In Latin, “felix” means lucky or successful. And Antonia and Stan Felix have certainly lived up to their name.
Both husband and wife have had successful careers in music. On top of that, she’s become a New York Times bestselling author of biographies, with chronicles of Condoleeza Rice, Wesley Clark and tenor Andrea Bocelli to her credit.
And then there’s the move to Emporia this year. For the Felixes, who both teach at Emporia State University, that may be one of the luckiest events yet.
“It’s like you walk through a Norman Rockwell painting walking to school, with all the leaves and the cat sitting nearby on the porch,” said Stan Felix, a bass-baritone who teaches music. “You expect someone out of the 1930s to walk by.”
“And they do,” joked Antonia Felix, who teaches part-time for the English department.
The two are singing a holiday concert at 2 p.m. Sunday at St. Andrew’s Church, along with ESU faculty members Marie Miller, Bill Clamurro and other musicians. There is no charge, although donations will be taken for the church’s outreach projects. A reception will be held afterward.
The Felixes both fell in love with music as children. By the time she got to college, Antonia was singing soprano, playing bassoon and finding it impossible to choose between the two.
“I had to make a decision and I chose voice because it was more direct, more of a challenge,” she said. “You can’t hide behind a double reed.”
Stan Felix grew up in South Dakota and by ninth grade knew he would work in music someday. That’s a passion he now recognizes in some of his own students from small towns. And it’s one of his chief joys in teaching, particularly at a small university where the incoming students haven’t all had the advantages of extensive training.
“You get some wonderful raw talent that comes in,” he said. “If you work hard and they start focusing, in two years they can get done what the high school and grade school programs did in six or seven years.”
Stan and Antonia met during a show in Minneapolis. By 1989, they had been married a year and moved to New York City. The two continued to perform around the country and abroad, with a 500 square-foot one-bedroom apartment to come home to. As a day job, Antonia Felix became a copywriter for a publishing company, writing up the catalogs that would be sent to bookstores.
Then something clicked. The publisher needed someone to help write a biography of singer John McNally. Felix’s musical background got her in the door. That book led to an agent and an offer to write more.
Her visibility started to go up as she turned to political biographies. She wrote the first biography of then-New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman, as well as the first biography of Laura Bush as First Lady. The Bush bio spent eight weeks on the New York Times extended bestseller list and led to an offer to write about Condoleeza Rice. At the time, there had only been a few magazine pieces about Rice.
“Everything I learned was new and that made it really fascinating,” Antonia Felix said. It didn’t hurt to learn that Rice was a skilled pianist who gave up on a concert career only after realizing she wouldn’t reach the top.
“Her story is one of amazing parents,” Felix said. “If we all had parents like she had, we’d all be senators.”
The most fun book to write, though, may have been the biography of Bocelli. The singer himself couldn’t talk to her -- he had a deal with another publisher -- but the Felixes were still able to talk with his family and friends in sunny Tuscany. A tough job, but somebody had to do it.
“It was fun to see the Bocelli book in every New York window in December 1999, right in time for the Christmas season,” Stan Felix said.
Antonia Felix is now working on her first novel, a thriller about a psychiatrist gone bad.
Now home is an Emporia house that seems spacious compared to the old apartment. And while there are still books to write and music to perform, teaching has added itself very naturally to the household rhythm.
“Teaching English composition, you go back to the basics of clear, solid writing,” Antonia Felix said. “It’s good for me.”
“Teaching makes you learn a lot faster,” Stan Felix agreed. “I’m a better singer because of teaching it.”