ESSAY
By mid-morning the clouds had parted and the sun was pushing out, slurping the excess water into a clammy humidity. As a premier attraction, Land Between the Lakes extended to its visitors an opportunity to view a working farm reminiscent of the 1800s, where young men and women, dressed in Ma and Pa Ingalls hand-me-downs, demonstrate Foxfire-style procedures.
Bill had taken the kids to see the animals and left me alone with my bad mood. I tromped through the pasture, feeling guilty. You’d better perk up, I berated myself.
Robin Donica Wolaver · January 1970
ESSAY
I’ve been around music all my life, for as long as I can remember. In fact, I don’t think there’s ever been a time when I didn’t have a tune in my head or a piece of music in my hands.
Music runs in our family. I was a voice major in college; my husband, Bill, is a composer; our six children have studied in the finest music schools and conservatories. All of us have performed together around the world with our own group, the Annie Moses Band, started when the kids were young.
Robin Donica Wolaver · January 1970
ESSAY
Why are millennials leaving the “Church?” Blog posts on this topic abound, attempting to answer the question. Some bemoan the trend. Others -- detractors -- crow about it.
Mostly, the bloggers post hopeful recipes for revival. But I believe we are overlooking pertinent cultural shifts that paint a deeper picture.
Robin Donica Wolaver · January 1970
NOTE
The arts are a spiritual discipline. And, like all spiritual disciplines, they have both a visible and an invisible reality.
They are often categorized as frivolous, but they are to the imagination what food is to the body.
As a Christian and as an artist, I could give you a line up of all the scriptures commanding us to sing, to play skillfully, and to write songs! I could speak to you of Jesus singing His final Psalm as He was crucified.
Annie Wolaver Dupre · January 1970
NOTE
Who knew that being a homemaker was so disgusting? It was all over social media: “You’ll never believe what he said.”
So, prepared to be scandalized!
I watched the commencement speech that shook the world, made by the kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, Harrison Butker, and discovered that the world was shocked, simply shocked, that he had the gall to go and say the most natural thing to have ever been said by a loving husband about a loving wife.
Annie Wolaver Dupre · April 2026
NOTE
I met a witch my first week at Juilliard. We were both freshman and I had gotten to know her roommate. The three of us went to eat chinese food on my birthday.
It was a simple conversation about our various backgrounds. I was from a big family. She was an only child. I was a Christian. She was a witch.
Annie Wolaver Dupre · March 2026
NOTE
It was March and Lent was in full swing. It was the sort of day that promises the spring that hasn't fully arrived, and we were prepping for a meeting.
It was a fairly important business meeting and the whole Annie Moses Band team had been working long hours getting the elements in hand.
As we headed for the door, I looked at my mother, and said, “Mama, you forgot your mascara.”
“I gave up mascara for Lent," she said.
Annie Wolaver Dupre · March 2026
NOTE
The year was 2001. It was my first week of college, and I was realizing my dream to become a world-class violinist. I was one of the few scholarship students to be admitted to the Juilliard School, the #1 music conservatory in the world. My parents’ sacrifice had brought my whole family to New York. I was green but fiery, and I was filled with anticipation for the future.
Annie Wolaver Dupre · March 2026
NOTE
His eyes were earnest as he looked at me and said: "It's obvious you have an amazing program. But I know what my senior pastor is going to say! He'll say, 'How are music lessons going to benefit the church and our membership?'"
We were sitting in the church lobby near a sign-up table holding two huge banners touting the church's basketball program.
The irony of it struck me.
Annie Wolaver Dupre · March 2026
NOTE
Growing up a southern, Christian homeschooler, I did not interact regularly with many Jewish people. I remember one young lady in orchestra when I was 10 or so who told me she didn’t celebrate Christmas but Hanukkah. I thought, “How sad…no Christmas.” But that was the extent of it.
While I didn’t personally know many Jewish people, the list of Jewish and Israeli musicians that made up the sound track of my childhood was a long one. Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, Isaac Stern, Shlomo Mintz, Emmanuel Ax, Zubin Mehta, Leonard Bernstein, Daniel Barenboim, George Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, the Sherman Brothers… These names are a tiny fraction of those who could be listed among the great performers, composers, and pedagogues who have made music what it is.
Annie Wolaver Dupre · March 2026
NOTE
This past week felt heavy for those involved in the arts and the mission of Kingdom building.
To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. - Revelation 2:12
I learned this week where Satan has his throne. It’s at the Grammys.
Annie Wolaver Dupre · March 2026
NOTE
My eleven-year-old son, David, is frequently asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“An astronaut,” he says.
This is slightly humorous, because David is a natural performer and loves playing piano, composition, singing and acting. Music? Or the Moon? Deep down he is torn.
So, the other day we were in the car and he posed the question to me, “Mom, what should I be when I grow up?”
Annie Wolaver Dupre · March 2026
NOTE
Musical theater is one of the most powerful experiences a young person can have. You memorize songs, bring those words to life through movement, and channel genuine emotion through acting. It's a whole-person workout — mind, body, and soul.
Annie Wolaver Dupre · February 2026
NOTE
“Annie, people don’t give money so other people’s kids can have lessons.”
He was frank but kind and — what’s worse — I knew he was right.
I was telling him the story of our struggles, that since the beginning of the Annie Moses Foundation, we tried to get church goers to underwrite the $30,000+ of scholarships given at the summer festival, but to no avail. Those scholarship numbers more than doubled with start of the Conservatory of Annie Moses, but almost no one would donate to help keep these programs running despite the deficit created by scholarships. He continued,
"You’d just be paying for some kid to have a lesson. That's the parent's job or the school's job."
Annie Wolaver Dupre · February 2026
NOTE
May brought something we've been working toward for years.
Our first graduation.
Three students—Abraham, Livia, and Rachel—walked across the stage at our Honors Recital as the inaugural Class of 2025. Historic? Yes. But what made it unforgettable was watching these young artists prove that training and truth can walk hand in hand.
Annie Wolaver Dupre · May 2025
NOTE
Seventeen sold-out shows. Standing ovations. Reviews that made us blush.
Our Fiddler on the Roof run at the Packard Playhouse wrapped last month, and I'm still catching my breath.
Here's what struck me most: watching my brother, Alex. step into Tevye's boots night after night, wrestling with tradition versus change on that Columbia, TN stage. The same questions Tevye asks—how do we hold onto what matters while the world shifts beneath us?—are the ones we're all asking.
Annie Wolaver Dupre · April 2025
