Opening New Doors Eastman’S Community Music School in Its New Home SUMMER@ EASTMAN 2019

OUTREACH CONVERSATION Ethno at Eastman Advocacy through Art Song Barbara B. Smith EASTMAN

NOTESSpring 2019

Opening New Doors Eastman’s Community Music School in its New Home SUMMER@ EASTMAN 2019

Check out our new website! Explore the 40+ programs, institutes, workshops, and collegiate courses (online and on-site) we’re offering this summer!

NEW PROGRAMS • Eastman French Horn Institute • Eastman Saxophone Project (ESP) Institute • French Lyric Diction (online course) • Keys to Healthy Music • MusiKinesis®: Music, Dance, Dalcroze • A theater-inspired team-building workshop

NEW THIS YEAR! The College Board has approved Eastman as an APSI® MUSIC THEORY site. Dr. Joel Phillips, a certified APSI® instructor, will teach the five-day workshop, offering AP teaching certification.

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EASTMAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC • UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER { Spring 2019 }

The mbira or “thumb piano,” part of Zimbabwe’s Shona culture for centuries, 2 is a welcome recent arrival at Eastman. From the Dean 3 Brief Notes 4 Alumni on the Move 21 School News 25 8 18 Recordings Opening Advocacy 27 Ethnomusicology Advancement Notes 14 New Doors through 28 at Eastman As it approaches a Art Song Alumni Notes centennial in a beautiful Eastman alumni in the Interdisciplinary and influential, new home, Eastman’s 32 Lynx Project bring the “ethno” has a lively presence at Community Music In Memoriam rarefied song recital to School continues to Eastman. Also: an interview with fresh new places. 34 enrich Rochester. Tributes Barbara B. Smith ’43E (MM) 35 Faculty Notes ON THE COVER (left to right): Naomi Foley ’99E, Young Eastman Children’s Chorus Director, with ECMS students Maria Kim (piano), 36 Peter Foley (bass), and Micah Kim (violin). Peter is Naomi’s son and Maria and Micah are children of Sophia Gibbs Kim ’98E Student Notes (MM), ’06E (DMA), ECMS senior faculty member in flute.PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHELLE MARTORELL

MICHELLE MARTORELL Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 1 { FROM THE DEAN } Creating Circles of Community NOTES Volume 36, Number 2 As you’ll read in our “School News” in this issue, the in the power of music to touch people at the core of their Spring 2019 Eastman School of Music will celebrate its centennial very being, engaging with our community is not some- EDITOR in 2021–22. Throughout the whole of its history, George thing we do, it is simply part of who we are. David Raymond Eastman’s inspirational idea of an outstanding music In her Eastman Notes interview, ethnomusicologist CONTRIBUTING WRITERS school that exists “for the enrichment of community life” and Eastman alumna Barbara B. Smith describes “out- Sarah Forestieri Dan Gross has been a guiding principle. The Eastman Community reach” as complemented by “inreach”: welcoming the Jessica Kaufman Music School is the exemplar of this principle. community into the school, particularly by offering per- Laura Souza In our nearly one hundred years of existence, Eastman formance ensembles. The New Horizons ensembles for CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS has become a world leader among music schools. United all ages, developed at Eastman and replicated throughout Kurt Brownell by a universal love for this art form, talented students the United States, Canada, and Europe, exemplify our Michelle Martorell from all over the world develop into a community of “inreach,” as well as what Ms. Smith calls “music for Nic Minetor mature artists who not only go on to become professional people’s sake.” DESIGN Steve Boerner musicians, but who also bring their artistry, their passion Music creates more compassionate and caring individ- Typography & Design, for connection, and their desire to make a difference in uals, musicians who will go out into the world intent to Inc. the world through music as they return to their homes, connect and build relationships in every town, in every PRINTING or—like our alumni profiled in the Lynx Project—settle city, in every corner of the world. For the “community” Tucker Printers into a city and enrich additional communities with music. George Eastman spoke of in 1921, describing the mission OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Projects geared to the community are sometimes termed as OF COMMUNICATIONS Jessica Kaufman “outreach.” At Eastman, we prefer to think in terms of “engaging EDITORIAL DIRECTOR David Raymond with our community.” Given our presence in the center of the CREATIVE ARTS DIRECTOR city, and our fervent belief in the power of music to touch people Michelle Martorell SECRETARY at the core of their very being, engaging with our community is Olga Malavet not something we do, it is simply part of who we are.

In the article about the renovation of Messinger Hall, of his new music school, is in reality every community in the Eastman Community Music School’s home, ECMS the nation and the world where Eastman alumni are on director Petar Kodzas asks: “How often do you have the a quest to make life ever better through music. opportunity in education to come up with something Over the last ninety-eight years, many things have no one else does?” At Eastman, I’m happy to say, this changed at Eastman, but I am proud to say that our opportunity comes up frequently, and is met caringly and commitment to the “enrichment of community life” or imaginatively, with ingenious solutions that bring the “music for people’s sake” has been steadfast. In fact, it unique joys and satisfactions of music to a larger com- is stronger than ever, and will guide us confidently into Published twice a munity and are adopted enthusiastically. The Pathways our next hundred years. year by the Office of program and ROCmusic are just two of several initia- Communications, tives that provide increased access to and opportunities Meliora, Eastman School of Music, 26 Gibbs Street, for Rochester City School District students to be richly Rochester, NY 14604, involved with music. (585) 274-1050. Projects geared to the community are sometimes Eastman-Notes@ termed as “outreach.” At Eastman, we prefer to think esm.rochester.edu in terms of “engaging with our community.” Given our Jamal J. Rossi presence in the center of the city, and our fervent belief Joan and Martin Messinger Dean

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2 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 { BRIEF NOTES }

A Double Reed Dinner During May 2019, oboists Hugo Souza ’20E (DMA candidate) and Noah Kay ’16E toured with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. During the tour, they met up with Tamar Greene, AKA the “venerated Virginian veteran” George Washington (right), backstage with Hamilton cast-mate Jared fellow oboist Amari Barash ’97E; Udo Heng, the general manager of Reeds ’n’ Stuff; Howelton, who has played Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson. and bassoonist Adrian Morejon, who has an Eastman connection, having coached chamber music with Professor of Oboe Richard Killmer at Yale. Pictured left to of January 5, 2020.) Tamar right are Udo, Amari. Hugo, Noah, and Adrian. Washington fell in love with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony, Grammy, on His Side and Pulitzer-winning recently published our Tamar Greene’s ’12E (MM) musical when he saw it on fourth small town guide- world was turned upside Broadway, and he is ecstatic book for foodies— this one down when he was offered to be in the room where it for Italy’s Alpine Lakes. Our the plum role of George happens. While in Chicago, three previous guidebooks Washington in the Chicago Tamar has also had the (Tuscany, Ireland, and company of Hamilton last honor of singing “The Emilia Romagna) have won fall, and he didn’t throw Star-Spangled Banner“ at a multiple indie publishing away his shot. He made his Bulls game . . . as befits our awards, and we have high debut on September 25, first president. hopes for this one!” (See an 2018, celebrated his 100th Alumni News item about performance in Hamilton in Gourmet Guides Zeneba on p. 30.) December, and continues in Zeneba Bowers ’94E, ’96E the role. (The show recently (MM) writes: “My husband Ready, Set, Read! announced a closing date Matt Walker and I have Assistant Professor of Mu- sic Teaching and Learning Alden Snell ’06E (MA), ’13E (PhD) is a co-author, with Suzanne Burton, of Ready, Set, Improvise! The Nuts and Bolts of Music Improvisation (Oxford Uni- versity Press, 2018). The book advocates “singing, rhythmic chanting, moving, and playing instruments,” Connor Chee ’09E won the category “Best New Age with the goal of “[devel- Instrumental Song” at the 18th annual Native American Music oping children] capable Awards in October for his song, Beginnings, featured on his of creating music in the album Emergence. Connor performed with his grandfather (on moment.” the right) during the live award show.

Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 3 Nicole Paiement ’88E (DMA), conductor

■ Nicole is music director of the San Francisco Conservatory’s new music ensemble and of Opera Parallele, a company dedicated to reinventing modern opera for new audiences. She recently conducted a performance of Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince. “On the podium, I am a musician, not a woman. I am a conductor, someone who understands the work and translates through motion and musicality.”

Rich Thompson ’84E (MM), drummer, Eastman Associate Professor of Jazz Student and Contemporary Media

■ Rich had a very busy fall 2018 semester. “On the first day of school, I was performing in Newport Beach, California, for the Sundown Jazz Festival with trumpet- er Byron Stripling ’83E (pictured), Bobby Floyd, and LA guitarist Bruce Foreman. In September I performed with the Byron Stripling Quartet at The Jazz Bistro in St. Louis. This club, run by Gene Dobbs Bradford ’89E, is one of the nicest jazz venues in the United States. In October, I was a guest artist with the Jacksonville Sym- phony and the Erie Philharmonic. In November, I spent Thanksgiving week performing two shows per day and three on Saturday with the Byron Stripling Quartet at Marian’s Jazz Room in Bern, Switzerland,” which Rich calls “one of the premier jazz rooms/clubs in the world, rivaled by the Blue Note and Dizzy’s in NYC.”

4 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 CARLIN MA (PAIEMENT); GRANT TAYLOR (THOMPSON) { ALUMNI ON THE MOVE }

Terry Rhodes Louis Karchin ’80E (MM), ’86E (DMA), singer, administrator, and dean ’73E, composer, conductor

■ Terry was named interim dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, where she served as the senior associate dean for fine arts and humanities since 2012. Still an active performer, she received the University Diversity Award in 2011.

Thomas Lausmann ’98E (MM), pianist, conductor, vocal coach

■ Lou’s music will be everywhere in the coming months. March saw the release of Dark Mountains/ Distant Lights (New Focus Records), a collection of seven recent solos and duos. In April the New York Virtuoso Singers presented the American premiere of his Hymns from the Dark, celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Edicts of Martin Luther. On June 1 he conducted the Orchestra of the ■ Thomas, Head of Music at the Vienna State Opera, League of Composers at New York’s will become the Metropolitan Opera’s Director of Miller Theater in his Four Songs of Music Administration at the start of the 2019–20 Seamus Heaney. And August 8 is the season. Thomas is also a pianist with the Vienna release date for a recording on the Philharmonic and has worked at the Bayreuth Naxos label of his opera Jane Eyre, Festival, New York City Opera, Washington National shown above with soprano Jennifer Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Zetlan—“a labor of love” in Lou’s Frankfurt Opera, Seattle Opera, and at the Los words, with a cast that also includes Angeles Philharmonic. Tom Meglioranza ’95E (MM).

HENRY FAIR (KARCHIN); JOHNNY ANDREWS/UNC-CHAPEL HILL (RHODES); MICHAEL POEHN (LAUSMANN); STEVEN PISANO (JANE EYRE) Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 5 Eastman School of Music graduates add rhythm to our daily lives. They hum through our minds with unforgettable melodies and stir our souls with powerful composition s—to the tune of 150 Grammy wins and nominations in the past 25 years. This mastery of music is everywhere, resounding on our personal playlists and inside grand concert halls and recording studios, blending notes and uniting cultures.

The Rochester Effect. For artistry ever better.

EverBetter.Rochester.edu Eastman School of Music graduates add rhythm to our daily lives. They hum through our minds with unforgettable melodies and stir our souls with powerful composition s—to the tune of 150 Grammy wins and nominations in the past 25 years. This mastery of music is everywhere, resounding on our personal playlists and inside grand concert halls and recording studios, blending notes and uniting cultures.

The Rochester Effect. For artistry ever better.

EverBetter.Rochester.edu OPENING NEW DOORS In its new home, Eastman’s Community Music School continues to enrich Rochester

By Jessica Kaufman and David Raymond

The Eastman Community Music School (ECMS) opened its doors at the same time as Eastman’s collegiate campus, in September 1921. It has been an integral part of the school, and one of Eastman’s primary connections to the greater Rochester community, ever since. For nearly a century, the school has offered music lessons, ensembles, classes, and workshops to students of all ages, backgrounds, regardless of their ability to pay. ECMS serves an average of 1,700 students per year, ranging in age from four months to 92 years old.

8 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 KURT BROWNELL (CANOPY AND INTERIORS) ECMS students of all ages rehearse and perform in the renovated Karen Rettner Community Center. Shown here: the award-winning Eastman Youth Jazz Orchestra, led by its co-director, Charlie Carr ’14E (MM), ’17E (DMA), performed at the opening celebration for the renovation.

Beautiful new spaces in a beautiful new home. Left to right, the Kenlou Foundation Family Lobby on the third floor; the Karen Rettner Community Center; the waiting area for the Karen Rettner (fourth) Floor.

