time he became a senior, his family had moved to San Diego, and he spent that year at Corona- do High School, “A school with a very active theater program,” he notes. “I was in four shows and worked on three or four more. When I arrived at USD, I ended up getting hired to be the theater manager’s assistant. I was able to move into that professional part of the theater world almost imme- diately upon arriving, which was a great experience.”

“When I told my grandfather I was applying to USD, he took me out to the backyard and pointed out the names of the different buildings. As it turns out, he’d been on one of the steering committees for the College for Women,” he recalls. “And one of my aunts, Sister Trudy Considine, went to USD as an undergraduate and then became a member of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart.” After taking a gap year be- tween college and high school, he arrived at USD certain he would pursue a major in … accounting? Say what? “My grandfather founded Con- sidine & Considine, which is the largest independent accounting firm in San Diego,” he explains. “But as it turns out, one of my roommates was an accounting major, and I helped him work on his homework. That’s when I realized, ‘I can do this, but it’s not fun. It doesn’t interest me. And I really don’t see myself doing this in years to come.’” What would continue to be fun was music. Considine joined the Founders Chapel Choir (“and an a cappella group or two”), participating in each of his eight semesters at USD. He looks back on that time with par- ticular fondness. “Choir Director Annette Welsh has been like a second mother to thousands and thousands of USD students, but especially those in the choir.” While he notes that belonging to the choir was required for music majors — which, some- what unsurprisingly, turned out to be his choice — he hastens to add that for him, being in- volved with the choir was most definitely for pleasure. For her

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onsidine’s grandparents lived across the valley from the University of San Diego in Mission Hills. From their

house, one could see the white buildings of the USD campus.

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Spr ing 2021