John Prescott is now a Ph.D.

John Prescott, one of our pre-concert lecturers, has some exciting news to share.  In December he completed his dissertation in musicology at  UC Berkeley (where he studied with Davitt Moroney) and has now been awarded his Ph.D.  His dissertation discussed the blind Baroque composer John Stanley, and is titled John Stanley, “A Miracle of Art and Nature”: The Role of Disability in the Life and Career of a Blind 18^th Century Musician.  For this scholarly work, Dr. Prescott drew upon the fields of disability history and disability studies, in addition to musicology.

He has a continuing interest in writing more about blind musicians.

His other news is that his guide dog Vanessa (familiar to pre-concert lecture audiences) will be retiring in June after a nine-and-a-half year career in service.  She will live with friends of Dr. Prescott in San Francisco, with a yard and the promise of many trips to the park.  He will meet his next guide dog this summer.  The January concerts will thus be Vanessa’s swan song in the realm of Philharmonia Baroque