MICHELLE MARTORELL (JAZZ BAND) Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 9 Last year, ECMS celebrated a milestone: an extensive renovation them the opportunity to gain an appreciation of music.” inside and out, the largest in the school’s long history. The 2.8-mil- George Eastman would thoroughly approve of the Rettners’ words: lion-dollar project included: “enrichment” has been the focus of ECMS since its beginning, when Eastman’s own words were carved into the Eastman Theatre façade: • interior upgrades and furnishings in the lobby, including video signage “For the enrichment of community life.” and a permanent lobby attendant desk; • a keyboard lab, classrooms, teaching studios, and percussion and CMS also benefits the Eastman School of Music community, or drum set studios, all completed according to thorough acoustical perhaps that should be communities: George Eastman’s vision requirements; of two schools on one campus—one community, one collegiate, • new community waiting spaces for parents; E each complementing the other—has remained constant for almost a • an exterior facelift for the building itself, with new awnings and a century. canopy at the entrance. “ECMS [then called the Eastman Preparatory Department] was part Eastman School of Music National Council Member Karen Rettner of the operation from the beginning, without a separate office or separate and her husband, University of Rochester Trustee Ronald Rettner, faculty,” says Vincent Lenti ’60E ’63E (MA), director of the department were the primary contributors to the 2.8 million-dollar building renovation, which also included generous contributions from The Kenlou Foundation, The Williams Family, Nancie Roop Kennedy ’79E (MM), The Spindler Family Foundation, and members of the ECMS Community, as well as a grant from the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council (FLREDC). Renovation began in January 2018 and was completed for the beginning of classes in September; the Karen Rettner Community Music Center, as the new ECMS space is known, was dedicated on October 3, 2018, and the building has been busily in use ever since. “Our commitment to Eastman and this project stems from our love of music, the impact of and high level of community engagement and excellence at the Eastman Community Music School,” said the Rettners when the project was announced. “We are proud to foster music education and to enrich the lives of community members of all ages by affording

Above: Long before the Suzuki Method, ECMS offered beginning instruction in violin, as shown in the class picture from the 1920s. Right: former ECMS student and ECMS piano professor Howard Spindler with a student in his new studio.

10 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 SIBLEY MUSIC LIBRARY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (STRING ENSEMBLE); MICHELLE MARTORELL (SPINDLER) from 1970 to 1996. “Faculty members taught on both sides of the fence, Echoing Vincent Lenti, he recalls, “At the time I was studying in the so to speak.” prep department, all the teachers were crossover college teachers.” Howard Spindler ’81E (MA), has taught in the ECMS since 1978, but his During his Eastman studies he crossed paths with a couple of legendary relationship with Eastman began when he started taking piano lessons piano teachers: Cecile Genhart and Barry Snyder ’66E, ’68E (MM). When in the late 1960s. “I used to come every Friday after school,” he says. “I’d Spindler was hired in the late seventies, more teachers were hired to come on the bus or ride my bike and felt like I was entering my special lit- cross over between faculties at the college and ECMS and they started tle world. I see in my own students that special relationship to the school.” to build more robust offerings of strings, winds, and ensembles “And,” he By 1980, when the Preparatory Department was renamed the says, “it has been growing ever since.” He remembers that ECMS offered Community Education Division, Spindler was a faculty member him- mostly instruction in piano and violin; now it offers all instruments and self. His education and career took him to Oberlin and to Germany—and voice, along with academic theory and history courses. back to Gibbs Street, where he earned a master’s degree in musicology As a master’s student at Eastman, Spindler started accompanying at Eastman and joined the ECMS faculty in 1978. He celebrated his Suzuki violin students. Eventually, he says, “I realized that I was good 40th year on the ECMS faculty in 2018, and twice served as the school’s at teaching children and that I liked teaching children, which had never interim director. occurred to me. It’s still an important part of my work.” Many of the changes in the Community Education Division reflected changes in the city of Rochester, and in most American cities, from the 1950s through the 1970s, when many families moved to the suburbs. In the 1980s and 1990s, as more Baby Boomers began to age and retire, ECMS offered classes and lessons to both ends of the age spectrum, and began an outreach to students in the Rochester City School District. While its programs grew, the ECMS offices remained located on the fourth floor of the main building, until, in 2003, Eastman Community Music School moved to a building that opened in 1950 as the Lincoln Building, on the corner of East Avenue and Gibbs Street. Over the years it was the home of an oriental rugs store and a piano

New Horizons ensembles include a concert band (above, with visiting students from Rochester’s School 15 and teacher Mary Robey) and an orchestra, whose cello section is shown at left— including Susie Truesdell ’97S (MBA), at the far right.

MARY ROBEY (NEW HORIZONS BAND AND NEW HORIZONS ORCHESTRA CELLISTS) Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 11 “I couldn’t have gotten into Eastman without the help of ECMS,” says current Orchestra, the Rochester City School District, and the Gateways Music PhD student Stephanie Venturino (at left, shown with student Abigail Festival. Inspired by Venezuela’s influential youth music program El Carpenter). Stephanie studied at ECMS throughout high school, received an Sistema, ROCmusic provides tuition-free music and string instruction Eastman bachelor’s degree in saxophone, and is now a PhD student in theory. to urban children in their own neighborhoods. showroom, as well as smaller businesses like a diner, a jewelry store, and a razor repair shop. Louis Ouzer, Eastman’s “unofficial photographer” urrent ECMS Associate Dean and Director Petar Kodzas ’99E for a half-century, also had his studio on the street floor of the building, (DMA) has been associated with Eastman since he was a grad- which was bought by the school and renamed Messinger Hall in 2006. C uate student in classical guitar in the 1990s. “Even as a student, The ECMS outreach now includes many ensembles and programs, I was always interested in outreach,” says Kodzas. “I always wanted to including: play music for people who had never heard the classical guitar.” Eastman Pathways: A component of the William Warfield Partnership In 1995 he became a teaching assistant, and by 1998 he was teach- between Eastman and the Rochester City School District, Pathways ing full-time. During that time the school was under the directorship provides scholarship aid to outstanding RCSD students to pursue music of Andrew Dabczynski ’76E from 1996 to 2002, and Howard Potter studies at Eastman. ’82E (MM) from 2002 to 2017, and it continued to grow, including an Early Childhood Music: Developed by Senior Associate Dean of increased presence in Eastman’s summer session with jazz and other Adademic and Student Affairs Donna Brink Fox, who is Director of the residential programs. Kodzas also led Eastman’s “Music for All” chamber program. These classes develop the musicality of very young children, music outreach program (now called “Eastman to Go”) and the “Eastman from babies to first graders. Immersion” fifth-year program. These experiences got him more and New Horizons Ensembles were also developed at Eastman, under more interested in administration. Professor Emeritus Roy Ernst. New Horizons is a program designed “They allowed me to be creative without teaching or performing,” in particular for senior adults, with no minimum or maximum age or says Kodzas. “How often do you have the opportunity in education to ability requirement, flourishing in a non-competitive, collaborative, come up with something no one else does?” and supportive environment. Kodzas succeeded Potter as full-time director of ECMS in 2017. “I had ROCmusic is an Eastman partnership with the Hochstein School of experience from every angle: as an intern, a faculty member, summer Music and Dance, the City of Rochester, the Rochester Philharmonic teaching, administrative, as a parent, and as a performer. It felt like

12 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 MICHELLE MARTORELL Petar Kodzas ’99E (DMA) has been the Associate Dean of the Karen Rettner and her husband Ronald Rettner were primary contributors to the Eastman Community Music School since 2017. renovation of the ECMS Community Music Center and fourth floor of the school.

the right thing. It felt like a call, a need—perhaps as my The rehearsals lead to Eastman performances: in December in daughter was also here.” Kodzas’ daughter Ela started as Kilbourn Hall, and in May in Kodak Hall. “The first time we performed an ECMS student, starting with Early Childhood Music there, and I looked out, it was breathtaking,” says Susie. “And terrifying. classes, continuing through lessons, theory classes, and But when you come to the end of a semester and can sit down and play ensembles. She is now an Eastman undergraduate. a piece of music well enough that an audience can recognize it—that is “The school is in a good place,” says Kodzas. “We are a huge accomplishment.” seen as the elite music school in town. I have only one hope and mission: to get more kids involved in music. hile many are attracted to ECMS simply by having fun mak- We need to go outside Gibbs Street. Beyond filling each ing music, the school’s “preparatory” aspect—training at a studio, we can do much more.” W high level, possibly leading to a career in music—remains Many scientific studies have proven the positive effects very strong. Many ECMS students attend ECMS throughout middle of musical education on math and science test scores, school and high school, and then go on to major in music in college; mental acuity, and physical coordination, for all ages of Stephanie Venturino is an outstanding example, receiving a bache- musicians. No matter what their age, ECMS students share the desire lor’s degree in saxophone in 2017, and now writing her dissertation to enrich their lives through music: discovering or rediscovering it as on 20th-century French music for saxophone. She hopes to become a adults, or training as middle school or high school students and moving collegiate theory professor, and right now is also an ECMS instructor, on to college music schools. carrying on her enthusiasm for music to younger students. One of the latter is Stephanie Venturino ’17E, an Eastman music A native of nearby Palmyra, New York, Stephanie remembers being theory doctoral student who joined ECMS as a middle school student. brought to Eastman for lessons and classes as “an almost daily occur- She says, “Eastman Community Music School stands in a category of rence.” She originally heard about ECMS through one of its summer its own, serving the community and this preparatory environment.” offerings, “Middle School Band Adventure,” and took a tour of the school. In contrast is Susie Truesdell ’97S (MBA), who started studying the “When I walked into Kodak Hall and saw that chandelier, I immediately cello as an ECMS student two years before she retired as a hospital thought to myself, ‘This is where I want to go to school.’” administrator at Strong. In her third year, her instructor recommended “I wouldn’t have gotten into Eastman without the help of ECMS,” that she try performing in an ensemble: the New Horizons Orchestra. she continues. “I took advantage of every class and every opportunity. Susie now performs in two of them: the string orchestra has about ECMS offered me high-quality education in any discipline I chose— thirty members, the full orchestra sixty, whose individual members have saxophone, Latin jazz, flute. I didn’t even know what music theory was very varied musical backgrounds. “We have a few new faces every year,” until I took classes with [longtime ECMS theory professor] Margaret she explains, primarily from word of mouth from current members, or Henry. She opened me to music theory as a discipline and piqued my because they are recommended by their private teachers. intellectual curiosity.” While members need to know how to read music, she adds that With the larger studios and labs, more engaging appearance, and “There’s a lot of teaching that goes into it. We spend a lot of time on up-to-date facilities of its new home, the Eastman Community Music different bow strokes and rhythms, but the conductor also tells us about School is heading into a new century of piquing the curiosity and the piece: what the story was, what was going on the world at the time. enriching the lives of many students. “It’s very powerful to see all these “It soon became clear to me,” Susie continues, “that it wasn’t just students together in this newly renovated space,” says Stephanie. “My about sitting around and playing music together. It’s a huge amount of students’ engagement with materials and real desire to learn is really fun. And for those of us who are retired, fun is the aim. After you retire, just unmatched. I see all different ages, working towards the same goal you lose that work family, so this has become a second family for us.” with the same passion.”

MICHELLE MARTORELL Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 13 ETHNO EASTMAN An increasingly influentialat academic discipline has a lively presence at Eastman.

By David Raymond

hen Ellen Koskoff came to Eastman in 1980, ethnomusicology was not an accepted academic discipline in most music schools. In fact, it didn’t even Whave a name until 1950, when Jaap Kunst published his Anthropology of Music. But in recent years ethnomusicology has become increasingly influential, and at present it is important not just in Eastman’s musicology department, but in many other departments at Eastman and at the University's College of Arts and Sciences. Koskoff was trained as a pianist and harpsichordist, but she recalls: “I was wandering in the University of Pittsburgh library and on the shelves found a book with a yellow cover . . . Anthropology of Music. I read it like I now read mystery novels, I was riveted. When I finished I knew what I wanted to do. Ethnomusicology brought together my interests in music, in politics, and in feminist activism.” “The music of the gamelan was unlike anything I had heard There was one drawback: “Ethnomusicology as an academic discipline didn’t exist before,” says Tom Torrisi ’18E (DMA), performing seated at there”—so she went to the university’s Anthropology department and proposed that the far left. Right: members of the mbira ensemble (John Green ’13E (MA) (back), Greg Doscher, Julia Egan ’16E, Glenn West she do fieldwork on the role of women in Pittsburgh’s Hasidic Jewish community, ’96 (MBA), ’14E (MA), Ken Luk) in a recent concert. which eventually became her first book,Women in Lubavitcher Life. What is ethnomusicology? Simply put, it is the study of music across diverse cultural now Professor Emeritus of Musicology, and has had the and geographical settings. On the academic level it is interdisciplinary, exploring the satisfaction of building a strong program in an increas- relationship of religion, history, and language to music, and also the role of music in ingly influential area of study. areas like gender studies, sound studies and digital media, and postcolonial history. “Historical approaches took precedence over critical Eastman’s ethnomusicology students and faculty members have developed relation- study of musicology, creating an atmosphere much more ships with the University’s Anthropology, Visual and Cultural Studies, and Women, receptive to ethnomusicology,” she explains. “We have Gender, and Sexuality Studies. two tracks now—historical musicology and ethnomusi- Koskoff says ethnomusicology was “consistently misunderstood” by scholars and cology. The old hegemony is gone.” performers focused on Western Classical music, with its emphasis on interpreting Eastman students now have the options of a Certificate “pure” music printed on a page. This started to change in the 1980s when ethnomusi- in World Music and a Diploma in Ethnomusicology direct- cology began to be better integrated with musicology departments, including Eastman’s. ed by two full-time faculty members: Associate Professor Koskoff taught individual classes and surveys, and in the late ’90s she received an Jennifer Kyker, who is also an Associate Professor of offer to create and direct a master’s program in ethnomusicology at Eastman. She is Music at the River Campus, and Continued on page 17

14 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 DAVE JONES (GAMELAN) “MUSIC FOR PEOPLE’S SAKE” Ethnomusicologist Barbara B. Smith expanded musical and academic boundaries By Dan Gross and David Raymond Barbara B. Smith ’43E (MM) is one of America’s leading ethnomusicologists—a discipline which, as she says here, did not even exist when she was an Eastman student. When Prof. Smith came to the University of Hawai’i in 1949, the Music Department was just being established; she taught piano and theory. Through the community and her students, she became aware of the rich heritage of Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific musics and set about to understand them. She early recognized the value and poten- tial of ethnomusicology at the University, and designed lecture courses and education workshops. She also established the master’s degree program in ethnomusicology in 1960, becoming a seminal figure at the University of Hawai'i. After retiring in 1982, Barbara B. Smith was named Professor Emeritus of Music, and continued field work and advocacy research throughout the Pacific.

