Passing of German Studies Alum

The German Studies Department mourns the death of our beloved alum Christopher McMullen-Laird (Zeke).  After spending his junior year at the University of Mainz on the VDAC exchange, Zeke returned to graduate in 2005 with a truly original and interdisciplinary senior fellowship project. He researched and staged several of Mozart's masterworks, including "La clemenza di Tito" and "Die Zauberflöte."  For the culminating performance, he brought professional musicians to Hanover and conducted the ensemble in Rollins Chapel. After graduating, supported by a DAAD Fellowship and a Reynolds Scholarship from Dartmouth, Zeke studied conducting at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar and then worked with different German and international orchestras, including the Staatsoper in Munich, assisting world-renowned conductors such as Ken Nagano and Kirill Petrenko. He had just started as the music director for the Jaeren Symfoniorkester in Norway last year and was about to graduate from the Royal College of Music in London, when he died very suddenly of a yet unclear medical issue.  Many of our faculty remained in touch with Zeke throughout the years.  He was very active in the Dartmouth alumni organization, and loved connecting with new groups of students, who were discovering German culture on their study-abroad programs as he once had.  His vision, warmth and brilliance will be unforgettable to anyone who knew him. Our condolences go to his husband Sindre, and his family.  If you would like to share your memories of Zeke, please contribute to his memorial website: https://christopherquentin.com/memorial/