EASTMAN NOTES A BIANNUAL PUBLICATION FOR ALUMNI OF THE EASTMAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC JUNE 2003 Dear alumni, N SPRING 2001, on the back will be signifi cantly expanded and Eastman graduates of all ages, all over cover of Eastman Notes, the Offi ce enhanced, with a range of services added, the world, in any profession or practice of Alumni Relations made a bold the most notably an interactive, search- are encouraged to be actively engaged in announcement: Eastman’s com- able, secure online alumni directory. the life of their alma mater. mitment to its alumni is envisioned Other exciting services featured on the ■ Subscribe to EastmanMAIL, the Ias never before. We are designing a pro- site will include online notifi cation of and quarterly online newsletter for Eastman gram that will provide alumni with a registration for Eastman alumni events alumni and friends. If you didn’t receive vibrant connection to the School, through in your region (a service that debuted this the Spring 2003 issue, we may not enhanced communications, expanded winter with the Eastman in New York have your current email address. Go to programming, and greater opportunities concert and reception) and an electronic www.rochester.edu/Eastman/alumni to for alumni to interact with each other and forum for sharing news of your accom- update your address. with current students. plishments, promoting your upcoming ■ Be a Class or Studio Scribe. Connect The fi rst order of business was to performances or announcing CD releases with those who shared your Eastman ensure we could contact you, a process or publication of scholarly works, or experience, whether it’s with those who that culminated with the publication of engaging in a discussion of the state of the studied with the same teacher or with the 2002 Eastman School of Music Alumni arts in society today. those who graduated in the same year. Directory (in book and CD-ROM format). Of course, Eastman alumni don’t wish ■ Become an Admissions Ambassador or Next, at every possible opportunity – at to interact in cyberspace alone. In cities Career Connector. concerts in Kilbourn Hall, in passing on with concentrated populations of Eastman ■ Return to Rochester for Alumni Week- end 2004. Mark October 15-17, 2004 on your calendar, and watch for announce- ments about programs and plans for a Eastman graduates of all ages, all over weekend of music, friends, and fun. To learn more about volunteering as a the world, in any profession or practice Class Scribe, Studio Scribe, Admissions Ambassador, or Career Connector, write to me at either address below. Calls for vol- are encouraged to be actively engaged unteers will also be made in an upcoming issue of EastmanMAIL and by direct mail in the life of their alma mater. to all alumni. As your newly appointed Director of Alumni Relations, I am honored to be Gibbs Street, by email and snail-mail, alumni or where professional conferences charged with building a robust alumni and in conversation at special Eastman bring Eastman alumni together, you’ll be relations program. Share your ideas for alumni events throughout the country invited to exclusive events throughout the programming or activities by writing to and at Alumni Weekend 2002 in Roch- U.S. and abroad. me at [email protected] or ester – we listened to what you had to You’ll also have opportunities to network Development and Alumni Relations, 26 say about your relationship to your alma with, lead, advise, and mentor prospective Gibbs Street, Rochester, New York, 14604. mater and with your fellow alumni. and current students, as well as your fellow I am excited to be collaborating with you, Three themes came up repeatedly in alumni, through a brand new alumni vol- and I look forward to meeting you on Gibbs these conversations: unteer network supporting Admissions and Street or wherever Eastman alumni are ■ your pride in your Eastman education Career Services. And whether your mile- throughout the world. and your desire to promote its value to stone reunion is on the horizon or is a few others, especially prospective students; years away, you can assume a leadership All the best, ■ your wish to stay connected socially role in connecting with your classmates and professionally with your alumni col- as a Class or Studio Scribe, ultimately leagues and your former teachers; and encouraging them to return to Rochester ■ your keen interest in staying engaged for Alumni Weekend 2004. in the life of the School as volunteers and That’s not all. We’re also partnering leaders. with the alumni relations offi ces of the Christine E. Corrado Exciting new services, benefi ts, and other academic divisions of the University Director of Alumni Relations opportunities are in development. This of Rochester to send