Like many young boys, Ken Tedeschi grew up playing baseball and basketball, continuing through his days at North Haven High School. While he enjoyed sports, he also had a history with music as both of his parents encouraged his musical talents.

Ken played the trumpet in high school, taught by one of his mentors, Richard Green, who also later taught Ken in college. Ken remembers the moment that he realized that studying music might shape his path in life.

“When I was a junior, the choir and orchestra put on a performance of Carmina Burana and that was integral,” says Ken. “I had never really played like that with the collaboration of the orchestra and choir, along with the ballet to go along with it. The music was very moving to me I really liked being in the company of all of the musicians. At that point, I thought maybe music might be more of my calling and I knew sports was a finite career.”

Ken went to the University of Connecticut and met his wife, Barbara, his freshman year, which also influenced his career. Barbara was already a music education major who played the French horn.

“She was way ahead of the game as far as music education and it was great to have her influence and encouraging me,” says Ken. “We were going to concerts and played our fair share of concerts, which was also a big ingredient of why I went into music.”

Now the pair has been married for 32 years, both working in music education. They live in Branford with their two sons: 17-year-old John is a member of Music Makers, the concert choir, and the band at Branford High School and also plays the drums at Neighborhood Music School and 14-year-old David who plays clarinet in the jazz band at Walsh Intermediate School and enjoys Tae Kwon Do and technology.

Ken started his teaching career as a long-term sub in Weston before teaching three years in the parochial school system. In 1984, he began his career at his alma mater—North Haven High School—where he has been ever since. He leads the wind ensemble, orchestra, and two jazz bands.

“[Growing up] I didn’t think I’d be teaching music, no less at North Haven High School [NHHS], but things always happen for a reason,” says Ken, who noted Barbara now works in the music department at Totoket Valley Elementary School in Northford. “I am really blessed to be in this job and it’s been rewarding. We have great support from the administration and tremendous support from the North Haven Education Foundation.”

In 2007, Ken got involved with NHHS’s musicals, taking over as conductor in 2008 for a production of Beauty and the Beast. Since then he has conducted the shows each year with productions including Bye Bye Birdie, The Music Man, Guys and Dolls, Hairspray, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Chicago, The Sound of Music, and most recently, The Addams Family Musical, which wrapped up last weekend.

“The energy [of Addams Family] was really positive—it’s fun music and there is great humor written into the lines,” says Ken. “Chicago was up there as one of my all-time favorites because the band is on stage and it’s all acoustic.”

For the high school productions, Ken works with a mix of both professional and high school musicians. The orchestra for Addams Family was made up eight students and seven professionals, including Ken and Sarah Gothers, the school’s choir director. Ken enjoys working with both the professionals and the students.

“Sarah is just an unbelievable positive supplement and it was great having a pianist here all the time,” says Ken. “The students who participate are really having to elevate their game and make sure they can keep up and they’re doing a great job.”

While teaching and conducting the NHHS orchestra takes up a fair amount of time, that is only the beginning of Ken’s musical commitments. As a professional trumpet player, he often has engagements with the New Haven Symphony, the Bushnell, Yale, summer theater in New Canaan, and as a substitute for the Hartford Symphony, as well as freelance jobs at churches, weddings, and more.

“The way my trumpet playing has gone there seems to be a lot more opportunities to play shows these days,” says Ken. “I used to do a ton at weddings and churches—that market has dwindled, but the Broadway-type show performances have escalated.”

Ken’s schedule is certainly booked as he played for Cinderella at the Bushnell in January and worked on Addams Family for NHHS throughout February. Now he will be working with the Hartford Symphony before playing church services for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. He closes out the school year with engagements with the New Haven Symphony, Yale Glee Club, Beauty and the Beast for another high school, and graduations.

In the summer, he will work on West Side Story through summer theater of New Canaan for a month and then If Then at the Bushnell in August. This fall, he plans to work on Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and An American in Paris.

“It really doesn’t feel like work—I look forward to it very much,” says Ken. “I enjoy the challenge of it, trying to get music to sound the best it can.”