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Margaret Farish '46E (Mas) is the author of 20th Century Music for Young String Students, Part 2, a bibliography of compositions and collections suitable for string students at ASTA grades 4 and 5. Farish has taught at the University of Oklahoma and at Boys' Town in Nebraska. She has also been a member of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Wolanek Quartet.
Alexander Courage (see Alumni Gazette)
William Warfield received the David Dushkin Award in April from the city of Chicago. The award is given annually to honor Chicago's "outstanding musical citizen of the year." He is distinguished music professor at Northwestern University.
Margaret Heidner George '47E sends word of a new compact disc of an orchestral work by her late husband, Earl George '47E (Mas), '59E (PhD). The piece, Introduction and Allegro, is performed by the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, Jerzy Swoboda conducting, on a CD entitled "Modern American Classics, Volume II." She tells us, "The piece was first performed in 1946 by the Eastman Rochester Symphony under Howard Hanson. In 1947 it received the George Gershwin Memorial Prize and was performed by the New York City Symphony conducted by Leonard Bernstein and later in Carnegie Hall by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Charles Munch." While at Eastman, Earl George studied with Hanson and Bernard Rogers.
In May, Daniel McAninch '49E (Mas), '57E (DMA) retired as principal oboist with the Louisville (Ky.) Bach Society. McAninch, a former principal of the Louisville Orchestra, was featured in an article in the Louisville Courier-Journal at the time of his retirement. According to the article, McAninch is also well known in the Louisville area as an accomplished rebuilder, tuner, and refurbisher of pianos.
New works by Emma Lou Diemer E (Mas) '60E (PhD) premiered in early 1996 included: Alaska, a concerto for organ and chamber orchestra, premiered by the Arctic Chamber Orchestra in Fairbanks, Alaska; Santa Barbara Overture by the Santa Barbara Symphony; Variations on "Dove of Peace," by organist John Mitchener at Centenary United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C.; and Gloria, for chorus, pianos, and percussion, by Ojai (Calif.) Camerata, at the Ojai Presbyterian Church. Diemer's String Quartet No. 1 , performed by the Sunrise Quartet, has been released on Living Music Recordings.
Trombonist Paul Crawford was the subject of a feature article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune in May. Crawford had played with the Olympia Brass Band since the early '60s, playing just behind "Fats" Houston, the famous grand marshal of many jazz funerals in New Orleans. Since he stopped playing because of illness, Crawford has been working with June Cahn, the wife of the late jazz photographer Jules Cahn, to identify musicians in Cahn's photography collection.
Patricia Paul Jaeger '53E (Mas) has been elected president of the Greater Seattle Chapter of the American Harp Society. Jaeger has several harp music solo and ensemble arrangements published by Herald Music.
Last summer, Ruth Landes Drucker '55E (Mas), a member of the Eastman School Visiting Committee, again joined Elly Ameling for a session on German lieder as well as Phyllis Bryn-Julson for a session on Twentieth Century Art Song at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies in Aldeburgh, England. Also last summer, she joined Bryn-Julson at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, part of the Yale Summer School of Music, where she was vocal technician for the American Song Seminar. In July, she and husband Arno Drucker '55E (Mas) celebrated the 10th anniversary of their sponsoring "Explorations in Singing," a week-long workshop at Marywood College in Pennsylvania. There, Arno Drucker performed a two-piano recital with other pianist-accompanists Rebecca Jones Trout and Jeffrey Winfield. Ruth Drucker will return to the Britten-Pears School in 1997 for its 25th anniversary season. She will be the vocal consultant, with master teachers Tom Krause and Phyllis Bryn-Julson.
John Beck '62E (Mas) (see '68). . . . In May, June Hamra was appointed to the Missouri Arts Council by Governor Mel Carnahan. Hamra is the vice president of marketing for Wendy's Restaurants of Missouri.