What was Eastman like when you completed your graduate program? Howard Hanson was then the director, and the school’s special focus beyond excellence in study and performance of European “art music” mirrored his promotion of contemporary American music developed from that European concert music—especially that of melodic romanticism rather than that of the more mechanistic style (if I can call it that) being developed simultaneously by some American composers in New York City. He was not interested in American folk musics, jazz, or pop music—or the traditional “high- art” musics of Asia, or any music of Africa. I was fortunate to have been a piano student of Cecile Genhart: a remarkable musician and pianist, who was devoted to furthering the best Continued on page 16

MICHELLE MARTORELL (MBIRA) Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 15 Continued from page 15 interests of her students, and open to teaching them recently composed repertoire for “her” instrument.

Was your interest in ethnomusicology encouraged? No. That would have been impossible. Not only because that term had not yet been coined, but more importantly because there was no interest in anything related to what later came to be called ‘ethnomusicology’.

How has the field of ethnomusicology changed since you started teaching it? If I were to answer that, it would be almost its entire history as designated by that name, which was first published in Holland in 1950 as a hyphenated term. Though I hadn’t learned of it until the 1957 summer session or used it by that name until 1959, I had begun to study what I referred to as the music of the ancestral heritages of my students (virtually all of whom were of Hawaiian or Asian ancestries) in 1955. Having spent my 1956 sabbati- In the mid-1950s, says Barbara Smith of her teaching at the University of Hawai'i, "I began to cal leave in Asia, I taught the course “Art Musics of Asia” study the music of the ancestral heritages of my students." in summer session 1957. The MA with concentration in Ethnomusicology was approved in 1960. My students, and the students of my students, music-lovers of the European and European-derived are better qualified than I to comment on changes since 2000. tradition—ethnomusicology was thought of as the study of musics of the “long ago and/or far away,” or as music How could it be improved as a field of study? other than that of the “Great European Tradition”. If you mean “Can the field of ethnomusicology be further developed?” my answer is “yes,” because society will inevitably change. It must also change to avoid becoming Why is the field of ethnomusicology important for just a relic in the history of academic disciplines. musicians to study? Ever since its beginning, ethnomusicology has added a continuing stream of meth- To broaden their perspective on what is music and its odologies from other disciplines and foci of emerging social issues. At present, many role in the world’s societies. As I look back on my life, as ethnomusicologists are studying “Sound Studies” that go far beyond what has been a very young child I felt music was important because known about the psychological effects of drumming and extensive repetition of rhyth- of what it meant to me; by the time I was ten years old mic patterns on listeners’ heart-rates. I was admonished to think beyond myself, to music as Ethnomusicology can, in my view should, contribute effectively to the well-being of an “Art for Art’s Sake”. Still later, rather than focusing on the local community in which it is located. For example, if a university adopts a new masterpieces, and especially since moving to Hawai’i, strategic plan, its ethnomusicology program should add an additional focus to support I came to value “music for people’s sake,” which I think it. I am also intrigued by the architectural development of so-called “smart rooms” may be consonant with both an ethnomusicological that may enable more students to gain acquaintance with ethnomusicology’s breadth view, and also consonant with what has recently been of interests as a component of their BA or other undergraduate degree; while I also increasingly recognized and effectively put into practice hope that some one-on-one work with an outstanding researcher-scholar-teacher will in some Hawaiian public intermediate-schools that have remain a valuable component for graduate degrees. large percentages of underprivileged youths. And if you mean those professionally engaged in its study, my answer is again “yes”—by increasing the role of people indigenous to the society whose music is stud- What about the general population? ied, so as to have a more equal balance between the findings and interpretations of It’s not really the discipline per se with its methodology, work by outsiders-to-the-culture who look in at it, and the perspectives and intentions etc., that is important to the general population. Rather, of insiders-to-the-culture who look out from it. it is ethnomusicology’s focus on non-Western musics that not only expands the sources for aesthetic experi- Have women in ethnomusicology always been accepted as equals in this field? ences, but also leads to understanding and respect for Not really, in terms leadership of the field per se, but more quickly and probably more the people who created and perform them, as well as extensively than in some of the older academic disciplines. music’s numerous roles in human life.

How did the academic musical world look at this field of study when you started to Tell us about establishing the University of Hawai’i’s get involved in it? ethnomusicology program. If what you mean by the “musical world” is that of musicians, scholars, and The impetus for initiating a course on the musical

16 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI’I DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC heritages of our multi-ethnic students was uninten- tionally overhearing a conversation among some of the most talented, eager, and conscientious students in my first-year theory course, in which they dis- cussed their lack of self-esteem because everything they were learning at the University was “white” (Euro-American) and they were not. The other main- land-born and -educated music faculty members, all of whom also knew how widespread this prob- lem was, considered it the students’ responsibility to “just get over it”. My conviction that something Ethnomusicologists (left to right): Ellen Koskoff; Jennifer Kyker; Anaar Desai-Stephens. should be done led six years later to the graduate program in ethnomusicology. Continued from page 14 Assistant Professor Anaar Desai-Stephens. Both are internationally recognized not only for their research (Kyker’s in Zimbabwean What challenges did you have to overcome? music, Desai-Stephens’ in Indian music), but also as performers. Primarily the resistance of the music faculty of having “Musical practice has become more connective, seen more as part of society,” anything but what they were then teaching even avail- says Desai-Stephens. “Ethnomusicologists see music in a social context and able in the department—and certainly no Asian music! more holistically, as practice and as process.” In an incident that I now look back on with amuse- Eastman’s regular concerts include a World Music Series underwritten by ment, one of my colleagues, who had heard a few Barbara Smith ’43E (MM)—“guardian angel of Eastman ethnomusicology,” Japanese pop songs in a bar in Waikiki, told the others as Koskoff refers to her, and a giant in the field who is still active at nearly 100 that I couldn’t really be a good musician if I liked that years old. (See the interview on page awful stuff. But I do admit that bringing our students, 15.) Audiences have recently enjoyed very few of whom had an educational basis in music musicians from Cuba, India, Japan, Ensembles comparable to first-year music majors in the States, Ireland, Spain, and many other coun- Students studying any was a challenge to the department (and to me). tries, and Eastman’s Gamelan Lila instrument can join one Muni makes an annual appearance. of Eastman’s world music What has been the most rewarding part of this Besides their sonic delights, East- ensembles, which perform program? man’s world music ensembles offer several times each year at the From the local multi-cultural community’s per- solid technical advantages to stu- school and in the community. spective, I think it would be that what previously dents studying other instruments. Gamelan Lila Muni (Heavenly had been only out-reach from the university to the Ellen Koskoff recalls being accosted Sound) and Gamelan community (e.g. in agriculture and technology), in Eastman’s Main Hall by a longtime Sanjiwani (Life Force)— expanded to in-reach from the community to the professor of a traditional orchestral Balinese percussion university—especially through our performance instrument who praised the improve- orchestras directed by I ensembles. To the Music Department, it has been ments in musical skills—memory, Nyoman Suadin the prestige it brought both nationally and interna- ability to improvise, sense of ensem- tionally. For the Composition faculty, introduction ble—in her students who played in the Eastman Mbira Ensemble, to the tremendous resources of traditional musical gamelan. directed by Glenn West concepts and musical instruments—especially the “I joined the gamelan ensemble in West African Drumming string instruments of Northeast Asia—for their cre- my first semester,” says guitarist Tom Ensemble, led on the River ative endeavors. To me, personally, it has been my Torrisi ’18E (DMA), “and rehearsal Campus by Kerfala Bangoura students and what they have done. became the most eagerly anticipat- ed part of my week. The music—the How does it feel seeing so many of your students go sound, structure, performance techniques, learning style—was unlike anything I on to so much success? had done before. I decided to add the Advanced Certificate in Ethnomusicology It feels great! What more could I as a teacher ask, to my classical guitar DMA. than that the wonderful people I was privileged to “In rehearsals, we learn all of our music by rote and memorize it for our have as students have gone on to successful careers concerts. This showed me the value and effectiveness of learning music using that have expanded and enhanced what (at least in our ears, eyes, and bodies instead of written notation. I have since incorporated part) they learned though their studies in Hawai’i— similar techniques into my own teaching.” careers that in turn have been not only successful “I have always lived in a multicultural world,” says Anaar Desai-Stephens, for them personally and for ethnomusicology as a and Eastman’s embrace of ethnomusicology reflects that reality. The foundation discipline, but also enhance the lives of the people in of ethnomusicology, says Ellen Koskoff, is tolerance and open-mindedness: their communities and countries. “respect for others’ musics.”

KURT BROWNELL (KOSKOFF); GERRY SZYMANSKI (KYKER); COURTESY OF ANAAR DESAI-STEPHENS Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 17 The founding members of the Lynx Project, from left to right: Steven Humes ’15E (MM), Caitleen Kahn ’15E (MM), Florence Mak ’17E (DMA), and Megan Moore, ’15E. Advocacy through Art Song An Eastman alumni initiative gives voice to young people with autism

The Lynx Project is an art song initiative created by soprano Caitleen Kahn and mezzo- Official meetings began during the last semester of soprano Megan Moore in 2015 after completing their graduate degrees at Eastman. their master’s degrees, at which time they recruited tenor Together with Eastman alumni Steven Humes and Florence Mak they form the Lynx Steven Humes and pianist Florence Mak to join the orga- Project: an ensemble with the goal of bringing the incredible world of art song to a wider nization. “Megan and I really wanted to be professional audience through intimate and inclusive performances and an exploration of the bound- about it from the get-go,” says Kahn. “It seems funny aries of traditional recital form. now, but we thought it would feel too casual if we met at each other’s houses, so we opted to have our ‘business By Sarah Forestieri meetings’ at Java’s . . . until we realized how much money we were spending on coffee!” either Caitleen Kahn nor Megan Moore can remember exactly who first had the Caitleen, Megan, and Steven may have begun their idea, but they agree the spark for the Lynx Project was a discussion about how Eastman studies solely planning to hone their vocal tech- Ndifficult it was for students and young graduates to find art song performance nique and performance craft, but they were soon drawn opportunities outside of Eastman. “We liked to bounce around ideas about innovating to the Catherine Filene Shouse Arts Leadership Program the art form and making it appealing to a larger audience,” says Moore. “We used to (ALP) offered through Eastman’s Institute for Music muse about just how cheap and easy it is to put on, especially in comparison to opera!” Leadership. This certificate program allows students the

18 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 GERRY SZYMANSKI (FOUNDING MEMBERS) opportunity to explore coursework in several profession- who you want to make music with. If you asked me on Simon Barrad performs with al areas that include Entrepreneurship, Leadership, and day one whether we’d all be on this journey together five his wife, pianist Kseniia Arts Administration through paid, for-credit internships years later, I wouldn’t have been so sure. However, it’s Barrad, during a workshop performance of the Autism in Rochester and around the world. completely worked out, and for the better!” Advocacy Project. Kahn credits her ALP experience with giving her some Lynx Project has been putting on unique concerts of the necessary professional skills and tools needed to since 2016, including: start an organization. “ALP opened my eyes to a whole new set of career possibilities and ways to use music to • Voices from Beyond the Grave (Fall 2016): an evening make a difference. I think the biggest impact Eastman had of spooky art songs in Cincinnati. on me though was the people I met. Wonderful friends, • Snapshots of Every Voice (Spring and Fall 2017): fea- incredible collaborators, and Lynx teammates—tangen- turing five Eastman students and graduates creating a tial connections that turned into job opportunities.” program of art songs based on one simple question: What “I think the ALP Program helped to instill a ‘go-get-it’ would you like to speak into the world through music? attitude about my role in opera,” says Humes. “Part of • La Serata Musicale (Spring 2017): An evening of Italian studying is being able to look around the room and see Art Song.

MAIREAD KAHN Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 19 For pianist Florence Mak, the experience was “completely eye-opening . . . It’s so easy to take things for granted like having a voice or being able to verbalize our thoughts and emotions. So when we’re able to witness them hearing their voices amplified, it’s an incredible experience.” All members of the Lynx project agree that some of the most important accomplishments of this project have been real- izing that they have the ability to make people feel heard and important, understanding the need for patience with different styles of communication, and using the power of music to connect people as individuals. One of the special moments for Caitleen Kahn was the impact this project has had on Luke, one of the Autism Advocacy Project Perhaps the most distinctive and signif- one of their writers, who struggles with severe anxiety poets, letter-boards at a lunch break as Lynx icant Lynx project so far is the Autism and has difficulty leaving his house. “He was unable to Project singer Simon Barrad looks on. Advocacy Project, which was launched attend our workshop performances in October, and upon in the fall of 2017. The first Autism Advocacy Project set the words of four individuals hearing this, two of this year’s performers, Simon and with autism, between the ages of 12 and 17, to music in newly commissioned art songs. Kseniia Barrad offered to take a keyboard to his house Megan Moore’s sister, Katie Masotti, who works with children with autism, spe- and perform a private concert for him. Shortly before cializes in an educational method called the Rapid Prompting Method, which allows Christmas, they went over, set the keyboard up in the non-verbal individuals with autism to communicate by pointing to letters on a board (a living room, and performed the commissioned songs process called letter-boarding) to spell out words and sentences—and to create poems. for him and his family. “Before my sister’s work exposed me to the hearts and minds of this community, I “Once they’d finished these songs everyone wanted would have presumed incompetence from a non-verbal autistic person,” says Moore. them to keep going. Our writer letter-boarded to them “Like so many others, I would have seen the lack of eye contact, the seemingly random that night that he ‘really enjoyed the singing and piano physical and vocal outbursts, and assumed there wasn’t much going on in their minds. playing,’ and his mom wrote that the family could tell “My sister would share with me the complex, honest, and universally relatable how happy he was.” thoughts and feelings of the young people with whom she was working. So often these While Lynx Project is currently based out of Chicago, words were also very lyrical, very poetic, and it occurred to me that Lynx Project had they still plan to bring the incredible world of art song to as an incredible opportunity to be a platform for these voices; to allow their voices to be many people as possible, including another installment of heard through art song.” the Autism Advocacy Project in New York City this April. The process began with students submitting their poetry and prose for consideration. Today, the four original members remain on the board From there, composers selected texts that they felt drawn to, and began setting them and staff for Lynx Project, but many of their performers to music. The March 2018 concert, open to all, featured the words of students Kenta are hired locally from the cities in which the concerts Mignot, Luke Burke, and Michael Zepf, as well as the music of composers Tariq Al-Sabir, take place. “We see ourselves as an organization, but the Joel Balzun, Liberté-Anne Lymberiou, Travis Reynolds, and Stephen Variames. ensemble within it is fluid. We’ve always wanted it to be The Autism Advocacy Project has received grant funding from ArtsWave and Ohio bigger than ourselves.” Arts Council for two years in a row to support this project.

