Class Notes

Eastman School of Music

1939
H. Owen Reed (PhD) was named Louisiana State University School of Music’s Alumnus of the Year for 2004. He obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from LSU.

1947
Charles Strouse’s musical East and West was premiered by the Eastman Opera Theatre last November, along with his 45-minute musical Nightingale.

1956
Thomas Ferguson (MM), ’72 (PhD) was honored by the University of Memphis for cowriting, with Edwin Hubbard, the university’s fight song in the early 1960s. The song is still used today. . . . John Perry ’58 (MM) performed three of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, Opus 109, 110, and 111, as part of the Faculty Guest Artist Series at Humboldt State University in California last October.

1959
The premiere of Katherine Hoover’s Two Dances for flute and bayan was given by Lars Asbjornsen and Mirjana Petercol, who commissioned the work, in Seattle, and the premiere of her choral work Peace is Not the Absence of War was given by the Davidson Singers at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City last December.

1962
Joseph Fennimore’s Tenor Concerto for trombone and orchestra had its premiere by the Schenectady Symphony Orchestra at Proctor’s Theatre last October.

1963
William Anderson ’64 (MM) is president of the Ohio Music Education Association.

1969
Soprano Maria Venuti performed at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Geneva, N.Y., last December. She lives in Germany.

1970
Vince DiMartino, Matton Professor of Music at Centre College in Danville, Ky., was named the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education’s Kentucky Professor of the Year. . . . Geary Larrick (MM) delivered the paper “Music and Local Government” to the 15th annual Conference on the Small City and Regional Community at the University of WisconsinÐStevens Point last September and had a review published in the fall 2004 issue of Multicultural Review. His composition, Dance for Four Drums, was premiered last August at the Central Wisconsin Children’s Museum in Stevens Point.

1972
Thomas Ferguson (PhD) (see ’56).

1973
Kenneth Megan directed the U.S. Coast Guard Band in the concert “Crazy for Gershwin” last November at the Coast Guard Academy.

1974
Janice Weber performed on the CD Quartet for the End of Time. She also was soloist with the Wellesley (Mass.) Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C at the World of Wellesley Diversity Celebration last November.

1975
John Ward was an accompanist for the Maine Grand Opera’s Tuesday Musicale series last July.

1977
Jeff Renshaw (MM), ’90 (DMA), former assistant professor at Eastman, conducted the University of Connecticut wind ensemble and chamber orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York City last October.

1981
Randall Fusco ’83 (MM) (see ’82). . . . Chamber Music, a two-CD set of compositions by Dan Locklair (DMA), was released by Albany Records last fall. . . . Soprano Nicole Philibosian performed in the Dick Johnson Concert Series at the First Congregational Church in Traverse City, Mich., last November.

1982
Ralph Brashier (MA) is the author of Inheritance Law and the Evolving Family. Ralph is the Cecil C. Humphreys Professor of Law at the University of Memphis. . . . Margi Griebling-Haigh’s new CD of mixed chamber music, Panoramicos, features performances by fellow Eastman alumni Randall Fusco ’81, ’83 (MM), Thomas Sperl ’84, Bryan Dumm ’84, ’86 (MM), and Molly Fung-Dumm ’86.

1983
Renée Fleming (MM) has released the CD Handel. . . . Trumpeter Byron Stripling performed last November at the Ottawa International Jazz Festival.

1984
Bryan Dumm ’86 (MM) (see ’82). . . . Patricia Martin is a clarinetist with the Angelle Trio, who performed at the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge last October. . . . Daniel Spector played Mitch in the Laguna Playhouse’s production of Tuesdays with Morrie in Laguna Beach, Calif., last fall. . . . Thomas Sperl (see ’82). . . . Allyn Van Dusen (Mas) performed in the GeVa Theatre’s production of Camelot last fall. She is also a paralegal in the Rochester real estate practice group Boylan, Brown, Code, Vigdor & Wilson.

1985
Todd Beaney (MM) has released the CD Higher Ground with Yoshiko Maruyama. Todd teaches music at Rye (N.Y.) Middle School and Rye High School, and is music director at Wilton Baptist Church in Wilton, Conn.

1986
Molly Fung-Dumm (see ’82). . . . Laura Zaerr (MM) is the harp half of the flute-and-harp duo Diane and Laura, with Diane Hawkins. They performed at Oregon State University’s Music á la Carte concert series last fall. Laura, an adjunct harp instructor at the University of Oregon, also performed with the Rogue Valley Symphony Orchestra in Ashland, Ore., last November.

1987
Heather Buchman was a guest conductor with the United States Coast Guard Band for a holiday concert last November. Heather is visiting assistant professor of music at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. . . . Merry Peckham (MM) and Annie Fullard (MM) are members of the Cavani String Quartet, which has been performing for 20 years. Merry is a cellist and Annie is a violinist. . . . James Rossi (DMA) is the Eastman School’s dean of academic affairs. Previously, he was dean of the University of South Carolina’s music school.

