October 6, 2014
Maurice's operatic voice carried that tune for 35 years in the Boar's Head Festival from 1969 until his retirement in 2004. "In my mind, Maurice was known as "Mr. Boar's Head", and I can never think of anyone else when I hear the Boar's Head Carol.", said Boar's Head Festival director Bob Beiring.
A short clip of the chief minstrel, Maurice Mandell, leads the Boar's Head procession during the 2001 Festival.
Maurice Mandell, Chief Minstrel 1979-2004
photo from Boar's Head archive
Maurice Mandell with Boar's Head Director Bob Beiring, about 1989
Photo credit: Michael Wilson
Maurice's training was here in Cincinnati at the original Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where he studied operatic voice and also met his long-time wife, Louise, also a trained singer. Maurice's opera career took him to NYC, where he performed at both the Met and NYC Opera. He came back to Cincinnati to start his actual career in Financial Planning in 1968. Gerre Hancock, our Music Director in 1969, needed a new Chief Minstrel with a "voice", and hired Maurice. The rest is history, as Maurice and Louise liked Christ Church so much, they joined our ranks, and then he became a "volunteer singer" in the Festival as a CCC member, and best known of our Boar's Head's Chief Minstrels.
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