On Monday evenings during the spring semester, Ricci Band Rehearsal Hall came alive with the sounds of the University Band. Under the sloped ceiling, a cacophony of instruments broke out as students, faculty members and university alumni warmed up with their trombones, saxophones, drums, clarinets and flutes, among others.
In one of the blue chairs sat 97-year-old professor emeritus William Cerny, former chair of Notre Dame’s music department. This was his first semester back in the band after more than three years.
He stopped going to rehearsals during the COVID-19 pandemic, and his wife passed away in 2022, leading him to take a break. Then he attended the band’s fall 2025 concert. He was so impressed with the performance that he approached the conductors to ask if he could re-join for the spring semester.
“They opened up the door and let me join it,” he says.
Band director Sam Sanchez ’98, ’05M.A., sent Cerny the music from the fall concert so he could make sure he was up to the task. He began participating in weekly rehearsals in January.
Cerny previously played the clarinet in the band, and this time, he has a new instrument in his hands — the flute — but his lifelong principal instrument is neither. At his core, he is a pianist. He had a five-year career as a professional accompanist in New York City, from the time he graduated from the Yale School of Music in 1954 until he became a professor at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music in 1959.
“That’s what I thought I was going to do in my life,” Cerny says of his work as an accompanist, “but academia had more security.”
In 1970, while Cerny was working in Rochester, then-Notre Dame President Father Theodore M. Hesburgh, CSC, approached him to ask if he would be interested in joining the faculty at the University. He declined the offer because Notre Dame was still an all-male institution.
“With four girls, I wanted a place that was adaptable to their education,” Cerny says. He also didn’t think he could build a successful music program without female musicians.
In 1972, however, Notre Dame opened its doors to female undergraduates, so the Cernys packed up and moved to South Bend. That September, Cerny became a professor and chairman of the music department. He remained department chairman until 1981.
The music department at Notre Dame was rather humble when Cerny assumed his position. He recalled that there were only three pianos for the entire program, and many prospective students chose to attend schools with more established programs.
“The program, I felt, had to be restructured,” Cerny says. He aimed “to build up a program that would be attractive not only to beginners, but to experienced players as well.”
Cerny succeeded. In 1973, he announced an expansion of the department, which included intensifying curricula and adding musical groups and concert series. Under his leadership, the Notre Dame Symphony Orchestra gained new life, and a co-ed chorale group was established. He also taught a number of courses on topics such as Beethoven and music literature.
All four of his daughters went on to graduate from Notre Dame: Elaine ’77, Jean ’79, Mary ’83 and Carol ’85.
Cerny retired from the faculty in 2000. In his free time, he began focusing his attention on other instruments, including the piccolo, trombone, clarinet, oboe, French horn and flute. The dining room in his house is full of these instruments and many more CDs, as it doubles as his library and recording studio.
In the late 1990s, with the help of his daughter, Carol, Cerny started Wilmarc Records (a combination of his and his wife, Mary Ann’s, names). He began recording half-hour programs featuring him playing the piano and adding commentary. Those programs, “Explorations Into Piano Literature,” still air on Sundays on WSND-FM, Notre Dame’s classical and variety radio station.
In retirement, Cerny has more time for recording. He’s recorded so much music, in fact, that he says his recordings could be played once a week without any repetition for five and a half years.
“I have a very nice family that . . .” he says.
“Tolerated it,” his daughter, Jean, finishes for him, laughing.
“That’s a good way of saying it,” Cerny says.
Notre Dame’s University Band — founded in 2003 — is open to students, employees, alumni and members of the local community. The band performs one spring concert and one fall concert each year.
The free time he found during retirement also inspired him to join the University Band.
Playing in the band no longer comes as easily as it once did, but Cerny has learned to adapt. As the oldest member of the band, Cerny struggles with his eyesight and hearing, which can make rehearsal challenging. He sometimes will ask the conductors to speak louder, and he occasionally relies on assistance from the oboe players next to him, both students, to find his place in the sheet music.
“I’m impressed with them, not only as musicians, but as people,” Cerny says of his fellow band members. “I’m very impressed with the student body at Notre Dame. They’re the nicest group of people, quite frankly.”
Cerny plans to continue his participation in the University Band.
“If I make it, [with] my age, I don’t know,” Cerny says. “But next semester I’d like to get back into the band again. And this time, [playing a] different instrument.”
Brigid Iannelli, a rising junior American studies major with minors in journalism and education, was this magazine’s spring intern.