Musician Spotlight: Thad Suits
Thad Suits is the Principal Cellist in the orchestra, and a member of the Cascade Quartet.
Outside of his love for music, he is an accomplished chess player, language collector, traveler, biker, gardener, and guinea pig owner.
Thad is a former Montana State Chess Champion and still helps direct chess competitions around the state. That includes the annual tournament here in Great Falls! He has even developed computer software to help run chess tournaments and championships, which he wants everyone to know is available for sale today (shameless plug).
He enjoys learning and practicing new languages and can read more than eight! He is fluent in Spanish but claims to be only advanced in Arabic. The other members of the Quartet say they have seen him practice by reading Harry Potter in Arabic while on tour! When traveling, he enjoys training his linguistic muscles and engaging locals in their own language.
In the summer months, you can find Thad in his vegetable patch where he grows tomatoes, basil, and flowers. He and his wife, Su, also enjoy biking in the summer, sometimes more than 70 miles between towns! While traveling they often rent bicycles and tour the countryside.
Thad and Su grew up together and began playing music together at fourteen. Eventually, music blossomed into romance, and Thad says he, "Got very lucky." They have been married for 44 years and are both still engaged in music. Su is an accomplished pianist and teaches piano in Great Falls. They are also parents to one guinea pig, Floki.
Thad says his fondness for the cuddly pigs began in childhood and he has had more than ten of them over the course of his life. His current guinea pig, Floki, is named after a character from Su's favorite TV show, Vikings. Please enjoy a very cute photo of Thad and Floki hanging out.
To learn about Thad's musical career and incredible musical accomplishments, please his bio on the Cascade Quartet website: https://www.cascadequartet.org/thadsuits
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