ON THE WEB You can see the members of the Lynx n the Fall of 2018, the Lynx Project presented Behind the Scenes, a workshop which Project in a video about the Autism Advocacy Project at brought together composers, performers, writers and their community to learn https://vimeo.com/249943807 Imore about the process through which each song was written. The emotional Members of the Lynx Project point out that most of these songs impact of hearing the honest texts of the poet through song was felt by everyone in are published independently by the composers, and anyone the room. interested in singing them should contact lynxproject.org.

20 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 MAIREAD KAHN { SCHOOL NEWS }

Meliora! Eastman’s Centennial is Coming!

The Eastman School of Music opened its doors to students on September 19, 1921, and formally dedicated the building March 3, 1922. Professors Mark Davis Scatterday ’89E (DMA), director of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, and Sylvie Beaudette ’93E (DMA), assistant professor of chamber music and director of Summer@Eastman, are co-chairing our year-long centennial celebration during the school year 2021–2022, with efforts kicking off during Meliora Weekend: October 1–3, 2021.

We accepted Dean Rossi’s invitation to lead this major undertaking because we believe in the very essence of what the school stands for—music performance, education, scholarship, research, artistry, and leadership, among so many others—which will help to sculpt the events that will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Eastman School of Music. At Eastman, we create a musical community that is rich only for Eastman itself, but also for the future genera- The façade of the Eastman with cultural, social, and intellectual diversity. We invite tions of artists that leave Eastman and make their mark Theatre, at East Main and our alumni, Rochester community, and Eastman com- on the world for future centennials to come. Gibbs Streets, in the 1920s. Above, the opening of munity at-large to share with us the energy and artistry Come join us starting in the fall of 2021, as we rejoice Eastman’s East Wing (to the that makes up Eastman’s core as we near this historic in the artistry and excellence which is Eastman. Meliora! left of the Eastman Theatre centennial. Our centennial celebration will honor the —Mark Davis Scatterday façade) was a highlight in the past, celebrate the present, and look to the future—not Sylvie Beaudette school’s history.

KURT BROWNELL; EASTMAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC ARCHIVES Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 21 { SCHOOL NEWS }

creates a kind of learning you cannot find in anything else.” All fiveJazz at Eastman recordings can be purchased by visiting https://eastman.bncollege.com, under textbooks. —Jessica Kaufman The 2018 EROI Festival Goes Beyond the Stops Beyond the Stops: Finding the Organ’s Voices, the 2018 Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative (EROI) Festival, which took place October 24 through 26, brought guests from across the United States to Rochester to celebrate the vast potentials of organ sounds, regardless of chronological, national, or historical styles of organ building. An international slate of organists, scholars, and builders participated in onsite studies of three land- mark organs, all celebrating their tenth anniversaries Eastman Jazz, on the Record last year: the Craighead-Saunders Organ (GOArt/Yokota/ Capturing a definitive performance of one’s work can be Arvidsson) at Christ Church, the Halloran-All Saints a challenging task for even the most seasoned profes- Organ (Paul Fritts and Company, Opus 26) at Sacred sional musicians. Since 2014, Eastman’s Jazz Studies and Heart Cathedral, and the David Tannenberg-style organ Contemporary Media (JCM) department has produced (Taylor & Boody, Opus 57) at First Presbyterian Church an annual CD sampler that gives student composers and of Pittsford. arrangers the opportunity to lead and prepare a group The Italian Baroque organ at the Memorial Art Gallery, of musicians, and receive studio time for recording their the Hook & Hastings organ at Christ Church, and the E. works. M. Skinner organ at Church of the Ascension present- Through the generosity of the Kenlou Foundation, ed additional opportunities to experience historically Mike LaBrake Eastman’s JCM Department proudly presented its fifth diverse performance styles and settings. Last fall, Eastman’s annual Jazz at Eastman recording this spring. The JCM David Higgs, Chair of the Organ, Sacred Music, and Department of Public recording project began in 2014. The 2015 recording Historical Keyboards Department, observed: “As organ- Safety promoted Officer Michael LaBrake to the showcases all the department’s small ensembles of the ists, our repertoire spans centuries of national and rank of Sergeant. Mike time, as well as three of Eastman’s large jazz ensembles. historical styles, and it’s easy to get caught up in trying began his University The 2016 recording featured the music of Bill Holman, to play the various styles ‘correctly.’ [EROI 2018] helped of Rochester career and the 2017 recording featured the music of former us think ‘beyond the stop names’ to see ways in which in 2001, as a Security Eastman faculty member, department chair, and alumnus sound can transcend styles.” —Jessica Kaufman Officer, and has worked every officer assignment Fred Sturm ’84E (MM). All five are now available. in Public Safety, but Students’ sample recordings of their compositions and A Gateways Anniversary he was drawn to the arrangements were vetted by jazz department faculty Gateways Music Festival celebrated its 25th anniversary close-knit community through a blind submission process. Nine pieces were October 30 through November 4, 2018 at Eastman. A at Eastman. In 2013 he chosen for the album. New this year are five short film became the lead officer highlight was a five-day Community Residency Program, cues, composed by students from Eastman’s new degree at the Eastman campus, with 20 chamber music performances by Gateways musi- program in Film Music and Contemporary Media. and is now one of the cians in public schools, recreation centers, community most recognizable faces Says Professor and department chair Jeff Campbell music programs, libraries and other community venues to Eastman staff, profes- ’92E (MM), ’02E (DMA), “There is a palpable buzz at throughout the Rochester area. sors, students, adminis- the recording session each year and the students truly trators, and new officers. During the 2017 Gateways Music Festival, 43 students rise to the occasion. These recordings provide a great Mike frequently remarks from the Rochester City School District performed in a educational tool, allowing our students the chance to that his Eastman Young Musicians Institute with Gateways musicians. assignment is the most present their work at a professional level.” Last fall, those students and mentors reconnected. rewarding experience of Max Berlin ’19E, one of the featured students on the Three special awards were presented at an anniversary his professional life. 2019 project, says, “the ability to hone in on a perfor- —Gerald R. Pickering, luncheon: Deputy Director, mance and capture a moment is something musicians UR Department of will be doing their entire lives. Recording is the chance to • Rising Star Award: Violinist Caitlin Edwards, who Public Safety wrestle with an intimate snapshot of your music—which participated in her first Gateways Music Festival in

22 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 { SCHOOL NEWS }

2017, is a graduate student at DePaul University’s School of Music in Chicago, Illinois. • Inspiration Award: Paul J. Burgett ’68E, ’72E (MA), ’76E (PhD), a member of the Gateways Board of Directors until his death in August 2018, posthumously received the award for his passion for the mission of Gateways. • The Trail Blazer Award was given to Armenta Hummings Dumisani, a Juilliard-trained concert pianist (now retired) who founded Gateways in 1993 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Ms. Dumisani brought the festival to Rochester when she joined the Eastman faculty in 1994. “A 25th anniversary is an occasion to celebrate for any organization,” said Lee Koonce, President & Artistic Director of Gateways Music Festival. “We’re celebrating great music, world-class musicians, and the extraordinary community support that has sustained Gateways Polly ’58E, ’60E (MM) and Donald ’54E, ’59E (MM), ’63E (DMA) Hunsberger. over many years.” The Hunsbergers have established a conducting scholarship, and former Gateways’ 25th anniversary celebration continues in August 2019 Eastman Wind Ensemble director is donating his EWE and film music archives with the full Festival, featuring performances by professional classical to the Sibley Music Library. musicians of African descent from throughout the United States. (See at Eastman’s May 19 Commencement: Professor of Theory Betsy Marvin advertisement in this issue, inside back cover) —Jessica Kaufman ’81E (MA), ’89E (PhD); see page 35.) Minehan studied clarinet at the Eastman Community Music School as a child and took voice lessons at Two Major Gifts . . . Eastman as a UR student. She is managing director of Arlington Advisory Late last year, two members of the University of Rochester’s Board of Partners, the Boston-based accounting services firm, and was formerly Trustees, Cathy Minehan ’68 and Chairman Emeritus Danny Wegman, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. announced gifts totaling $10 million to support Eastman’s faculty and “Music has incredible power,” says Minehan. “It can inspire, renew students. our spirit, and even heal. I’m thrilled to support the world’s best musi- Minehan’s $5 million commitment will establish two Minehan Family cians as they teach, refine their craft, and launch careers that enrich Professorships to support world-class Eastman faculty, as well as the lives around the world.” Minehan Family Scholarship. (The first Minehan Professor was installed Danny Wegman, chairman of Rochester-based Wegmans Food

What Lies Beyond Eastman Opera Theatre began its 2018–2019 season with an unusual opera that explored whatever may lie beyond the boundaries of earthly life. In the fall, EOT presented Ricky Ian Gordon’s rarely performed Tibetan Book of the Dead, directed by Steven Daigle and with musical direction by Timothy Long. The students in the cast benefited from workshops and coaching with the composer himself, shown above during a visit to Eastman in September.

NIC MINETOR (OPERA, LEFT); MICHELLE MARTORELL (OPERA, RIGHT) Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 23 { SCHOOL NEWS }

Markets, Inc. and chairman of the board of the Wegmans ditional—weekly discussion sessions and a final Family Foundation, Inc., announced a gift of $5 million to formal presentation—but the set-up was state-of-the- support Eastman faculty and students, including student art. Bringing together eleven Eastman students and five scholarships. in Helsinki, the class used Eastman’s state-of-the-art “Music and the arts foster vibrant cities,” says Wegman. Internet 2 video-conferencing technology to combine the “The Eastman School of Music is an incredible asset in two classrooms, and bring together students and their our community, and it anchors Rochester’s performing professors from two continents to turn Hatch Recital arts scene. It’s important that we continue to invest in Hall into a shared learning space. Eastman’s faculty and students, who are at the heart of Professor Dunsby was joined by two counterparts the school’s enduring success.” from the Sibelius Academy, Lauri Suupää and Mieko Kanno. Greg Thompson of Eastman’s Music Technology . . . and “An amazing tribute” Department played what Dunsby calls “the director’s Armand Hall Donald Hunsberger ’54E, ’59E (MM), ’63E (DMA), role”—setting up cameras, in Hatch Recital Hall, deter- leads ROCmusic Conductor Emeritus of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, mining optimum microphone placement, and ensuring Armand Hall is the new and his wife, Marjorie (Polly) ’58E, ’60E (MM) have that each class went off without a hitch. Director of ROCmusic— made a generous gift to establish the Donald and Polly “I had great confidence in the degree of support/ a collaborative pro- Hunsberger Endowed Conducting Scholarship at the resources the school would provide, and I am so pleased gram that provides tuition-free, after-school Eastman School of Music. This permanent fund will pro- with the result,” says Professor Dunsby. He further notes music instruction to the vide fellowships for graduate conducting majors, with a that the Analysis and Performance seminar hit a number most financially disad- preference for students specializing in wind conducting. of the “hot buttons” of Eastman’s current strategic plan: vantaged children in Few musicians are more closely associated with joint teaching, applied technology, and partnership with Rochester. Dr. Hall was Eastman than Don Hunsberger, who led the Eastman international institutions. He adds that it will be offered previously Coordinator of Instrumental Music Wind Ensemble from 1965 to 2002. Eastman presented again in spring 2020. Education and Associate Don with its Distinguished Alumni Award at Meliora Director of Bands at the Weekend 2018. University of Memphis. Don is also donating his extensive Eastman Wind Grammy Gold for Eastman ROCmusic is a Ensemble and Film Music archives to the Eastman Eastman alumni and faculty members have been rep- partnership between Eastman and The Hoch- Ensemble Library, where they will provide a research resented at the Grammy Awards since 1973, when Ron stein School, Eastman center for Eastman faculty and staff mem- Carter ’59E, ’10E (HRN) was nominated Community Music bers, students, and visiting scholars. for “Best Jazz Performance by a Group.” School, Gateways Music Mark Scatterday, chair of the This year, several alumni were nominat- Festival, City of Roches- Conducting and Ensembles Department, ed, and on February 10, five of them won. ter, Rochester Philhar- monic Orchestra, and the and the director of the Eastman Wind Congratulations to everyone! Rochester City School Ensemble, shares, “This wonderful gift Steve Gadd ’68E for Best Contemporary District. Established in from two incredibly generous and kind Instrumental Album, The Steve Gadd Band; 2012, ROCmusic recent- people is an amazing tribute to the ded- Producer of the Year Blanton Alspaugh, ly expanded to all four ication the Hunsbergers have had to in part for a recording of the opera Three quadrants of Rochester, giving every student a Eastman for over 68 years. This fellow- Way by Rob Paterson ’95E; better opportunity to re- ship will truly benefit and support our young conducting D.J. Sparr ’97E, featured guitar soloist on Spiritualist, ceive musical instruction. students as they study here and help continue to bring which won Best Classical Compendium; “I am ecstatic to be the highest quality of students to our wind conducting Karim Sulayman ’98E, whose Songs of Orpheus was selected to lead the program.” —Jessica Kaufman named Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. (See our back ROCmusic program, a significant conduit cover for Karim’s account of the Grammys.) And speak- between our community ing of covers, the striking cover photograph of Karim on and our culturally-rich A Technological Triple Threat Songs of Orpheus is by his Eastman classmate, and voice city,” shares Dr. Hall. Eastman Professor of Music Theory Jonathan Dunsby major turned photographer, Dan Taylor ’99E; “The institutional introduced his fall 2018 graduate seminar on “Analysis Sunny (Jung In) Yang ’06E, cellist of the Kronos support for our program is unparalleled, and Performance” with the words: “In a triply innovative Quartet, whose Landfall (music of Laurie Anderson) won which speaks volumes pilot, this course embraces a new approach to teaching, the “Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble” Grammy; about our community new technology, and institutional collaboration.” For Associate Professor of Jazz Studies and Contemporary partners. I look forward ten weeks, the class, a collaboration between the music Media Gary Versace ’93E (MM) received a Grammy to strengthening and theory department and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, nomination for “Best Jazz Vocal Album” for The Subject increasing opportunities and access to music for one of Eastman’s European partner schools, it provided Tonight is Love. Gary performs on piano, organ, key- Rochester students and a look into the future of music study. boards, and accordion with singer Kate McGarry and their families.” The seminar requirements may have been tra- guitarist Keith Ganz.

