The Rochester Review, University of Rochester, Rochester, New
York,
USA
1918 | George Eastman purchases the Institute of Musical Art
for $28,000. He then sells it to the University for $1.
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1919 | Eastman announces his gift to fund the school and acquires
a site
for a new building on Gibbs, Swan, and Main streets.
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1921 | The Eastman School of Music opens on September 19 with
Alf Klingenberg as director.
Future director Howard Hanson becomes the first American to win the Prix de Rome for composition--the first of many such awards that will go to faculty and alumni.
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1922 | The Eastman Theatre opens with much fan- fare on September 4. | |
1924 | 27-year-old Howard Hanson becomes director of the Eastman
School.
The five-story Swan Street annex is built adjacent to the theater.
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1925 | The first American Composers' Concert is held.
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1926 | A graduate department is established.
A 10-story annex to the school is built, following construction of women's dormitories the year before.
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1930 | The first annual Festival of American Music takes place.
The first master's degree recipients graduate.
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1931 | The history of the Eastman Theatre as a movie palace
comes to an end because of financial losses.
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1934 | The school begins recording performances by students
and faculty.
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1937 | Sibley Music Library moves to new quarters on Swan Street.
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1944 | Howard Hanson wins the Pulitzer Prize. In later years,
seven more will be
awarded to faculty and alumni.
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1945 | By the end of World War II, more than 500 students and
alumni have served
in the armed forces, with nine casualties.
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1951 | As Joe in the film version of Showboat, William Warfield
'42E, '88E (DMA)
presents his acclaimed rendition of "Ol' Man River."
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1952 | Doriot Anthony Dwyer '43E becomes principal flutist of
the Boston Symphony,
the first woman to hold a principal chair in a major American orchestra.
Frederick Fennell '37E, '39E (Mas) creates the Eastman Wind Ensemble, a pioneering force in the symphonic wind-band movement.
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1953 | The school offers a new degree, Doctor of Musical Arts,
one of the first
of its kind in the country.
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1954 | On December 9, a four-ton section of the ceiling falls
on empty seats in
the Eastman Theatre. Onstage, Dr. Herman Genhart continues his rehearsal
of the Bach Magnificat with the Eastman School Orchestra and Chorus.
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1958 | Howard Hanson establishes the Eastman Philharmonia, later
called by
Newsweek "one of the world's great orchestras."
Bye Bye Birdie opens on Broadway, the first of three Tony Award-winning musicals by Charles Strouse '47E.
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1961 | State Department selects Eastman Philharmonia to play
49 concerts overseas.
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1964 | Howard Hanson retires; Walter Hendl becomes director.
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1968 | Composer Wayne Barlow, an Eastman alumnus three times
over, establishes the
electronic music studio.
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1971 | 50 years after its opening, the Eastman Theatre is renovated
and restored
to its original elegance through a gift of Eastman Kodak.
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1972 | Robert Freeman becomes director, succeeding Walter Hendl.
Rayburn Wright '43E and Bill Dobbins inaugurate a graduate program in Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media. Jazz students go on to win countless annual awards from Down Beat magazine.
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1980 | The Eastman Philharmonia becomes the resident orchestra
of the Heidelberg
Castle Festival.
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1983 | The Eastman Philharmonia, with baseball great Willie
Stargell narrating,
performs (Pulitzer Prize-winning Eastman professor) Joseph Schwantner's "New
Morning for the World" at the Kennedy Center and other major venues nationwide.
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1987 | Carnaval, a CBS Masterworks recording of band
music of the early
20th century performed by cornetist Wynton Marsalis and the Eastman Wind
Ensemble, reaches number one on the Billboard compact disc charts.
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1989 | Eastman Place opens, with the Sibley Music Library moving
to new quarters.
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1990 | Recordings of Civil War music by Frederick Fennell and
the Eastman Wind Ensemble
are heard throughout Ken Burns's enormously popular TV series, The Civil
War.
The Wind Ensemble embarks on the first of its biennial tours of Japan, playing to SRO audiences throughout the country.
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1991 | The Student Living Center opens, replacing the Prince
Street residence halls.
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1995 | The school inaugurates its Gateways Music Festival, a
celebration of black
classical music, one of a number of initiatives aimed toward diversifying
audiences.
U.S. News & World Report lists Eastman's master's program as tied for top ranking with Juilliard and Indiana.
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1996 | Eastman Initiatives, the school's innovative, comprehensive
plan to reshape
musical education, garners attention from the press and inquiries from other
music schools across the country.
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Copyright 1996, University of Rochester