Board Profile: Michael Coretz

Q: How long have you been involved with AFCM?

Michael Coretz: My father got involved in the [what was then called] Friends of Music before
I was born, and I grew up with classical music in the house. When I was young I remember the organizers having board meetings at my home. We moved furniture out of the living room and set up chairs for an annual concert for the patrons of the Arizona Friends of Music. So the answer is: my whole life. After my father passed away, my arm was twisted by Jean-Paul Bierny to join the board.

Q: What is your current role on the Board?

MC: I work on the Festival and special projects. Last year I organized an AFCM booth at the Tucson Festival of Books and helped introduce the Summertime Evenings series.

Q: What role does music play in your life?

MC: I enjoy listening to music and find it to be powerful in many ways. No matter what kind of day I have had, music makes me happy. Music appeals to the heart; it stirs our emotions and reaches even into our subconscious mind and to our forgotten memories. It is the one universal art form that transcends race and creed, the rich and the poor. It can be practiced, played, sung, or listened to by anyone and everyone. That is its power.

Q: Did you play an instrument or perform as a child?

MC: The clarinet and saxophone.

Q: What other kinds of music do you enjoy?

MC: Mostly jazz and easy listening music.

Q: What do you do when you’re not working on AFCM?

MC: I am a commercial real estate broker, and I specialize in representing tenants and users of commercial real estate.

Q: Your interests outside of chamber music?

MC: I am a connoisseur who enjoys wine and food, travel and photography, and spending time with my better half and our family.

Q: What is the best part of an AFCM concert?

MC: The world-class music that we bring to Tucson.

Q: What is your favorite piece of chamber music?

MC: I have a preference for any work that has a piano (since that was what my father played). Also I enjoy pieces from the Classical and Romantic eras.

Q: What’s your favorite book?

MC: The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas Friedman.