24 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 MICHELLE MARTORELL (HALL) { RECORDINGS }

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 q

EASTMAN WIND ENSEMBLE (MM), ’76E (DMA), Andrew THE BASILICA CHOIR MARIO FALCAO (MM), who majored in 1 Jeff Tyzik: Images Waggoner ’82E, Hannah 5 Live at the Timucua 7 American Harp history as well as in music, Summit Recordings Lash ’04E, and David Arts Foundation Mark Records is American history-themed Lefkowitz ’93E (PhD), as Stemik Music chamber jazz. Commis- The EWE’s latest CD with well as former term faculty Last year, Mario ’71E (MM) sioned by Chamber Music director Mark Scatterday appointment Dan Godfrey This Blu-ray video disc produced this CD of late America and Doris Duke ’89E (DMA) is described by and former professor Chris- captures a concert directed 20th and 21st-century com- New Jazz Works, this Jeff Tyzik ’73E, ’77E (MM) topher Rouse. by William Picher ’81E positions by American com- 70-minute work for large as “a joyful artistic journey.” (MM), featuring music of posers. In 2015, he edited ensemble abstracts Chris’s Eastman percussionists SCHUBERT Rachmaninoff, Dawson, two CDs of harp repertoire impressions of various epi- Michael Burritt ’84E, 3 Winterreise Whitacre, Schubert, and titled Metamorphosis (16th sodes in American history, ’86E (MM) and Assistant Bridge Records more, performed in front of to late 20th-century rep- from 1491 to the Cold War. Professor Charles Ross are an enthusiastic audience.. ertoire) and Illuminations featured in pieces written This recording of William is entering his (17th to late 20th-century EDITH HEMENWAY for them. Jeff’sTriology Schubert’s great song eighteenth year directing repertoire). (For more news q To Paradise for Onions was inspired by the music cycle by baritone Randall this professional choir in about Mario, see p. 28.) Etcetera of Howard Hanson, Scarlata ’92E was released Central Florida. and Images: Musical in 2018 and nominated for RICHARD AUDD Among the performers on Impressions of an Art a 2019 Grammy as “Best DAVID LIPTAK 8 Music by Audd, this release of chamber Museum by the University’s Solo Vocal Performance.” 6 Dove Songs Volume 1 music by the Savannah, Memorial Art Gallery. Randall is joined by a dis- New Focus Recordings rmamusic.com Georgia composer Edith tinguished colleague and Hemenway are soprano GLORIA CHENG occasional Eastman visitor, Recent works by Professor For his fourth CD, Richard Claron McFadden ’82E, 2 Garlands for pianist Gilbert Kalish. of Composition David ’71E (MM) conducts the pianist Vaughan Schlepp Steven Stucky Liptak ’76E (MM), ’78E East Pacific Symphony in a ’77E, ’79E (MM), and clari- Bridge THE MERRY GENTLEMEN (DMA) are featured on this program of his own music: netist Nancy Braithwaite 4 Christmas on the Rocks new CD. The performers his award-winning Concert ’75E, a longtime friend of This CD by the noted Marmoset include current Eastman Fanfare; a six-movement Hemenway’s, who con- new-music pianist is “an faculty members Steven autobiographical work ceived the idea of this anthology of musical Eastman collegiate and Doane, Alison D’Amato, titled editEdmaSTer; and recorded premiere. tombeaux, short pieces Community Music School and Renée Jolles; professor Spectrum 26, written for that give voice to endur- faculty member Bob emeritus Barry Snyder the Greece (NY) Symphony EMMERICH [IMRE] KÁLMAN ing friendships with the Sneider ’93E headlines a ’66E, ’68 (MM); pianist Orchestra in 1970. w Kaiserin Josephine late American composer,” new Christmas CD. Along Margaret Kampmeier cpo who died in 2016 and was with Bob on guitar, the disc ’85E and guitarist Dieter JENTSCH GROUP NO NET Eastman’s Howard Hanson features John Sneider ’91 Hennings ’05E, ’15E 9 Topics in This 1936 operetta by the Visiting Professor of Com- (Bob’s brother) on trumpet, (DMA); and former Hanson American History famed Hungarian compos- position in 2011–2012. The pianist Reuben Allen ’10E, Visiting Professor Tony Blue Schist Records er, which is indeed about composers include current ’13E (MM) and current Arnold, soprano, for whom Napoleon and Josephine, Composition Department graduate student bassist the work Dove Songs was The latest ambitious suite was one of many popular chair David Liptak ’75E Danny Ziemann ’12E. written. by Chris Jentsch ’93E 20th-century stage works

Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 25 { RECORDINGS }

AMERICAN WILD ENSEMBLE Music in the American Wild • ArtistShare From the Mountains to the Prairies . . . Emlyn Johnson ’08E, ’15E (DMA), a new Instructor of Music at Missouri State University, and Daniel Ketter ’10E, ’10, ’17E (DMA), Assistant Professor of w e r Cello at Missouri State University and Principal of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, released a two-disc album, Music in the American Wild, in September. The album includes 11 new commissions by Eastman composers celebrating America’s national parks,

t y u

banned by the Nazis. Kai- her husband, percussionist musical landscapes, people serin (Empress) Josephine Allan Ward ’09E (MM), and traditions from BRazil, was recently revived and also a member of the group INDia, and AfrICA, but recorded in Germany with along with vocalist Jamie there are also stops in Bali, a cast including baritone Jordan ’09E (MA) and Cuba, Puerto Rico, New Steven Scheschareg ’88E, bassist Jon Hawes ’93RC. Orleans, and Harlem. CD ’90E (MM) as General HotList called Brindica “. . . Berthier. For more news GEORGE WALKER/ULYSSES a stylistic kaleidoscope of about Steve, see p. 30. KAY/PAUL FREEMAN an album that reveals new t Black Composers combinations of rhythm JOHN FEDCHOCK Series 1974–1978 and harmony at every turn.” e Reminiscence Sony Classical Summit OGNI SUONO This ten-CD set reissues u SaxoVoce written for the 2016 centennial of the National Park The newest CD by John Columbia Masterworks’ New Focus Service and funded in part by a grant from the National ’85E (MM), and his tenth mid-1970s series of music album as leader, is a by African-American The duo Ogni Suono is Endowment for the Arts. (See the Fall 2016 Eastman follow-up to 2015’s Fluidity. composers, including made up of vocalist Noa Notes for more about this project.) John, who has received two several major works by Even and saxophonist In addition to these 11 new works, the first disc Grammy nominations for the late George Walker Phil Pierick ’16E (DMA), has been set to over an hour of documentary video “Best Instrumental Arrange- ’56E (DMA), ’12E (HRN): dedicated to enlarging from the national park tour by Jorge Arzac to help ment,” culled tunes for both his concertos for piano the duo repertoire and, CDs from a live show he and trombone, and his in Phil’s words, exploring listeners to engage with the inspiration behind the performed over three nights most-performed work, Lyric “the wide-ranging musical, compositions and share the spirit of the tour. The with his quartet—including for Strings. Also included is dramatic, and theatrical album includes works by Eastman composers Aaron pianist John Toomey ’82E Markings by Ulysses Kay possibilities inherent in the Travers ’03E (MA) ’05E (PhD), Chris Chandler ’17E (MM) and drummer Dave (1917–1995) ’38E (MM), synthesis of saxophone and (PhD), Tonia Ko ’10E, Daniel Pesca ’05E ’16E (DMA), Ratajczak ’80E. ’40E (PhD). All ten CDs fea- voice.” Composers include ture another distinguished Kate Soper, Felipe Lara, Erin Kevin Ernste Aristea Mellos ’04E (MA) ’06E (PhD), PACIFIC HARP PROJECT late African-American Rogers, and Zach Sheets. ’12E (MM) ’17E (DMA), David Clay Mettens ’15E (MA), r Play musician, conductor Paul Robert Morris ’65E and Professor of Composition, Pacificharpproject.com Freeman ’56E, ’58E (MM), Do you have music or Adam Roberts ’03E, Jeff Myers ’03E (MA), and Ted ’63E (PhD). performances on a recent Goldman. Both discs are also available for streaming In 2014, harpist Megan or forthcoming CD? Notes Bledsoe Ward ’08E, ’10E TED PILTZECKER wants to know! Send promo on iTunes. (MM) formed “a jazz-ish y Brindica copies to Eastman Notes, ensemble,” and Play is its ZoHo Music Office of Communications, ON THE WEB More information on Music in the sophomore album, includ- Eastman School of Music, American Wild is available at artistshare.com/ ing music by Salzedo, Fauré, This new jazz CD by 26 Gibbs Street, Rochester, musicintheamericanwild, and you can watch a video at Handel, and Megan herself. composer and vibraphonist NY 14604; or just alert us youtube.com/watch?v=QCNOh_ofQHY. Megan lives in Hawai’i with Ted ’72E reflects diverse that it is available.

26 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 { ADVANCEMENT NOTES }

A “Tally-Ho” for Horn Students Founded by Fred and Dorotha Bradley in 1948, the Tally-Ho Music Camp, located in the Finger Lakes region, was a dream come true for the couple. Fred had been a long-time French horn instructor at Eastman, and a member of the horn section of the Rochester Philharmonic and Civic Orchestras. His teaching experiences at Interlochen and Eastman showed him how important it is for students to continue their musical studies during the summer, and for almost 20 years, Tally-Ho Music Camp was able to provide these high-level experiences. Many Tally-Ho students went on to Eastman, and pursued careers in music; those campers who did not continued to play for joy and fulfillment. Generations have benefited from Fred’s guidance, inspiration, and dedication. The Eastman Horn Ensemble (Peter Kurau, director) performing at 2018’s Holiday Sing in Lowry Hall. A gift from Barbara Bloomer Barbara Bloomer ’53E, ’53E will establish the Fred Ireton Bradley French Horn Scholarship at Eastman, named after her father, a former faculty member. Fred’s stepdaughter and French horn student, throughout communities consultant, charged with as- in the League’s Essentials has established the Fred across America. sessing business problems of Orchestra Management Ireton Bradley French The Sanders recognized and making key decisions seminar each summer. Horn Scholarship at the how the Voice and Opera in resolving them. Eastman The Judys’ generosity Eastman School of Music. program fosters the growth has just announced a col- allows Eastman to capture At Tally-Ho Music Camp, of expressive, communica- laboration with the League timely, dynamic and Barbara assisted her tive singers, and applauded of American Orchestras to contemporary issues in the stepparents with the camp’s the School’s dedication to co-produce a category of music world, and increases activities and societies. equipping growing artists The Eastman Case Studies Eastman’s position as the Music has always been a with the foundation to focused on orchestra man- leading resource for musi- large part of her life even be versatile, artistically agement that will be used cal life case-based teaching. after Tally-Ho and her creative, and technically studies at Eastman. She secure. went on to play French horn Thank You for Your Support with the Toronto Symphony Eastman Case Studies Your support of the For information about and taught generations Paul R. Judy and Mary Katherine Ciesinski Eastman School ensures supporting scholarships of French horn students, Ann Judy have recently our ability to continue or other special programs carrying on her stepfather’s and Corazon D. Sanders increased their support to provide a world-class and projects, please legacy and creating Professorship at Eastman. in the development of the educational experience contact: her own. This endowed professor- Eastman Case Studies. by investing in these ship supports the School’s The Institute for Music Eastman School of Music priorities: Martin E. and Corazon D. esteemed Voice and Opera Leadership has published Office of Advancement Sanders Professorship program, whose graduates six volumes of Eastman • Scholarships Initiative 26 Gibbs Street Highly accomplished can be found in major Case Studies, a total of 30 • Eastman Annual Fund Rochester, NY 14604-2599 mezzo-soprano Katherine opera houses throughout cases that examine issues • Special Performances 585.274.1040 Ciesinski ’18E (MS) has the world, on Broadway, and challenges that face to- • Innovative Programs 866.345.2111 (outside been named the inaugural in Hollywood recording stu- day’s musical leaders, plac- • Community Outreach 585 area code) recipient of the Martin E. dios, in concert halls, and ing students in the role of • Student Travel