Ingrid H. Harrison and her husband, the Rev. James Harrison, have retired. They moved to Lindsborg, Kans., in August. . . . In June, Bob Zale '60E (Mas) retired after 35 years of teaching in the Gates-Chili (N.Y.) Central School District. He taught at high school and elementary levels throughout his tenure with the district and was band director throughout. He also served in the Air Force Reserves until 1983, earning the rank of colonel and accumulating more than 5,000 hours of flying time since becoming a pilot in 1957. Zale, who was featured in a July article in the Gates-Chili News, is married to Signe Zale '62E, '65E (Mas), '84W (Mas), director of guidance at Churchville Chili High School. They have two daughters, Theresa and Liz.
Frederick Kopp E (PhD) reports he has recently composed an opera, The Sophisticate, "completing it just in time to celebrate my 82nd birthday. Now, if I'm lucky, maybe it will be performed in time to celebrate my 100th birthday. I once wrote to a friend of mine that [the opera] was written for one not-so-small orchestra, one medium (mezzo) soprano, and one large contralto." . . . Martha Stonequist is the Saratoga Springs, N.Y., city historian. This information comes to us from Russ Craytor '35RC, who together with his wife, Josephine Kelly Craytor '46RC, '60W (Mas), was in Saratoga in August researching family genealogy. Saratoga, Craytor reminds us, was a resort of the rich and famous of yesteryear. The town is well known for its horse racing and its health springs.
Ron Carter is touring with his Cello Band, a nine-piece ensemble that includes four cellos and a five-person rhythm section. During a week-long run at the Catalina (Calif.) Bar & Grill in May, he was featured in an article in the Sunday Los Angeles Times. Carter, who is one of the best-selling jazz artists in Japan, recently completed a recording of his own takes on Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and works by Bartok and Ravel with a 16-piece string orchestra for the Toshiba Company. . . . Ned Corman was featured in a September article in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. The article's focus was the Commission Project, a Rochester-based program that supports visits by jazz composers to students in grades 3 through 12 and commissions new works by the composers. At the end of the school year, the students and the composer perform the piece for the public. Corman, retired band director at Penfield High School, directs the project. He says the priority of the program is to bring children and composers face to face. An offshoot of the Penfield Music Commission Project that Corman co-founded in 1984, the Commission Project expands with test runs in Chicago and Cleveland this year. . . . Earl George E (PhD) (see '46).
James Richens E (Mas) retired in June as third clarinetist with the Memphis (Tenn.) Symphony. He will continue with the symphony, writing arrangements and handling other administrative duties. Richens, who was also an assistant conductor with the orchestra, will continue teaching at the University of Memphis. Richens' wife, Mary Jane '60E (Mas), is a pianist and music teacher at St. Agnes Academy in Memphis.
Signe Zale '65E (Mas), '84W (Mas) (see '56).
John Wyre (see '68).
Cellist Carter Enyeart, who teaches at the University of North Texas, is featured on a newly released CD from Centaur Records performing sonatas for cello and piano by Shostakovich, Robert Muczynski, and David Dzubay--the latter two recorded on CD for the first time. . . . Paul D. Minert (Mas) retired last June after 32 years of teaching instrumental music for the Flushing (Mich.) community schools. He has a new career in piano tuning.
Elizabeth Buccheri '79E (DMA) was a part of Zubin Mehta's musical team in performances of Wagner's Ring Cycle at Lyric Opera of Chicago in March 1996. Buccheri continues as principal pianist of the Chicago Symphony Chorus.
In June, Sister Grace Ann Geibel E (Mas) received the American Jewish Committee's Community Service Human Rights Award. In recognizing her, the committee said she "personifies the highest standards of humanitarianism." Geibel is president of Carlow College, an Oakland, Pa., women's institution founded and run by the Sisters of Mercy. . . . Donald W. Justice '71E (Mas) e-mailed us this poem he penned: Yea, tho' I've reached three score and ten/By reason of my strength;/'Tis not a reason to believe/ Life's measured by its length!/But rather by the steps we take/To reach a distant goal;/Although it may yet have eluded one,/I be not a quitting soul!
