Opera teacher returns to Seneca Valley school, surprises mentor with performance
HARMONY — There wasn’t a dry eye in the LGI room at Connoquenessing Valley Elementary School on Friday, when former student and professional tenor Michael Pegher belted out three tunes in homage to retired choral music teacher Susan Dinger.
The renowned opera singer and 2003 Seneca Valley Senior High graduate told Dinger and the dozens of teachers assembled in the school’s Large Group Instruction room that he had more than 1,500 performances under his belt.
“And that was the first one, right on that stage,” Pegher said as he pointed to the elevated rear of the room.
He recalled his first chorus performance in the cafeteria as a slightly older student at the school.
“Mrs. Dinger was the first time I remember a teacher being proud of me,” he said, fighting back tears. “My mom said ‘You are doing a great job in this class, and I thought ‘maybe I’m OK at this.’”
Pegher took violin lessons since he was a young child, and excelled with that instrument before moving to voice in later grades.
He also pointed to Seneca Valley music instruction legend Bob Matchett, who prepared him for his post-high school music education.
“It was insane. We were all prepared for music theory (class) in college because of him,” Pegher said.
While he needed the assistance of sheet music for the words to one of the three songs he belted out on Friday, he remembered the first song he learned in Dinger’s class.
“Come and get your baked potato,
Come and get your baked potato
Careful, it may be hot.”
Dinger covered her face in delight at the sight and sound of a famous tenor singing the rudimentary childhood tune.
During the other three songs, which Pegher sang with the same gusto he would on a professional stage, many in the room dabbed their eyes at the raw talent in the small room from a one-time little boy who attended their school.
Pegher, who recalled the names of all the teachers at Dinger’s table and many features of the school, sang “Stornellatrice” by Ottorino Respighi, “Bring Him Home” from “Les Miserable,” and “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” by Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion.
Accompanying his classmate on the piano, which was painted white and festooned with various musical stickers, was Ryan Stewart.
Stewart had run into Pegher at their 20th class reunion recently and told him he could accompany him should he sing anywhere in the area.
After the performance, Pegher and Dinger laughed and chatted in the entrance hallway.
Dinger, who retired in 2021, had no idea why the school’s principal had called and invited her to the school Friday.
“When she asked me to come in, I thought they were going to ask me to play something,” Dinger said. “I thought ‘I don’t have anything prepared.’”
She was on vacation in Virginia, which she cut short to come to CVE for mysterious reasons.
Dinger did not initially recognize her former student, as Pegher would have been around 9 years old when he left CVE.
“What an honor,” she said of the performance. “It was a very nice surprise.”
Pegher has spent the past 13 years employed in the ensemble of the Staatstheater Darmstadt in Darmstadt, Germany.
He and his wife recently decided to move back to the Zelienople area so their young daughter could attend classes at CVE.
Sean McCarty, assistant superintendent at Seneca Valley, smiled broadly as Pegher sang.
“It was such a genuine example of what education can do,” McCarty said. “The emotions I saw around the room were so powerful and sincere.”
