Renowned Composers Visit Eastman

Faculty and students at the Eastman School of Music were visited by three impressive composers in 2006-07, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Mario Davidovsky.

Davidovsky was in residence at the school from March 25 to April 21 as the Howard Hanson Visiting Professor. The professorship is funded by Hanson Institute for American Music. During his residency, Davidovsky met with eight students each week for tutorials and presented his music in composition symposia.

Tania León, a noted Cuban- American composer and Distinguished Professor of the City University of New York, also visited Eastman for a unique collaboration with famed author and poet Margaret Atwood. León set several of Atwood's poems to music in a project commissioned by Eastman's Hanson Institute for American Music and Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences. León was also the composer-in- residence for the 2007 Women in Music Festival, a celebration of women involved in all aspects of music, including composition, performance, teaching, scholarship, and administration.

Composer Steve Reich, one of America's most respected and popular composers, also visited the Eastman School of Music in 2006-07. Reich conducted a symposium for students where his music was discussed and also attended a concert in his honor. The concert, performed by Eastman's Musica Nova, consisted of four of Reich's most significant pieces.