Bill Wiggins E (Mas) was on the Host Committee for the 1996 Percussion Arts Society International Convention held in November in Nashville. . . . In recognition of the 25th anniversary of the percussion quintet Nexus, the August issue of Percussive Notes featured interviews with each of the members done by someone who knows him well: Bill Cahn was interviewed by John Beck '55E, '62E (Mas) of the Rochester Philharmonic, Bob Becker '69E, '71E (Mas) was interviewed by marimbist Leigh Howard Stevens '75E, and John Wyre '63E was interviewed by Dallas Symphony timpanist Kal Cherry. Other Nexus members are Robin Engelman and Russell Hartenberger. In December, in honor of their silver anniversary year, the group performs with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, an event to be broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In March of 1997, the group plans to tour Germany and the Netherlands. Nexus also has a new CD entitled Nexus Meets Peter Sadlo, which was recorded live in Germany.
Bob Becker (see '68).
Geary Larrick E (Mas) wrote a compact disc review of The Artistry of the Marimba, featuring marimbist Linda Makey, in the summer 1996 issue of the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors (NACWPI) Journal.
Harold McAulliffe E (Mas) is the director of music for Pittsford (N.Y.) Central Schools and directs the Pittsford Sutherland High School choirs as well as its show choir. Since 1977, he has also served as director of music at First Presbyterian Church of Pittsford. McAulliffe was musical director for the Pittsford Musicals production of Guys and Dolls in November of this year.
Saxology, an Eastman School group directed by Ramon Ricker E (DMA), was co-winner of the award for best small college group in the Down Beat magazine 19th Annual Student Music Awards in May. Three of the group's saxophonists were also honored with awards: Brad Wheeler '96E (Mas) won best instrumental soloist; graduate student Alan Neveu won for best original composition; and Matt Belzer '95E, '96E (Mas) won for best arrangement. . . . In June, flutist Diane Smith '75E (Mas) was honored by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra League with the Fanfare Award, in recognition of her major contribution to music education in the community. Smith, who has been a flutist with the RPO since 1984, also teaches flute and coaches chamber music at Hochstein School of Music, Roberts Wesleyan College, and privately. She is also a member of Hochstein's Antara Wind Quintet and with RPO colleague Joanna Bassett '86E (Mas) established the Rochester Flute Association. Smith's husband, Joseph Werner '73E, '75E (Mas), is principal keyboardist and personnel manager for the RPO. . . . As principal pops conductor for the RPO, Jeff Tyzik '77E (Mas) presented an orchestral tribute to former President Gerald Ford, who was in the audience at an RPO concert in Vail, Colo., this summer. The RPO was performing at the Bravo! Colorado Music Festival. Tyzik also dedicated Ellington's Sophisticated Lady Suite to Betty Ford. After the concert, Tyzik met the former president and first lady. In July, Tyzik performed as trumpeter for the RPO's Japanese Garden Party. The performance, a benefit for the RPO Musicians' Pension Fund, featured Tyzik with 20 other musicians playing throughout five acres of gardens at the Ryder Estate in Rochester.
Steve Cirillo, percussion instructor for the Boston Crusaders, was featured in an advertisement for Zildjian cymbals, which appeared in the August issue of Percussive Notes. . . . Opera singer Tonio di Paola performed as part of the 1996 March Back to God in Rochester in August. . . . David Mancini, drummer with the Doc Severinsen Band, is participating in the Commission Project this year. (For more on the Project, see '59.) Mancini is visiting the Fairport, N.Y., schools. . . . Douglas Walter '76E (Mas) lives and works in Los Angeles, where he is a favorite conductor of singer Connie Francis.
