Bass singer and Marine from Marblehead, Massachusetts, who graduated from Andover PhillipsAcademy in 1997 and then attended Harvard. He was a member of The Harvard University Choir and appeared on their yuletide offering, Christmas in the Busch.
During his time at Harvard, he decided to enlist in the United States Marine Corps and received his military training in Quantico, Virginia. After graduation, he became an infantry platoon commander and second lieutenant and was one of the first Marines to invade Baghdad. He was redeployed in 2003 and put in charge of a radio and television station in Iraq, and also assisted General David Petraeus in the training of the Iraq army.
In the summer of 2010, he was embedded as a journalist in Afghanistan, working alongside Dan Rather. He is featured in the documentary, No End in Sight.
Harvard University Choir recordings
Adeste Fidelis (Frederick Oakeley/John Francis Wade)
Pro Organo CD 7134 (Christmas in the Busch)
Conductor – Murray Forbes Somerville
Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra
Director – Robert Mealy
The Harvard Brass
Soprano – Awet Andemichael
Bass – Mark Risinger
Organists – Erica Johnson and Edward Jones
Sources:
- http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,1594262,00.html
- http://www.stsebs.org/school/student-life/StudentPublications/WalrusFeb09.pdf
- http://www.andover.edu/About/NotableAlumni/Pages/shortlist.aspx
- http://pdf.phillipian.net/2009/05292009.pdf
- http://www.massglobalaction.org/projects/antiwar/herald-200-399.rtf
- http://www.fubar.com/random-rantings/b223554
- http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2007/07/
- http://www.alumniconnections.com/olc/pub/PAA/files/ClassNotesWinter2010.pdf
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marblehead,_Massachusetts
- Liner notes: Christmas in the Busch