MICHELLE MARTORELL (HORN ENSEMBLE) Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 27 { ALUMNI NOTES }

Jeffrey Brillhart ’79E 1940s (MM)’s Philadelphia 1 Carol (Tinker) Flourish was premiered Aldridge ’45E, ’50E (MM) at Philadelphia’s Kimmel has been playing trumpet Center in June 2017, for over half a century. recorded by organist On October 13, 2018, the Daryl Robinson on his 94-year-old played for American Fantasia (Gothic the 150th Celebration for Records), and published the Episcopal Senior Life by E.C. Schirmer. Jeffrey’s Communities in Rochester. A World of Possibilities: After serving as principal Master Lessons in Organ trumpet of the Louisville Improvisation, was pub- Orchestra, Carol also lished by Wayne Leupold taught music in the Greece Editions in July 2018. School District for 28 years Jeffrey has maintained and the Royalton-Heartland active teaching and per- School District for three. forming schedules at Bryn Carol continues playing Mawr Presbyterian Church trumpet for special occa- since 1983; Yale University, sions, sharing her passion where he has taught organ and inspiring many. 1 improvisation since 2005; Carol (Tinker) Aldridge ’45E, ’50E (MM) and Philadelphia’s Singing Arlene adds that their 3 Robert Silverman Whiddon ’67E, who died City Choir since 1999. 1950s son Howard is “a Klezmer ’65E (MM), ’70E (DMA) in July 2018, was recently Stanley Leonard ’54E musician. Yes, full-time celebrated his 80th observed by the Columbus Susan Bruckner ’75E re- premiered several new occupation! Frequently a birthday with all-Chopin Symphony Orchestra cently conducted interviews works for percussion person will approach me recitals in several cities, (conducted by George with 24 neuroscientists ensemble in the past year after a concert, raving about including Toronto and del Gobbo ’70E), which and cognitive psycholo- and a half: Danza Bamboo his performance, then ask: Vancouver, and a CD dedicated its 2018–2019 gists studying music and at Eastman, Main Street ‘Tell me, what does he do release of the composer’s season to her memory. The the brain throughout the at Kutztown University, for a living?’” four Scherzi on Marquis Youth Orchestra of Greater United States, Canada, Ballade at Louisiana State Classics. Robert was the Columbus (founded by Mrs. and England. Susan, who University, and Interiors at first winner of the Ontario Whiddon) established the taught at Ithaca College the University of Central 1960s Arts Council Foundation Lynn Whiddon Endowment and the University of Utah, Florida. Main Street and Steven Eckblad ’69E Career Achievement Award Fund and paid tribute to is director of piano studies Ballade are published by and his deceased spouse, for Keyboard Artistry, and her at its 25th Anniversary at Cabrillo College in Santa LudwigMasters. Beverley Williams, received has been appointed to Celebration Concert. Mrs. Cruz, CA, and the author of the 2018 Minnesota String the Order of Canada, an Whiddon’s husband is The Whole Musician. 2 Pianist Arlene (Cohen) and Orchestra Teachers honor accorded about 150 Rex Whiddon ’66E, ’69E Stein ’57E, ’71E (MM) and Association Community Canadians annually. His (MM) and their daughter is Richard Decker ’72E cellist Allen McGill recently Service Award. Both taught former students occupy Caroline Whiddon ’92E. retired in July 2018 after a celebrated twenty years as for more than thirty years professorial positions 43-year career in the sym- the Lyric Arts Duo, which in the public schools and at major Canadian phony orchestra field. Prior performs recitals through- for more than forty years as universities and colleges. 1970s to serving as Vice President out Florida. Arlene and her Suzuki teachers. Together Kevin Boutote ’76E is the of Artistic Administration husband of 60 years, Harry, they helped start three The impact on the musical new Director of Recording with the Rochester perform as a vocal-piano orchestras and a light opera community of Columbus, and Classroom Technology Philharmonic Orchestra duo with Arlene as pianist. company. Ohio of Lynn Herbert at The Julliard School. (2010–2018), Decker spent 35 years with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra’s horn section (1975–1990) and later as General Manager (1990–2011). He was grateful to come “home” for the final years of his career, working with many fellow Eastman graduates in the RPO and at the school.

Mario Falcao ’71E (MM), Professor Emeritus at the State University of New York at Fredonia and 2 3 Visiting Professor at Escola Arlene (Cohen) Stein ’57E, ’71E (MM) and Allen McGill Robert Silverman ’65E (MM), ’70E (DMA) Superior de Musica de

28 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 WALTER COLLEY (ALDRIDGE) { ALUMNI NOTES }

Lisboa, Portugal, received new three works by J. the American Harp William Greene ’85E Society’s 2018 Lifetime (MM), ’85E (DMA): Festive Achievement Award. Brass, a collection of 31 concertato style hymn set- Frederick Hohman ’77E, tings for brass, organ, and ’79E (MM), ’89E (DMA) optional timpani; Simply performed a recital for the Lent, a collection of easy rededication of the Lyon to moderate organ settings & Healy pipe organ at Our of Lenten hymns; and See Lady of Sorrows Basilica How Our Christ Comes, a in Chicago. The organ was collection for SATB and damaged when the roof organ. leaked in 2012; subsequent repairs restored the sound 4 Cory Hall ’88E (MM) is of the organ as it was when founder and editor-in-chief it opened in 1902. of BachScholar, LLC, which publishes books and Geary Larrick ’70E (MM) resources for pianists and was presented with an organists. BachScholar Albert Nelson Marquis specializes in practical and Lifetime Achievement innovative pedagogical Award in November 2018. 4 studies, as well as books Geary continues to perform Cory Hall ’88E (MM) and folios of classical and on percussion and piano ragtime keyboard music and has written ten schol- (original compositions, arly books, as well as many Urtexts, transcriptions, articles and compositions. and arrangements). Cory’s Sight-Reading & Harmony Richard (Rick) Lawn ’71E, (2017), BSP’s flagship ’76E (MM) has published publication, is a national his fourth book, Jazz Scores bestseller. and Analysis, released by Sher Music. Rick was in In December 2018, Kevin the first graduating class Honeycutt ’85E was ap- awarded the MM in Jazz pointed CEO and President Studies and Contemporary of the Alliance for Cancer Media spearheaded by Gene Therapy. his mentor, Ray Wright. His new book is inspired John Hunter ’84E, ’98E by Wright’s book, Inside (MM) recently released the Score, and includes Episode 18 of Season scores by John Fedchock 2 of his podcast series, ’85E (MM), and John dedicated to Stanley Hasty Hollenbeck ’90E, ’91E ’41E, a gifted clarinetist and (MM). Rick plans a second 5 teacher who traveled the Thomas Lanners ’89E (MM), ’91E (DMA) (far right) volume. Professor Emeritus world for two decades be- and former dean at the arrange music for various by Pendragon Press in Emerson Trio), consisting fore returning to Eastman University of the Arts, he ensembles, published by 2019. This is a biography of Endre Balogh (violin), at Howard Hanson’s continues to teach online Kendor Music, eJazzLines, of Mozart’s close friend, for Donna Coleman ’86E request; he remained for courses and compose and and Baker Jazz and More. whom he wrote his Clarinet (DMA) (piano), and Antony more than four decades. Concerto and Quintet. Until Cooke (cello), performed Find the podcast at David Owens ’72E enjoyed Pamela’s discoveries in pieces by Clara Schumann stagedoorpodcast.com. another performance of his Riga, it was not known what and Ravel at The Bing Soliloquy VI for Solo Viola Stadler’s clarinet looked Theater of the Los Angeles 5 Thomas Lanners on November 4, by Boston- like; now it is possible to County Museum of Art. ’89E (MM), ’91E (DMA), area violist Anne Black, in a make reproductions of this Professor of Piano at chamber concert in the Pro unique instrument. Pamela Karen (Hanson) Dusek Oklahoma State University, Arte Chamber Orchestra of is professor emerita at the ’87E is the new Managing taught at two international Boston’s Salon Series. Peabody Conservatory of Director of the Orchestra of summer music festivals Music. the Southern Finger Lakes in 2018, the AmiCaFest In the Footsteps of Mozart’s in Corning, New York. in Italy in June and the Clarinetist: Anton Stadler Shanghai International (1753–1812), by Pamela L. 1980s The Sacred Music Press Piano Festival and Institute Poulin ’72E, ’77E (MA), ’83E In September 2018, the and the Lorenz Publishing in China in July. Thomas (PhD), will be published Concord Trio (formerly the Company recently released was one of three judges for

Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 29 { ALUMNI NOTES } the Texas Music Teachers is also in his seventh year Association’s annual as Chorus Master for The competitions in October, Phoenix Symphony. and will present a session at the 2019 Music Teachers An interview with Zeneba National Association Bowers ’94E, ’96E (MM) convention in Washington. is the cover story of the Standing next to a poster January 2019 SBO (School for the Shanghai Festival Band and Orchestra) are, left to right, Maxim magazine. Zeneba Mogilevsky, New England discusses her training, Conservatory; Yuri Didenko, including her studies Moscow Conservatory; at Eastman with Lynn Zhe Tang, Shanghai Blakeslee; her career as a Conservatory; and Tom. violinist in the Nashville Symphony Orchestra; and Rick Nelson ’84E (PHD), her education outreach as Emeritus Professor of 6 7 a member of the ALIAS David Evan Thomas ’83E (MM) Mark Elliot Bergman ’92E Music Theory at the chamber ensemble. Cleveland Institute of In October bass-baritone stage, screen, and the con- and Orchestral Studies (See “Brief Notes,” p. 3, Music, recently retired from Steven Scheschareg ’88E, cert hall. at Sheridan College, for another of Zeneba’s 42 years of teaching, the ’90E (MM), who is based received the 2018/19 accomplishments.) last 22 years at CIM, where in Vienna, returned to the Organist Charles Performing Arts Fellowship he was Head of Music United States to sing in a Sundquist ’81E (MM), ’00E in Music Composition Tracy Cowden ’95E (MM), Theory and Division Head Wagner concert with the (DMA) is the new Artistic from the Wyoming Arts ’00E (DMA) is the Chair of of Common Core. His late Plainfield (NJ) Symphony, Director of Chicago’s Council. Mark’s winning the Department of Music wife, Beth Pearce Nelson and in two commemorative Anima—The Glen Ellyn compositions include and Roland K. Blumberg ’82E (MM), ’88E (DMA), concerts for the 80th anni- Children’s Chorus. Ondine; The Temple, Endowed Professor in also taught at CIM. He con- versary of Kristallnacht in based on a short story Music at The University of tinues as Director of Music New Jersey and New York 6 David Evan Thomas by H.P. Lovecraft; and Texas at San Antonio. for Children and Youth at City. (See also “recordings,” ’83E (MM) was initiated Shenandoah Suite, a string St. Paul’s Episcopal Church p. 25.) into the Minneapolis/St. trio commemorating the Kim Fraites-Dow ’98E (BA, in Cleveland Heights. Paul Alumnae Chapter of 75th anniversary of the BM), CEO of Girl Scouts Leo Schwartz ’80E is the Sigma Alpha Iota (SAI) as founding of Shenandoah of Eastern Pennsylvania, Michael Patterson ’80E producer and creator of the a National Arts Associate, National Park. Mark plans was named one of the 2018 (MM), a Grammy and Off-Broadway hitThe Book “a man or woman who is to use his award to produce Most Admired CEOs by Emmy Award-winning of Merman, with music nationally recognized for commercial recordings of the Philadelphia Business composer, arranger, orches- and lyrics by Leo and book distinguished contribution his compositions. Journal. “I stand proud as trator, and educator, held a by Leo and DC Cathro. to the arts.” the executive presenting four-day workshop at Saint Leo is also Executive Tom Bookhout ’91E (MM) Girl Scouts, an organization Peter’s Church in New Director of Flying is Director of Performing dedicated to female lead- York focusing on writing Elephant Productions in 1990s Arts at Ottawa University’s ership,” says Kim, whose for large and small string Chicago, and has produced 7 Mark Elliot Bergman new residential campus Eastman degree was in ensembles. award-winning works for ’92E, Director of Strings in Surprise, Arizona. Tom clarinet performance.

8 Michaela (Anthony) Shelton ’13E (MM) (left), Master Gunnery Sgt. Matthew Harding ’96E, Master Sgt. Michael Mergen ’98E (MM), and Caroline Bean Stute ’06E

30 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 { ALUMNI NOTES }

August 10 through 17. The University’s Felipe Avellar de Aquino ’00E (DMA) and his wife, Sandra Aquino ’99E (MM), helped organize this festival. They welcomed Jassen Todorov ’00E (MM) and Guillaume Tardif ’00E (DMA) as guest artists. Guillaume also performed the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the João Pessoa City Symphony Orchestra, and after the festival, Guillaume, Lena Johnson, and Felipe made a short concert tour of Brazil.

Conductor Henry Cheng ’07E is a visiting artist at Cornell University for the 2018–2019 academic year.