Ode to Common Things, by Rochester composer Cary Ratcliff, was premiered by the Rochester Oratorio Society in June at Hochstein School of Music. The composition, commissioned by the Oratorio Society, uses the poetry of Pablo Neruda. . . . Leigh Howard Stevens (see '68).
Virginia Leo Miller E (Mas) has been named associate director for liturgy for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester. Miller, the former director of music and liturgy at St. Louis Church in Pittsford, N.Y., is currently a candidate for a master's in theology from St. Bernard's Institute, where she serves as a consultant for liturgical music.
Mark Huggins is associate concertmaster with the Pittsburgh Symphony. In July, he was featured in an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. . . . John Oddo is pianist and musical director for singer Rosemary Clooney. When Clooney performed at Orchestra Hall in St. Paul, Minn., in June, bassist Gordy Johnson '74E was one of the local musicians hired for the concert. According to an article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Oddo specifically requested his fellow Eastman alum.
Cynthia Folio E (Mas), '85E (PhD) won the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching from Temple University in May and received her fourth annual ASCAP Standard Award for Composition in June. Her composition, Pentacle, commissioned by the Main Line Symphony Orchestra, was premiered by the orchestra at the May celebration of its 50th anniversary. Folio's Trio for flute, cello, and piano was performed at two conferences in the spring: the IUP Festival of Women's Composers and at the College of Notre Dame at Maryland Composers Conference. . . . Judith LeClair, principal bassoonist for the New York Philharmonic, recorded "Five Sacred Trees," written by John Williams for bassoon and orchestra, with the London Symphony Orchestra (Sony Classical). The piece was premiered with the New York Philharmonic in April 1995. "I premiered it with Kurt Masur conducting, while John Williams conducted the London Symphony performance. We also performed it with the San Francisco Symphony in November of 1995," she writes. She has also made a solo bassoon recording for Cala Records, Both recordings will be out in March 1997.
Organist Karl Miller E (DMA) retired in June as music professor at Millersville University in Lancaster, Pa. In the spring he released his first compact disc, The Hooks of Orwell and North Easton, a collection of organ music played on two different organs. At the time of his retirement, Miller was featured in an article in the Lancaster New Era. According to the article, Miller's family shares his love of music. His wife, Carolyn, teaches violin privately, his daughter Cindy is a violin and music theory teacher at Humboldt State University in California, and his other daughter Susan is a cellist with the Florida Philharmonic in Fort Lauderdale. . . . Shelley Philibosian Waite updates friends and classmates on her activities and those of her husband, Captain A. Phillip Waite. "After graduation, Phil taught choral music from junior high to university levels for nine years. In 1987, he became director of choral activities at Western Illinois University and in 1989 was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Air Force to become the conductor of the Singing Sergeants in Washington, D.C. Phil appeared regularly in performances before the president, vice president, and justices of the Supreme Court as well as the secretary of defense and other high-level military and civilian officials. He has made six national television appearances, conducted on eight CD recordings, and produced an additional eight CDs. His conducting highlights include command performances in the White House for Presidents Bush and Clinton, a Carnegie Hall appearance re-creating the Glenn Miller AAF Orchestra, a Fourth of July extravaganza on the esplanade in Boston before 500,000, the Singing Sergeants' 50th anniversary concert, and a nationally televised concert with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City. We are now living in Tokyo, where Phil is an Air Force captain and commander of the U.S. Air Force Band of the Pacific in Yokota, Japan." As for her own accomplishments, she lists "a successful marriage of 16 years and three lovely children (one 15-year-old and twins who are 12)." As the Review went to press, Philibosian Waite planned to make her Carnegie Hall debut in December with Richard Westenburg and Musica Sacra singing "The Messiah." In November she was to make her sixteenth solo appearance at the Kennedy Center with the Paul Hill Chorale, singing "In the Beginning" by Copland. A mezzo soprano, she has performed with the Richmond Symphony, the Dance Theater of Harlem, the Mozart Festival, Washington's Choral Arts Society, the Cathedral Choral Society, and the Bach Consort. She is featured on two CDs: a live recording with Dave Brubeck and his quartet at the Washington Cathedral, "To Hope! A Celebration" (Telarc) and "Russia!" (Centaur) with the Paul Hill Chorale. In December 1995, she performed the role of Judith in "Bluebeard's Castle" by Bartok with the Bowling Green Philharmonic, and she and her sister Nicole Philibosian '82E performed an all-Slavic recital in Traverse City, Mich.