you notice from time fall, the Eastman Alumni Relations web- to time of other divisions’ alumni activi- site (www.rochester.edu/Eastman/alumni), ties in your region. EASTMAN NOTES INSIDE VOL. 21/NO. 27 JUNE 2003 Published twice a year by the Offi ce of Communications, Eastman School of Music, 26 Gibbs Street, Rochester, NY 14604 585-274-1040 FEATURES DEPARTMENT NEWS Email: [email protected] 2 Meeting a modern master 23 Chamber Music & Accompanying In 1966, Igor Stravinsky and Eastman 24 Conducting & Ensembles met for the fi rst time David Raymond 26 Musicology Editor 6 “Forget that I am black, and never forget that I am black” 27 Woodwinds, Brass, & Percussion Christine Corrado Paul Burgett remembers Martin Luther 28 Sibley Music Library Mark Willey King and Eastman in the ’60s Christina Zikos 9 A singer’s journey Contributing writers A conversation with Sanford Sylvan IN TRIBUTE Widya Widjaja 10 Why opera is hot Student intern From Monteverdi to Sondheim – 29 Patricia Arden it’s all just show business Emily Davis Vanderpool Kurt Brownell 12 Masters in these halls Gelfand-Piper Arpad Piros A year of master classes at the Bob Klein Photography Eastman School In memoriam Louis Ouzer Sue Weisler Contributing photographers SCHOOL NEWS NOTES Amy Vetter 14 Tracing the organ master’s secrets: 26 Alumni notes Photography coordinator Eastman students visit Sweden 33 “To my patient admirer …” Steve Boerner Faculty share their strengths 35 ESM alums on CD Graphic design at ESM Colloquia 37 An Eastman trio in South Carolina 15 A sparkling Eastman Opera season Susan Robertson 38 Celebrating a 90th birthday and six Associate Director for Communications 16 ESM Jazz: A swinging winter decades of association with Eastman and spring 39 Faculty notes “Eastman Made Easy” by ESM Ambassadors 40 Student notes On the cover 17 Sound advice from a second fi ddle One of Eastman’s happiest traditions, the “You have made music come alive …” Eastman Children’s Chorus, was revived this year, with director Laurie Jenschke 18 A new-old look for Eastman Theatre bringing together a group of 28 children “All are welcome”: Gateways from all over the Rochester area. Less celebrates fi fth birthday than a year old, it’s already a seasoned group. During the year, the Chorus sang in 19 Violas and videocams Albany, gave several concerts at Eastman, 20 Musical treasure house: Eastman and performed as fairies in Eastman Opera Studies in Music Theatre’s April production of A Midsum- mer Night’s Dream. 21 Eastman continues on the Pathways PHOTO BY GELFAND-PIPER to success Messinger Grants give students “real world” experience 22 Ellison, Tyzik, Mennin Join Eastman Board of Managers JUNE 2003 1 “It takes time, aging, to make a classic.” A musical dynamo at rest: Lou Ouzer photographed Igor Stravinsky at Hutchison House. 2 EASTMAN NOTES Meeting a modern master In 1966, Igor Stravinsky and Eastman met for the fi rst time BY DAVID RAYMOND F, IN 1966, you circulated a poll among American musicians asking them to name The Greatest Living Composer, the winner, no contest, would have been Igor Stravin- sky. So it was a tremendous surprise when Eastman School Director Walter Hendl announced I in January 1966 that Stravinsky would visit the School for a “Stravinsky Week” from March 7–12. At that time, Stravinsky was 83, and at the end of a long career as pianist, conductor, writer – and composer of Petrushka, Le Sacre du Printemps, Les Noces, The Rake’s Progress, and other revolution- ary masterpieces, making him one of the few living classical composers who was a household name. The octogenarian Stravinsky was also the virtual incarnation of 20th-century music, composing fl inty, uncompromising 12-tone pieces that sounded like the work of a much younger composer. LOUIS OUZER TURN TO PAGE 4 ➧ JUNE 2003 3 LOUIS OUZER “If you played what was on the page, he was happy,” says percussionist Ruth Cahn (pictured in the rear) of performing under Stravinsky in 1966. His age notwithstanding, 1966 was “It takes time, aging, to make a classic,” “The clarity of Stravinsky’s composi- a busy year for the composer. CBS-TV Stravinsky was quoted. “Wine ages in six tions was not matched by the clarity of his broadcast a special about him. In June years, not so with music.” conducting,” says Cahn, adding that this and July, a Stravinsky Festival in New In March 1966, current Eastman School was also her experience when performing York’s Philharmonic Hall included Director and Dean James Undercofl er was Aaron Copland’s music under the compos- Leonard Bernstein conducting Le Sacre a junior, and associate principal horn in er’s baton. du Printemps, among much else. And the Philharmonia (he played the solo horn “There was no sense of interpretation Stravinsky completed his last important part in The Flood).