1990
Charles Nichols, assistant music professor at the University of Montana, organized the Mountain Computer Music Festival, featuring computerized music, which took place last September . . . . Jeff Renshaw (DMA) (see ’77).

1991
Thomas Lanners (DMA) has released the CD Touches of Bernstein: The Complete Published Piano Music of Leonard Bernstein. . . . Patty Grimes Welch ’97 (MM) writes that she and her students at Irondequoit High School in Rochester received an award for outstanding youth service to the Mary Cariola Children’s Center last April. Patty’s students have performed for the center for the last 10 years and have helped raise money for the school for the last four years. Patty also is the educational consultant for the Moonbeam2Earth Project, a nonprofit arts outreach program serving the inner city of Rochester. She is president elect of the Monroe County School Music Association. . . . The Ying Quartet, consisting of siblings Phillip ’92 (MM), Timothy (DMA), Janet ’92, and David Ying ’92 (DMA), all instructors of chamber music at Eastman, performed in the Ensemble Music Society’s concert season in Indiana last October, and performed at Kilbourn Hall last September.

1992
The Reno (Nev.) Philharmonic performed Christopher Theofanidis’s (MM) composition Rainbow Body last November. The composition won the 2003 British Masterprize, an award that helps living composers find a larger international audience. . . . Richard Wyman is assistant director of the United States Coast Guard Band. He joined the band in 1998 as a baritone saxophonist.

1994
Soprano Jennifer Aylmer performed with Opera Boston and the Honolulu Symphony, and held recitals at the University of Maryland and at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, last year. . . . Jane Kang and Alexander Limkakeng were married on September 18, in Chicago. Jane is director of business development at 21 CD, a Durham, N.C.–based digital marketing firm. Alexander is a resident in emergency medicine at the John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County in Chicago. . . . Composer Kevin Puts ’99 (DMA) composed River’s Rush, a 10-minute work for orchestra, to open the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s 125th season. He’s working on a piece for the Minnesota Orchestra and several concertos.

1995
Pianist Angela Jia Kim embarked on a 22-concert tour through the Midwest last year. . . . Timothy Muffitt (DMA), music director for the Baton Rouge Symphony, has been named one of five finalists for the position of music director of the Stamford (Conn.) Symphony Orchestra.

1997
Sarah Bach is a member of the quintet Crown City Brass. She also is principal horn with the International Philharmonia of the Californias. . . . Pianist Gustavo Tulosa (DMA) gave a concert as part of the Alumni Artists series at the University of Redlands’ School of Music, where he obtained his master’s degree in piano performance. He is director of the fine arts program at Brookhaven College in Dallas. . . . Patty Grimes Welch (MM) (see ’91).

1998
KuanFen Liu (MM) conducted the Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra as part of the Civic Arts Plaza’s 10th anniversary celebration in Ventura County, Calif. . . . Kathleen Missall van Bergen is vice president of artistic planning for the Philadelphia Orchestra.

1999
Pianist Jiyoung Oh (MM) performed in the Fourth Sundays at Four concert series at the Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan in Corvallis, Ore., last October. . . . Kevin Puts (DMA) (see ’94).

2000
Michael Clavyille is leader of the quartet Novus, which performed at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pa., last October. Christopher Beaudry ’02, ’03 (MM), Michael Selover ’02, and John Widmer ’02 make up the rest of the quartet. . . . Tracy Cowden (DMA) is assistant professor of piano and vocal coach at Virginia Tech School of the Arts. . . . See-yin (Oliver) Lo (DMA) writes, “I was promoted to tenured associate professor at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City. I teach voice and vocal pedagogy, and I am the director of opera theater. My wife, Helen, and I have two children, 4 and 1—they really keep us busy (happily). I really miss Eastman, and I still think it’s the greatest place of all!”

2002
Christopher Beaudry ’03 (MM) (see ’00). . . . Mezzo-soprano Alta Boover (MM) and baritone (Donald) Oliver Henderson ’03 (MM) were two of the featured performers in the Texarkana (Texas) Regional Chorale and Shreveport (La.) Symphony’s performance of Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Hallelujah Chorus at Williams United Methodist Church in Texarkana last November. . . . Nancia Stover D’Alimonte (DMA) was a guest conductor with the Macon (Ga.) Symphony Orchestra for its Pumpkin Pops Concert last October. . . . Michael Selover (see ’00). . . . Megan Sesma (see ’02RC undergraduate). . . . John Widmer (see ’00).

2003
Pianist Philip Carli (PhD) accompanied silent films by F. W. Murnau and Yasijuro Ozu at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque last September. Philip also is a film historian and musicologist. . . . (Donald) Oliver Henderson (MM) (see ’02). . . . Richard Shuster (DMA), assistant professor of piano at Texas Women’s University, presented a guest recital last September at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.