Cynthia Carr is associate professor in the Department of Music at the University of Delaware. This summer she received a Delaware State Arts Council Solo Recitalist Grant. Carr holds positions with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra and the Opera Company of Philadelphia, and is a substitute/extra player with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She was a member of the orchestra for the Philadelphia run of Phantom of the Opera in 1995 and Miss Saigon in 1996. Carr performed at the 1994 International Horn Workshop in Kansas City and hosted the 1996 Southeast Horn Workshop at the University of Delaware in March 1996. She has recently released a CD of music for horn and piano by women composers. . . . Composer Dan Locklair E (DMA) has been commissioned by the First Presbyterian Church of Topeka, Kans., to write a major composition for solo pipe organ. The work, to be premiered in the spring of 1997, is to be inspired by the church's 10 Tiffany windows. Locklair is composer-in-residence and professor of music at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Cellist Ingrid Bock '85E (Mas) performed at Kilbourn Hall in July as part of an evening of chamber music and Russian romances presented by the Eastman School. . . . Nicole Philibosian (see '80). . . . David L. Savige is second bassoon in the Virginia Symphony.
Bonny Rinas Davidson E (Mas) writes, "My husband, Marc Davidson, and I are pleased to announce the birth of our son, Theodore, on December 26, 1995." Bonny is in her sixth season in the extra chorus with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. . . . William Eddins '86E (Mas) was guest conductor with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in April for the close of the Gilmore Festival. He is assistant conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra. At the time of the Gilmore Festival, Eddins was featured in an article in the Kalamazoo Gazette. . . . Bradley Ellingboe E (Mas) was bass soloist under Sir David Willcocks in a performance of Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass given in the Coventry Cathedral in England in June. . . . Metropolitan opera singer Renee Ross Fleming E (Mas) appeared in James Levine's 25th Anniversary Gala, which was filmed for broadcast on PBS's The Metropolitan Opera Presents in April 1996 and rebroadcast in August. . . . Paul Harvey E (Mas) e-mails us this poem (from The Rhymester): The horn, the horn, the wondrous horn,/Sounds clearly from the early morn./To late, late eve of every day,/My joy, my rapture is to play!/My three young Treasures (that they be)/My Joy, they're known as Treasures Three;/Or as 3Ts (by one dear friend),/Who'll walk beside us to the end.
Patricia A. Martin is principal clarinet with the Baton Rouge Symphony and clarinet professor at Southeastern Louisiana University. . . . Pianist William Chapman Nyaho E (Mas) presented a concert in July at the Louisiana State University School of Music in Baton Rouge. Nyaho is assistant professor of piano at the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette. He has performed in solo recitals in his native Ghana as well as in England, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, and the United States and has been soloist with many major symphonies. Nyaho has also been featured on radio and TV in Ghana and Switzerland and on National Public Radio in the United States.