Adriana Martínez Figueroa ’00E (MA), ’09E (PhD) is an Assistant Professor of Music at Eureka (IL) College, where she teaches voice, musicology, and music theory. 9 Jassen Todorov ’00E (MM) James Hirschfeld ’03E Kirsten Hadden Lipkens and Caroline Bean Stute Band (founded in 1798) or Magazine and Renaissance writes: “I graduated ’90E and Linda Day ’90E ’06E, cellist, all with “The Marine Chamber Orchestra Magazine. with a BM in Jazz and were reunited in November President’s Own” Marine has performed at fourteen Contemporary Media. I 2018 at a Springfield Chamber Orchestra, presidential funerals, Robert Paterson ’95E began working at Columbia Symphony Youth Orchestra participated in President starting with that of John received the 2018–2019 University in 2014, and fundraiser. Linda, who is George H. W. Bush’s State Quincy Adams in 1848. Alfred I. duPont until April 2018, I was the a local violin teacher and Funeral on December Composer’s Award at Director of Artistic and retired Austin Symphony 5, 2018 at Washington, Cello Secrets: Over 100 the Delaware Symphony Administrative Planning violinist, offered her talents. D.C.’s National Cathedral. Performance Strategies for Orchestra’s season-opening at Columbia’s Miller The two have not met since Michaela (Anthony) the Advanced Cellist, by Classics Series concert. Theatre. Last April, I started they graduated. Linda has Shelton ’13E (MM), a Brian Hodges ’96E, ’98E Rob’s works have been as a Program Officer 19 students she loves to current member of the (MM) and Jo Nardolillo played by the American at the Howard Gilman teach, and also prepares U.S. Army Field Band ’08E (DMA), was published Composers Orchestra, Foundation, which is the short fairytale musicals Soldier’s Chorus, sang in July 2018 by Roman & Minnesota Orchestra, largest private funder of for student ensembles and in the chorus at Bush’s Littlefield. An accessible Louisville Orchestra, and the performing arts in New does Photoshop illustra- funeral. “The President’s textbook for all advanced many more, and a recording York City. We even fund tions for them. Own” United States Marine cello players, Cello Secrets of his opera Three-Way was some Eastman-related explains over 100 of the nominated for a Grammy ensembles, such as So On September 18, Megan most helpful insider tricks Award (see page 24). Percussion, Alarm Will Loomis ’99E performed her and techniques to master Sound, and JACK Quartet.” one-woman show The Girl the instrument. Vanessa Rose ’98E began in the Band at the Rochester her new appointment as Andrea Kalyn ’02E (PhD) Fringe Festival. The show In addition to freelanc- American Composers has been appointed the featured Megan singing, ing as a violist with the Forum President and CEO first female President of the playing seven different New York City Ballet, the on January 1, 2019. New England Conservatory instruments, and telling a New Jersey Symphony of Music and started her compelling memoir. Orchestra, and on new position in January Broadway with Wicked, 2000s 2019. 8 Master Gunnery Sgt. Joana Miranda ’93E, The second annual Festival Matthew Harding ’96E, ’95E (MM) continues her Internacional de Música Jung Sun Kang ’08E (MM), solo cornet; Master Sgt. work as an illustrator, with de Câmara took place at ’13E (DMA) was selected Michael Mergen ’98E cartoons recently published the Federal University as an artist-in-residence in (MM), trumpet/cornetist; in The American Legion of Paraiba in Brazil from Willapa Bay AiR for April

Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 31 { ALUMNI NOTES }

2019. She is working on a the essentials of sound; the Jacqueline Arrington ’15E Jessica Sindell ’11E is the Lucile (Ankeney) DeGangi new piece commissioned origins of film; recording (DMA) is Professor of Flute new Assistant Principal ’48E, December 2018 * by a Rochester-based techniques; the business of at the University of Oregon. Flute of the Cleveland Howard O. Deming ’47E, quintet, fivebyfive. This films; and more. Joseph’s Orchestra, and was recently ’48E (MM), March 2017 project was awarded a New cantata And Crimson Tenor Achilles Bezanis appointed to the flute facul- Edward P. Diemente Music USA grant, and it Roses Once Again be Fair, ’18E (MM) and soprano ty of the Cleveland Institute ’49W (MM), December will be premiered at the based on texts from World Laura Sanders ’16E, ’18E of Music. 2018 Memorial Art Gallery in War I, was premiered on (MM) were finalists for Peter S. Farrell ’48E, ’53E February 2020. Her new November 10, 2018 at the 2019 International Shannon Leigh Reilly (MM), May 2018 violin and piano piece was Washington DC’s Church Collegiate Singing Steigerwald ’16E, ’18E Louis B. Gordon ’48E, released on the Delos label of the Epiphany, with Championship competition (MM) writes: “In August I ’49E (MM), ’62E (DMA), in December. mezzo-soprano Barbara presented by American began my new position as August 2018 Dever. Vocal Arts. Achilles (ten- adjunct violin professor at Louise H. Johnson ’43E, 9 Jassen Todorov ’00E or) studied with Robert the University at Buffalo ’48E (MM), September (MM) won two prizes Harpeth Rising, a trio that Swensen, and Laura (sopra- (SUNY), where I am the 2018 in the 2018 National combines folk, newgrass, no) studied with Katherine private violin teacher and Alma (Lutz) Jones Geographic Photo Contest rock, and classical into an Ciesinski. also coach chamber music. ’45E, February 2018 for his airborne photos: the original sound, has been I am also teaching beginner Louis G. Lane Grand Prize for a picture accepted into American Sam Bivens ’13E (MA), violin classes at Buffalo ’47E (MM), January 2016 of an auto “boneyard” in Musicians Abroad. The ’18E (PhD) and Alan Reese String Works, a fantastic Ruth (Hagood) Lisso the Mojave Desert near trio members, Michelle ’18E (PhD) have been organization which reaches ’45E, September 2018 Victorville, CA; and the Younger ’09 (MM) (banjo), appointed to the faculty out to Buffalo’s large Betty Jeanne (Wicklund) “American Experience Jordana Greenberg (violin), of the Cleveland Institute refugee community. Last, McNeil ’45E (MM), Award” for a photo (see and Maria Di Meglio of Music. Sam’s disserta- but not least, my upcoming October 2018 page 31) of the destruc- (cello), began their journey tion focused on form in recital in NYC was featured Jeanette (Shieber) Milder tion from the 2017 fires in as cultural ambassadors Wagner’s Die Walküre, and on icareifyoulisten.com. ’42E (MM), December Santa Rosa. in early 2019. The group, his burgeoning pet project I premiered A Garden 2018 which has already toured addresses issues of data of Live Flowers, by NYC Ruth (Dean) Morris the United States, United visualization in music the- violist-composer Anna ’49E (MM), September Kingdom, Portugal, ory. Alan’s research focuses Heflin, alongside the Berio 2018 Germany, the Netherlands, on analytical approaches violin Sequenza and the Evelyn (Paperny) Canada, and Australia, to 20th-century music, Chaconne from Bach’s D Rothstein ’42E, ’45E is excited to spread their particularly that of Karol minor Partita. (MM), October 2018 music and passion to more Szymanowski. Francis M. Sydnor ’40E, audiences. Tyler Wiessner ’15E, ’18E March 2003 Michael Conrad ’13E (MM) teaches band instru- Robert Willoughby (MM) and Julian Garvue ments to students from ’42E, March 2018 2010s ’16E received second and Grades 4 through 6 at John Laure (Down) Young Euridice Alvarez ’13E third place respectively James Audubon School ’49E, August 2018 (DMA) recently complet- in Spheres of a Genius, an #33 in the Rochester City ed her first semester as international competition School District. 1950s Assistant Professor of Oboe celebrating the 100th birth- Edward A. Barrow ’50E, at Baylor University. day of Thelonious Monk. Oliver Wolcott ’13E passed ’53E (MM), January 2019 Joseph Turrin ’06E (HNR) Eastman’s Bill Dobbins his test for the Airline Betty Birdsey ’50E, published Music in Film: Quinn Patrick Ankrum was a panelist for the Transport Pilot certificate November 2018 Settling the Score (Cognella ’10E (DMA) is in her second competition. with a CL-65 type rating. Dorothy Emile ’51E, Press), a book introducing year on the voice faculty at Oliver says he owes a lot January 2017 students to the art of film the University of Cincinnati Alex Gilson ’18E (MM) is of his success to the skills Eleanor (Allen) Flottman music: the various reasons College-Conservatory of the new Primary Organist he acquired in his organ ’53E (MM), June 2018 for including music in film; Music. and Assistant Director lessons of always preparing John Thomas Garvey of Music at the First to the nth degree, and never ’57E, August 2018 Presbyterian Church in accepting anything less Katherine Hoover Send us your news and photos! Davenport, Iowa. than absolute precision. ’59E, September 2018 Margaret (Nagle) Johnson Do you have an announcement you’d like to share with The New York Times ’55E, ’72E (MM), January your fellow alumni? Send your personal and professional recently reported on 2019 news to Eastman Notes, Office of Communications, IN MEMORIAM Samuel Mehr’s ’10E Frederick M. Miller Eastman School of Music, 26 Gibbs Street, Rochester, research into the effects 1940s ’53E (MM), August 2018 NY 14604. of music on infants. After Mildred (Stapely) Alcestis I. (Bishop) Perry E-mail: [email protected] graduating from Eastman, Caccamise ’49E, ’55E, December 2018 Samuel went on to study November 2018 * Robert L. Stern ’55E, ’56E Please do not edit, crop, or resize your digital images. the basic science of music— Elizabeth (Maynard) (MA), ’62E (PhD), August Send the original, full-size file downloaded from your why people love music Dahlgren ’46E, December 2018 camera or smartphone or provided by the photographer. and what music is—at the 2018 Joyce (Peters) Wheeler We reserve the right to edit submissions for clarity Harvard Music Lab, which Harriet (Conant) Dearden ’50 (MA), September and length. he directs. ’40E, November 2018 2018

32 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 { ALUMNI NOTES } Musings of a Dance Musician: Reverberations from Eastman’s Past When pianist Judith Rosenberg ’68E, ’70E (MM) decided to tell Eastman Graham, who had taken Biracree, along with two other Eastman Notes the story of her career as a dance accompanist, she discovered that students, with her to New York. These students formed the basis of dance was originally an important part of Eastman’s story as well. Graham’s first company, and they performed her first works in concert. Biracree returned to Rochester, and brought with her the body memory By Judith Rosenberg of Graham’s movements, which must have influenced everything she What started out as a memoir of my time at Eastman quickly developed did in dance for the rest of her career. into a research project. To learn of Martha Graham’s brief but important While still at Eastman, I accompanied Modern Dance classes at the year there, from 1925 to 1926, was revelatory, because at Eastman she downtown Rochester Y. Since I could improvise, I somehow managed began to formulate her ideas about what dance could be as an inde- to keep up with the teacher. Jim Payton had been a double major at pendent art form. Because she was unable to afford the $500 fee that Juilliard in dance and oboe, and as the teacher, was able to guide me. Ted Shawn demanded for use of his own After graduation, I stayed in the area, movement innovations, Graham began playing at SUNY Brockport, where I her own explorations, which resulted in learned the art and craft of accompany- an iconic American Modern Dance move- ing ballet and modern dance. ment vocabulary. While at Brockport, I noticed a small At the turn of the century, Ted Shawn dance studio named for Daniel Nagrin. and his wife, Ruth St. Denis, had begun I had no idea who he was. Some years to develop a new approach to dance that later, I met him at the American Dance had nothing to do with ballet. Ms. Graham Festival and played for his Advanced saw their Orientalist-inspired concerts Modern Dance class. He brought music as a young woman, became enthralled, out of me that I didn’t know existed. One and began to study and perform with the day, he asked me to stay after class. He company. She began to realize that dance said “You’ve got good musical ideas but I could be so much more profound than want you to develop them in class.” I was the light entertainment in vaudeville or expected to do this the very next day. And as a diversion between reels of a silent so, it was a dancer who first encouraged film, and could express different facets me as a composer. of the human condition. Graham’s father, a doctor who practiced an early form of After three years, I applied and was psychiatry, had taught her “Movement accepted as Music Director in Dance at doesn’t lie.” Mills College in Oakland, California. I And so, when Rouben Mamoulian stayed 37 years. invited her to join the dance faculty of the During that time, I learned about the short-lived Dance and Dramatic Action history of American Modern Dance and department at Eastman, she accept- Martha Graham (shown here dancing with Ted Shawn) was at about all the different techniques and ed. When it became clear that Howard Eastman only from 1925 to 1926, yet in that year she created movement vocabularies within that his- the basis of her unique choreographic style. Hanson, the new director, did not under- tory. The music had to reflect and help the stand what she wanted to do—to develop a new art form—she left for dancers in their use of time, space and force. In choreography class, I New York City and never looked back. Graham went on to be consid- experimented with different ways that different musical settings could ered one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. But she began at influence the dance and the dancer. It was wonderful. Eastman in 1925. I offered a course in ballet history, and became aware of the central role of composers in the creation of masterpieces in the dance I arrived at Eastman in 1966, a transfer student from Brooklyn College. canon. Beginning, perhaps, with Lully and later Rameau contributing While there, I played ballet classes for Olive McCue, who had her own to eighteenth-century opera-ballets, to Tchaikovsky’s scores for the studio in downtown Rochester, very close to Eastman. This was my first Czar’s court, to Stravinsky’s scores for the Ballet Russes and later for job playing for ballet. I knew Miss McCue only as a charismatic teacher Balanchine, the brilliance of the music, as much as the brilliance of the who demanded respect and received devotion from her students. It was choreography, resulted in these iconic works. only recently, as I began my investigations, that I discovered who she In 2001, I began to compose and perform for silent film at Pacific Film was and the important role she had played in ballet at Eastman and in Archive at UC Berkeley, using everything I had learned accompanying the city of Rochester. for dance and applying it to the screen. She and Thelma Biracree had founded the Mercury Ballet, and the It has been my privilege and my joy to have had a life as a musician company had had a major role in opera performances at the Eastman for dance, and more recently, for film. And the seed was first planted Theater. Further reading led me to connect Biracree with Martha at Eastman.

