An Interview with Pete Calgaro
by Jennifer Parker
One of the pleasures of doing these interviews is getting to know people that I don’t know at all. It is just as much a pleasure to learn more about people I’m familiar with. I’m sure you’ll love learning more about Pete Calgaro, our wonderful Music Director..
What would you like to share with the community about your life?
“My goal in everything that I do is to help people remember who they are. Whether by artwork or music or anything. I’m trying to help people get in touch with their inner divinity. That’s the most important thing I want anyone to know.”
“I really like to get people involved in music at Unity—that includes the congregation. When you are a part of the music program, it makes you want to come back, and it helps you get in touch with your inner guidance.”
“I’m the oldest of five children and have four younger sisters. We’re a close family. I grew up in northern Illinois by the state line. My mom still lives in Roscoe, Illinois, one sister lives there, and the rest are in the Chicago suburbs. There are a lot of nieces and nephews, too.”
“I grew up Catholic and went to Catholic schools. I’ve been playing music in church since I was ten, playing the pipe organ.” Pete began playing the organ when he was eight years old. His dad was what we call a celebration assistant in their church, and one day he said they needed music at the mass, so he brought Pete along with him, and that began his church music career.
Pete began drumming and playing guitar when he was twelve. “When I was in middle school, I played drums in the jazz band. That’s where Ross Meyers and I first met. I played in the High School Jazz Band, and Pit Orchestra for musicals, as well.” In college, Pete’s music professor had many people trying out for drums, and he thinks the professor rigged it so that Pete wasn’t chosen to play drums but instead asked him to play piano. “I had never really played the piano before, but after that I started playing piano in jazz band and focused on that more as my main instrument.”
Pete has an associate’s degree in music from Rock Valley College. Later he received a communications degree from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.. “I decided to do that because I wasn’t interested in being a music teacher. Even though I come from a family of teachers.”
Pete and Áine met through church and band—a Catholic prayer group and community college concert band. Áine worked for the Rockford diocese newspaper after graduating college. They became engaged and then married when he was a senior in college. After graduating, they moved to Rockford. Áine found a job in Madison, and they decided there was more opportunity for Pete to find a job in video production there. They will celebrate their 40th anniversary in May.
Pete first worked in Beloit and was hired at Channel 15 in Madison 33 years ago. He is the Creative Services Director, which puts him in charge of producing the local and station commercials and the graphic look of the station.
Pete and Áine’s children Rachel and Peter are grown up now. Rachel is a software project manager living outside of Boston, Mass. And Peter lives on the East side of Madison and works for Milios. Both played in the Unity Chime Choir. Pete and Áine’s “Brazilian Daughter” exchange students, Giulia and Gabi, have also played in the Chime Choir. Gabi lives in Oshkosh with her husband Zeph. She recently became a US Citizen. Giulia lives in the Netherlands with her fiancé and is due to give birth in the next few days.
Pete has released 35 albums of meditative music you can listen to on any music platform, such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Amazon and Pandora.
What brought you to Unity?
“I was the contemporary choir director at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Madison. There was a shakedown where the priest retired and they fired a nun because the higher ups thought she was too active in the community. I wasn’t happy with that and was questioning.
I moved to being music director at a different Catholic church. One of the things I did was play for the daily mass for the kids in Catholic school. The priest was giving a homily in which he said ‘when Jesus said this, he meant this.’ I thought this doesn’t really add up. It made me think about the Bible, where it came from, who decided what everything means. I wondered how I could find that information. I stumbled upon Wayne Dyer’s’ book There’s a Spiritual Answer to Every Problem”. That was the first time I heard about spiritual energy.”
Pete’s spiritual journey led him to read Neil Douglas Walsh and that led to other books, including learning about the gospel of Thomas and the “lost” books that were hidden in Nag Hammadi. “I didn’t really consider myself Catholic anymore, but leaving isn’t an easy thing to do. All my family and friends were Catholic. At the same time that I decided to leave, I was training to be a life coach. That group helped me develop an exit plan.”
Pete and Áine then set out to find another spiritual home. They tried out different places and almost joined the Unitarian Society. When they saw a flier that advertised Matthew Fox was speaking at Unity, Pete became excited, having read Original Blessing by Fox. They decided to come the week before, and Rev. Marshall was talking about chakras, something Pete knew about since he had also become a Reiki Master Teacher by that time. “That was it; we decided Unity was the place we needed to be.” Pete and Áine joined a few months later while Pete was still directing the choir on Saturday nights at the Catholic church.
Pete introduced himself to Music Director Brian Schultz around that time and told him “I’m available if you need any help. Later, Brian invited him to play African drums with the choir and when the accompanist didn’t show up, he also played the piano so Brian could focus on conducting, which led to Pete becoming a service musician at Unity.
After reading a book about the original language of the Lord’s Prayer (Prayers of the Cosmos: Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus by Neil Douglas-Klotz), Pete wrote the New Lord’s Prayer, with assistance from the Unity Vocal Choir.
“Four or five months after that, Brian decided to retire from being Music Director and told me I should apply for the position.” Pete became Music Director in the summer of 2006.
What are your favorite activities at Unity?
“Music definitely. Getting to work with different musicians. I really like putting on my Evening of Meditative Music in December every year, as well.”
Is there anything you’d like to see Unity do that would make your experience even better?
“I am thinking about possibly doing more music events during the week at Unity.” Pete mentioned Kirtan as one thing he’d like to bring back.