Ben R. King E (DMA) reports he has returned to Houghton College School of Music as a professor of voice after a four-year absence. King's son, Brian, is a 1996-97 Rotary exchange student in Cologne, Germany. . . . Bridget-Michaele Reischl (see Alumni Gazette). . . A compact disc of compositions by Maria Schneider E (Mas) entitled Coming Around was released in June. The CD was designated "Record of the Month" by Audio Magazine and is being played often on jazz radio stations, according to Schneider's friend George E. Kosel '51M (Mas). Scenes from Childhood, a three-part suite commissioned by the Monterey Jazz Festival, is featured on the CD. Schneider's Jazz Orchestra has given concerts in Macao and at the Kennedy Center, and gave performances in Europe this summer. The orchestra is in its fourth year of playing every Monday night at Visiones, a jazz club in New York City. Schneider is featured in an article in the Spring 1996 issue of The Jazz Report and in May she was the subject of a profile and interview on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. In June, she conducted her Jazz Orchestra and the Gil Evans Big Band in two concerts as part of the JVC Jazz Festival in New York City. . . . Donald Sloan E (PhD) is part of a worldwide team of researchers who created the Standard Music Description Language (SMDL). Once it is approved by the International Standards Organization, SMDL will be the international standard for putting musical scores and performances on computer. Sloan is a composer and a professor of music at Ashland University in Ohio.
Joanna Bassett E (Mas) (see '73).
Two concerts of the works of composer Lee Gannon were presented by Positive Music at Greenwich House Music School in New York City in June. In July, three works by Gannon were performed at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Kansas City as part of the Summer Fest Concerts. . . . Mark Schmidt (see '92).
Christine-Ann Immesoeto E (Mas) (see '86 RC undergraduate). . . . Kelly Jackson is pursuing a Ph.D. in music education at Northwestern University in Illinois. . . . Amy Jo Rhine is principal French horn in the Wichita (Kans.) Symphony Orchestra and assistant professor of French horn at Wichita State University. She had been principal horn in the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.
Organist Douglas Cleveland presented a recital at Epworth-Euclid Church in Cleveland, Ohio, in April. Cleveland is a doctoral candidate at Indiana University in Bloomington. . . . Robert Moody E (Mas) was guest conductor with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra at a concert in July. He is assistant conductor of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra.
Jennifer Farquhar has joined the North Carolina Symphony's first violin section. . . . Opera Theater of Rochester produced Kill Bear Comes Home by Rochester composer Paul Stuart E (Mas) this summer. The opera is adapted from an Iroquois legend about a hunter and a bear. Stuart, who worked for 11 years as an engineer for Kodak before attending Eastman, is music director of the Penfield Presbyterian Church and the Irondequoit Chorale. A CD recording of the work was issued in September. The performers, many of whom were associated with Eastman, included singers Mark Schmidt '88E, Therese Murray '96E, and David Averbach '96E (Mas) and instrumentalists Jenny Oh '93E (Mas), Berkeley Price '96E (DMA), Hsueh-Fen Wei '96E, and Kristen Tait '94E (Mas). . . . Composer Chris Theofanidis E (Mas) was featured in the "Classical Music" column of the Oakland Tribune in April. Theofanidis, who recently won a Guggenheim Fellowship, is the California Symphony's Young American Composer-in-Residence.
Jenny Oh E (Mas) (see '92). . . . Saxophonist and arranger Bill Straub '95E (Mas) won the Airmen of Note's second annual Sammy Nestico Award for his composition Chaussure Vache. The piece was premiered at George Mason University in March as part of the Note's Jazz Heritage Concert Series.
Kristen Tait E (Mas) (see '92). . . . Russell Wheeler (see '96).
Gary Poster E (Mas) is a voice instructor at the Greensboro (N.C.) Music Academy. Poster is pursuing a doctorate in vocal performance at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
David Averbach E (Mas) (see '92). . . . Matt Belzer E (Mas) (see '73). . . . The Quintet Vox--five Eastman woodwind players--won the Coleman Award for chamber music from Down Beat magazine in its 19th Annual Student Music Awards. Vox consists of flutist Jonathan Keeble E (DMA), oboist Erin Hannigan E (Mas), clarinetist Russell Wheeler '94E, Eastman graduate student bassoonist Kenneth Moses, and hornist Karen Suarez E (Mas). . . . Therese Murray (see '92). . . . Berkeley Price E (DMA) (see '92). . . . Hsueh-Fen Wei (see '92). . . . Brad Wheeler E (Mas) (see '73).
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