Sixty-two-year-old Maximillan Lurz—his friends call him
Max—has been a student for most of his life, and he’s
not stopping now. Lurz grew up in Frankfurt, Germany. After high
school he traveled to Paris to study economics, and he obtained
an M.B.A. in economics from Georgetown University in Washington.
Lurz did not stop learning there. After retiring from banking,
he chose—as many retired Germans do—to attend the
University of Mainz (a University of the Third Life), where he
studies philosophy and political science. He has come to the Atrium
six times to study Italian to keep his brain working and to enjoy
Italian culture.
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Lurz, who is half-German and half-French, can speak both
of his parents’ languages as well as English.
As an investment banker, Lurz traveled all
over the world. He worked in England, in France, and at
the World Bank in Washington. He has traveled to all corners
of the globe, but his favorite places are Arizona (where
he lives six weeks a year), Germany, India (where he stays
twice a year for two to three weeks), and Italy. He says
that Italy is his favorite country, with Rome his preferred
city.
Lurz came to the Atrium after trying to succeed in large
language classes at the university in Perugia. He couldn’t
learn much there, though, sitting in classrooms with upwards
of 80 students at a time. When he returned to Germany, a
friend from work suggested the Atrium. One of her employees
had studied at the Atrium and highly recommended the small
institute with tiny classes and good teachers.
For his seventh visit to the Atrium, Lurz is living on
a mountainside next to anancient monastery. He says that
he loves talking to the monks every morning.He enjoys Cagli
and plans to keep returning because the people are so friendly.
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If you know the right street in Cagli, you
can catch a little opera music on your daily stroll or passegiata,
as the Italians call it. Atrium professors are teaching
a Korean opera singer/director (Korean opera professionals
often study Italian because it is the language of so many
operas.)
Bok-Young Heo developed a love for opera at the age of
15 and has since spent his life working with it. The Seoul
native has directed some 44 productions and has co-directed
at least nine, including La Boheme, Traviata, Il Travatore
and Aida, at a number of universities and opera centers
in Korea. |
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Heo studied voice in Seoul, at Chung-Ang University. After
studying at the Atrium, Heo plans to study voice at the
voice academy in Cagli, and then he will travel to Milan
to learn how to produce operas.
He finds Italian difficult because the language is so different
from his own. It is especially difficult because Koreans
have a different alphabet. He studied Italian for two months
in Korea before coming to the Atrium three months ago, and
he plans to stay in Italy for three to four more years,
hoping to land a job with an Italian opera company. His
family is joining him in Italy.
Though, he likes Korean food more, Heo enjoys Italian culture,
with which he fell in love through its music. This love
for Italian is helping him get through the shock of living
in such a different culture.
Many of the students who come to the Atrium, come from
different backgrounds and cultures, but their stay in Cagli
gives them a common bond, with which they keep forever.
Many stay in touch long after their few short weeks here
in small Cagli.
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