University of South Florida professor and composer Robert Helps wrote his Symphony No. 2 with a commission from the Institute for American Music at Eastman in honor of Donald Engle E (Mas), according to a report in the November 10 St. Petersburg Times. Engle, a longtime symphony orchestra and foundation executive in Philadelphia, New York, and Minneapolis-St. Paul, lives in Clearwater and volunteers for the Florida Orchestra, which will premiere the piece next season.

Donald Stauffer '41, '42E (Mas), retired commander of the U.S. Navy Band, was a special guest conductor at the October 24 concert in Ridgefield, Conn., on the 30th anniversary of the Kiwanis Club program bringing the nation's leading military bands to Ridgefield. In the accompanying photo, Stauffer is seen on stage with the combined bands of the West Point Military Academy and the U.S. Coast Guard. A Commander Stauffer scholarship was established in 1975 and is awarded annually by the Kiwanis Club to an outstanding high school music student. Stauffer lives in the Eastwood, Ala., area and conducts the Birmingham Community Concert Band. . . . William Warfield '88E (DMA) performed at the holiday concert presented by the William Warfield Scholarship Fund, Inc., at Kilbourn Hall. The event was a fund-raiser to benefit minority voice students at the Eastman School.

For his "tireless efforts and dedication" in establishing the Park Ridge Fine Arts Society, the mayor of Park Ridge, Ill., proclaimed August 14 as Frank York Day. Frank York has acted as music director, conductor, and violinist of the Park Ridge Fine Arts Symphony orchestra for 37 years and also was one of the founders of the Park Ridge Fine Arts Society in 1961.

Soprano Ruth Drucker '54, '55E (Mas) writes: "This past August I was again the vocal consultant with Elly Ameling for a course on German lieder as well as with Kurt Equiluz's course on German Oratorio at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Study in Aldeburgh, England. Earlier in the academic year at Towson University the Ruth and Arno Drucker Fund helped support a performance of Brahm's German Requiem by the Towson University combined choruses and orchestra under the direction of Paul Rardin, as well as a vocal master class with composer Richard Hundley. I presented a master class at St. John's College in Annapolis, Md., and marked my 12th anniversary of Explorations in Singing at Marywood University in Scranton, Pa., last July. At this weeklong workshop I give master classes with distinguished voice teacher Thomas Houser. In January, I narrated a performance of Poulenc's The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant at the Peabody Conservatory at a concert honoring the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth.". . . Pianist Arno Drucker writes: "My article 'The Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh' was published in the May/June issue of the Journal of Singing. My review of the Henle publication of Dvorak's Poetic Moods was published in the October/November issue of the American Music Teacher. My book American Piano Trios: A Resource Guide is to be published by Scarecrow Press. I joined my wife, Ruth Drucker '54, '55E (Mas), in a master class at St. John's College in Annapolis, Md., and for the 12th anniversary of Explorations in Singing at Marywood University in Scranton, Pa., last July, which I also helped organize. I performed Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Augusta Orchestra in Aiken, S.C., and Augusta, Ga., for the 100th anniversary of Gershwin's birth. These performances were conducted by Donald Portnoy."

Sydney Hodkinson '57, '58E (Mas) was profiled in an article that ran in the December 23-29 issue of City newspaper in Rochester. Hodkinson has retired from teaching at Eastman, but continues a relationship with the school as a composer.

The percussion group Nexus --John Wyre, William Cahn '68, Robert Becker '69, '71E (Mas), Robin Engelman, and Russell Hartenberger--reports on its winter 1998-99 season which included performances at the University of Ottawa, Brigham Young University, Southern Utah University, and the University of Oklahoma in Norman. Spring concerts are scheduled at Houghton College, Hamilton College, Syracuse University, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the University of California at Los Angeles, and SUNY College at Purchase. The group also has slated several performances in Rochester with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Pops on March 26 and 27.

Geary Larrick E (Mas) writes to give an update: "I have three books listed in Books in Print 1998-99 and two of my compositions, Duo Sonata and Repertory List II, were performed last fall. Also, I presented a paper, 'Two Essays on Musical Arts,' at the Conference on the Small City and Regional Community at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point in October."

Clement Reid was selected as the 1999 Washington State Commissioned Composer of the Year by the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA). The commissioned work will be premiered at MTNA's state convention in Walla Walla in June. Reid's Short Stories for guitar and piano was performed at an MTNA benefit concert and broadcast on the "Live by George" program with George Shangrow on KING-FM, Seattle.

Judith LeClair writes: "We welcomed a new arrival, son Gabriel Tobias, on June 12. His father is Jonathan Feldman. I have been principal bassoonist of the New York Philharmonic since 1981."

Peter DuBois was profiled in the December 14 Brighton-Pittsford Post. DuBois is the director of music and organist at Third Presbyterian Church in Rochester. . . . Bassist David Finck shared top billing with Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer/conductor/pianist André Previn in an all-Gershwin concert of the New York Philharmonic on December 11 at Alice Tully Hall. The concert coincided with the release of a Gershwin tribute album, We Got Rhythm, recorded by the pair.

Jazz trumpeter and vocalist Byron Stripling performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra at its summer season opener, "An American Celebration with Fireworks."

Clarinetist Eric Mandat E (DMA), together with cellist Ivars Bezprozvanovs and pianist Peteris Plakidis, released a CD of trios by Brahms and d'Indy with the Transatlantic Trio on 4-Tay Records. John Lambert of Fanfare magazine wrote: "These performances project a true sense of occasion. . . . The results easily rank with the best available releases." Mandat is professor of clarinet and saxophone at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Luedecke

Alison Luedecke E (DMA) has joined with the San Diego Chamber Brass to form the Millennia Consort at St. James by the Sea Episcopal Church in La Jolla, Calif. Luedecke is music assistant with the group, which will perform at St. James on certain feast days and at special services. She will assist Steve Townsend '78, director of music, with service and repertoire playing while continuing her organ and harpsichord concert career.

Susan Sievert E (MM) married Charles Messersmith on August 1 in Charleston, S.C. Both are members of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. Susan is in her sixth season playing trumpet with the orchestra. . . . The Struggle for Humanity for chorus, band, and mezzo soprano by Paul Stuart E (MM) was commissioned by the Commission Project. It was premiered last May at Pittsford Sutherland High School in Pittsford, N.Y., where Stuart was a composer-in-residence. His work, A Festive Overture, for orchestra was premiered in Italy as part of the Siena Festival. Raffaele Ponti conducted.

Debbie Rohwer E (MM), a music education professor at the University of North Texas, was cited on December 13 in The Dallas Morning News for her work with her New Horizons group for older neophyte musicians in Denton, Tex.

Jonathan Arevalo-Coo E (MM) writes that on August 31 he presented a lecture and recital in honor of Lucretia Kasilag's '50E (MA) 80th birthday. Piano compositions selected from her repertoire and representing different periods of her life were performed at the event. Kasilag is known for blending Eastern concepts with Western forms and techniques. Arevalo-Coo is on the faculty at the Hochstein Music School in Rochester and has plans to release a CD of Kasilag's complete piano works. . . . Harpist Jung Kwak E (MM) returned to Rochester in December for a performance at Borders Books & Music in Henrietta. She performed works from her first CD, The Gift.