PHOTO BY NICKOLAS MURAY, © NICKOLAS MURAY PHOTO ARCHIVES/COURTESY OF THE GEORGE EASTMAN MUSEUM Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 33 { ALUMNI NOTES }

1960s Edwin D. Anderson TRIBUTES ’63E, October 2018 * Lynette Halvorson ’60E (PhD), November 2014 Abram Loft Abner Martin ’67MM, Abram Loft, distinguished profes- repertoire, but my focus was— November 2018 sor emeritus of chamber music, and remained—chamber music. Harvey M. Olin ’61E (MM), December 2018 died peacefully in his Rochester I proved to be quite good at it and Steven M. Parsons home on February 1, at age 97. never looked back.” ’61E, ’68E (MM), A violinist and violist, Abram Dr. Loft was a member of the September 2018 Loft served as chair of the string editorial boards of the Journal Charles Adam Richards department and professor of of the American Musicological ’64E, December 2018 Norman C. Schweikert chamber music at Eastman from Society and of College Music ’61E, December 2018 1979 until his retirement in 1986. Society’s Symposium, a con- Edward Pierce Small III He earned undergraduate and tributor to the New Grove ’67E (MM), January 2011 graduate degrees at Columbia Dictionary of American Music, Philip John Swanson University (Ph.D., musicology), and the author of Violin and ’62E, ’64E (MM), November 2018 and lectured in music history at Keyboard: The Duo Repertoire; George W. VanOstrand the Manhattan School of Music Ensemble!—A Rehearsal Guide ’60E (MM), ’71E (DMA), from 1951 to 1954. As a member of to Thirty Great Works of Cham- September 2018 the Fine Arts Quartet from 1954 “Quite good at chamber music,” indeed: ber Music; and How to Succeed A. John Walker ’61E, ’64E to 1979, he performed throughout violinist Abram Loft chaired the Eastman in an Ensemble: Reflections (MA), ’72E (PhD), August Strings Department from 1979 to 1986. 2018 the world, and served on the fac- on a Life in Chamber Music. ulty of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee from He received the University’s Edward P. Curtis Award 1970s Susan Wharton Conkling 1963 to 1979. for Undergraduate Teaching (1984) and the American ’89E (MM), ’94E (PhD) After his retirement from Eastman, Abram Loft String Teachers Association’s Distinguished Service November 2018 served as a competition judge and chamber music Award (1993). Gerald Maxfield Hansen coach. In a 2003 interview, he stated: “As an adult, Eastman celebrated Abram Loft at a memorial con- ’70E (DMA), November I had the opportunity to perform some of the solo cert held on May 12, 2019 in Hatch Recital Hall. 2018 John Thomas Hofmann ’73 (DMA), September 2018 Deborah Sharpe-Lunstead Allan Schindler ’75E, July 2018 Born in Stamford, Connecticut, works that feature or employ Ralph Frank Thorp ’70E, November 2018 Allan Schindler pursued his computer music resources, and Christopher Joseph undergraduate education at multimedia compositions that Vadala ’70E, January Oberlin College and his master’s include video, film or dance, have 2019 and doctoral studies in compo- been performed throughout the William Henry Watson sition and musicology at the world. He served on numerous ’71E, September 2018 Robert Fortson Williams University of Chicago, where he new music, computer music, ’73E (PhD), May 2018 studied with Ralph Shapey and composition, and foundation Richard Wernick. organizations and competitions. 1990s Robert Edward Frazier In 1978 he came to Eastman, His publications include the ’98E (MM), ’03E (DMA), where he taught composi- music appreciation text Listening October 2018 tion and directed the Eastman to Music, and many articles, Andra Lia (Lund) Computer Music Center, and was essays and reviews. Padrichelli ’98E, a founder and co-director of the Allan Schindler’s life and December 2018 ImageMovementSound Festival, music, with contributions 2000s which for twelve years sponsored Innovative and imaginative: composer Allan from former colleagues and Chris Ann Albright ’02E, July 2014 the creation and presentation of Schindler taught in Eastman’s Composition students, were celebrated at a Department for almost thirty years. innovative collaborative works concert presented by the East- In Tribute reflects deaths incorporating music, film, and dance. He retired in man Audio Research Studio on November 7, 2018 of Eastman alumni through 2015, when he was named Professor Emeritus of in Kilbourn Hall. For the program from this event, December 31, 2018. Composition, and died on October 8, 2018. go to esm.rochester.edu/uploads/Allan-Memorial- Allan Schindler’s imaginative acoustic works, Concert-Program.pdf * Attended Eastman classes only.

34 Eastman Notes | Spring 2019 { FACULTY NOTES }

Chris Azzara ’88E (MM), reviews in the most recent ’92E (PhD), chair of the Mu- issue of the Journal of the sic Teaching and Learning American Viola Society. department, was a featured speaker at the National Robert Wason, Professor Association for Music Emeritus of Theory, Education Conference in published the essay “Tonal Dallas last November. Chris Structure and Bartók’s led “Inspiration,” a two-day Revision of the First “Opus/learning track” Movement” in a new edi- on creativity. Conference tion of Bartók’s Sonata for Opus presenters included Two Pianos and Percussion Eastman Assistant Profes- by Boosey and Hawkes. sor of Music Teaching and Learning Alden Snell ’06E Associate Professor and (MA), ’13E (PhD), and Lynn Chair of Musicology Holly Grossman ’07E, ’13E (PhD) Watkins recently published and Julie Scott ’10E (PhD). Musical Vitalities: Ventures 1 in a Biotic Aesthetic of Mu- Michael Burritt ’84E, ’86E (MM) Elena Bellina, assistant pro- sic (University of Chicago fessor of Italian, was award- was in the cast of Nico the Chandos label of rare- (PhD) was named the first Press). In this book Holly ed Harvard University’s Muhly’s Marnie, which pre- ly-heard works by Gustav Minehan Professor. Betsy is draws fascinating parallels Lauro de Bosis Post-Doc- miered at the Metropolitan Holst, the composer of The shown here with University between music’s formal toral Fellowship, supporting Opera in October and was Planets. Guy is the soloist Trustee Cathy Minehan processes and those of the her research and writing of seen in the Met’s “Live in in Holst’s Invocation, ’68, whose generous gift dynamic natural world. a book about the history of HD” series. OperaWire accompanied by the BBC made the professorship Italian civilization. Elena commented: “Griffey’s Philharmonic conducted by possible. (See also page 23.) Eastman’s Beal Institute is researching and writing Mr. Strutt was a gruff, Sir Andrew Davis. for Film Music and a book about artistic activ- obnoxious fellow, the tenor Professor Honey Meconi’s Contemporary Media ities among Italian POWs blasting sound throughout In December, Associate Hildegard of Bingen was may only be a few years in Allied camps in Africa to drive home the charac- Professor Mark Kellogg published by the University old, but in November, the between 1940 and 1947. terization. He delivered it to ’86E and Assistant of Illinois Press—the first Hollywood Reporter ranked perfection.” Professor of Accompanying book in English about it sixth among the 25Top 1 In August, Professor Priscilla Yuen ’11E Hildegard as a compos- Schools for Scoring for Michael Burritt ’84E, ’86E Associate Professor of (MM) were featured er. Honey adds: “In my Movies and TV. The insti- (MM), along with current Musicology Lisa Jakelski’s guest artists for the other realm (the sixteenth tute, led by Mark Watters, and former members of Making New Music in Cold Trombone Association of century), I gave the keynote was established in 2015 by the Eastman Percussion War Poland: The Warsaw Pernambuco’s Festival in address at the international Emmy-winning composer Ensemble, performed Autumn Festival, 1956–1968 Recife, Brazil. On December conference in Belgium Jeff Beal ’85E (House of a sold-out concert at was awarded the 2018 1, Mark and Professor of marking the 500th anniver- Cards) and his wife, Joan the National Center for Kulczycki Book Prize in Trombone Larry Zalkind sary of the death of Pierre Beal ’84E. Only six students Performing Arts in Beijing. Polish Studies from the spent a day in residence at de la Rue, coincidentally on participate each year, Mike was accompanied Association for Slavic, East Chicago’s Merit School of the anniversary of the exact limiting the entire program by DMA students Brant European, and Eurasian Music. date that he passed away.” to a dozen. Blackard and Connor Studies. Stevens, both ’15E (MM), 2 At Eastman’s 94th Professor of Viola George and alumni Cameron Leach Guy Johnston ’12E, asso- Commencement on May 19, Taylor was the soloist in ’18E (MM) and Kyle Peters ciate professor of cello, is Professor of Theory Betsy Bartók’s Viola Concerto ’17E (MM). Later in the year, featured in a recording on Marvin ’81E (MA), ’89E on December 9 with Mike was selected to serve the Chapel Hill (UNC) as President-Elect of the Philharmonia, conducted Percussive Arts Society. by Donald L. Oehler.

Professor of Music Associate Professor of Jazz Theory Jonathan Dunsby and Contemporary Media published an edition and Dariusz Terefenko ’98E The CD Songtree (Oberlin translation, along with (MM), ’03E (MA), ’04E Music) is devoted to Jonathan Goldman and (PhD) published the first recent works by Professor Arnold Whittall, of Music of two volumes of Jazz Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon; Lessons by Pierre Boulez. Voicings for Piano: The the performers include Music Lessons was twice complete linear approach. soprano Tony Arnold, a named “book of the year” in former Hanson Professor the UK national press. Instructor of Music Theory and frequent visitor to Alexander Trygstad ’13E Eastman, and guitarist Professor of Voice Anthony 2 (MM), ’17E (MA), ’17E Dieter Hennings ’05E, Dean Griffey ’01E (MM) Betsy Marvin (right) with University Trustee Cathy Minehan (DMA) published two CD ’15E (DMA).

Spring 2019 | Eastman Notes 35 { STUDENT NOTES }

Oliver Brett, DMA student of the Rochester Flute of David Higgs, gave the Association. opening recital of the 2018 Canadian International Eastman student composer Organ Competition; Oliver Reilly Spitzfaden’s new won second prize in the work Skin lives in wires, 2017 CIOC. scored for percussion, bass, and saxophone and a 1 Nathan Cheung, DMA custom-made motor instru- student of Natalya Anton- ment, was commissioned ova, won the third prize at and premiered by OSSIA in the Wideman International Kilbourn Hall last semester. Piano Competition at Cen- tenary College in Shreve- Andrew Watkins’s port, Louisiana. composition What Else Can I Tell You will be Charlotte Collins received 1 2 4 featured in the New Music Nathan Cheung Ben Dettelback Molly Murdock the Jane R. Plitt Award Masterclass sessions at the from the University’s VanDemark, is Eastman’s database of compositions 5 Tenor Jonathan Rhodes 2019 International Jazz Susan B. Anthony Center. leader in “The String Bank by women for use by and pianist Lee Wright, Composers’ Symposium, This honor, given to a Project”, a nonprofit started musicians, theorists, took part in Prophet to be held in May at the female undergraduate who at the USC Thornton musicologists, and many of Freedom: Honoring University of Northern demonstrates exceptional School of Music in 2016 others. Molly’s primary Frederick Douglass in Word Colorado. leadership and community for professional musicians research is in the 20th- and Song, the celebra- service on behalf of women, to provide gently used century Hungarian tion of Douglass’s 200th Oliver Xu is one of three re- was awarded at the annual strings to instrumental composers Erzsébet Syőnyi anniversary co-sponsored cipients of the University’s Susan B. Anthony Legacy students in underprivi- and Béla Bartók. She has by Rochester Institute Wells Award. This award Awards Ceremony on leged schools. Thanks to presented her research for of Technology and the recognizes seniors who are January 26. Dalanie, donation boxes the International Kodály University of Rochester majoring in an engineering have been placed outside Society, and is preparing on December 3, 2018. discipline, while also pursu- 2 Ben Dettelback ’19E, a string faculty members’ an English edition of Jonathan and Lee per- ing a major or minor in one student of Larry Zalkind, studios. Donors throughout Bartók’s Twenty-Seven formed “Farewell Song of of the humanities. Oliver is the new Principal the United States include Choruses for Women Frederick Douglass” by majors in applied music Trombone of the Cayuga violinist Sarah Chang and and Children. In 2016, Julia Griffiths, written in and computer science Chamber Orchestra and of the Saint Louis Symphony Molly received Eastman’s 1847 and not heard publicly through the Dual Degree Syracuse’s Symphoria. His Orchestra. For more infor- Annual Teaching Assistant in more than a century. with Eastman program. teacher adds, “Ben will live mation visit thestringbank. Prize, and in 2018 the Only two copies survive, in Syracuse and commute org University’s Presidential one in the British Library Zachary Zwahlen, a cur- to both, no doubt with side Diversity Award as a and one in the UR Library. rent DMA student, will take trips to Rochester.” 4 Molly Murdock, a remarkable and creative the position of Assistant music theory PhD student, advocate for gender equity Yidi Song, from Bonita University Organist at the 3 Double bassist Dalanie has created MusicTheory in the performance and Boyd’s studio, won the University of the South Harris, a student of James ExamplesbyWomen.com, a scholarship of music. 2018 Piccolo Competition Sewanee in Tennessee.

3 5 Dalanie Harris Jonathan Rhodes

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A 17th-Century Grammy Winner In February, tenor Karim Sulayman ’98E pulled off an unexpected they’re too often ignored or forgotten by the ‘mainstream’ of the 2019 Grammy win: Best Solo Vocal Performance, Classical, for classical/opera world.” Songs of Orpheus (Avie Records), a recital with Apollo’s Fire and “Being in LA was mind-blowing,” says Karim. “I was honestly just Jeannette Sorrell, who is pictured with Karim. The program devised so happy to be there, without any real expectation of winning. I was by Karim combines virtuoso vocals with scholarship, telling the story handed my trophy by the incredible jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin of Orpheus through the music of composers of 17th-century Italy: Savant, one of my ‘desert island’ artists. So I think I was a complete Monteverdi, Caccini, d’India, and Landi. blubbering fool during my speech. I have no idea what I said.” “I really think those composers are masters,” says Karim, “and Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP