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Winter 2002
Vol. 64, No. 2

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Class Notes--Eastman

'41

Donald Stauffer '42 (MM) was the commander of the U.S. Navy Band and has received more academic credentials than any other U.S. military band conductor. He was instrumental in recruiting the band's first female players and formed several Navy Band Specialty Units.

'42

Donald Stauffer (MM) (see '41).

'46

The first Raymond Shiner Jazz Award, in honor of woodwind studio musician Shiner, who died in 1999, was presented to Brian Wilkins, a senior at Nazareth College. The prize of $400 is intended to help facilitate private study in jazz.

'48

Mary Jeanne van Appledorn '50 (MM), '66 (PhD) sends an update. She received her 22nd consecutive American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Award on June 10, 2001. Her Rhapsody for violin and orchestra had its world premiere under the direction of Charles Rex, associate concertmaster for the New York Philharmonic, November 18 and 19, 2000, in Reading, Pa. She also completed her Symphony for Percussion Orchestra, which premiered November 14, 2000, and the Fanfare and Postlude for 36 trumpets, snare drum, and cymbals, commissioned by TTU School of Music. Recent publications include Gestures for clarinet quartet; Galilean Galaxies for flute, bassoon, and piano; 5 Psalms for tenor voice, trumpet, and piano; and Songs without Words for two coloratura sopranos and piano.

'50

Mary Jeanne van Appledorn (MM) (see '48).

'51

Wilma Hoyle Jensen '52 (MM) sends an update. She has been choirmaster and organist of St. George's Episcopal Church in Nashville for 19 years and is an adjunct organ faculty member at the Blair School of Music of Vanderbilt University. She also has performed under Phyllis Stringham Concert Management in the United States and Europe. She was named 2000 Classical Musician of the Year at the sixth annual Nashville Music Awards.

'52

Wilma Hoyle Jensen (MM) (see '51). . . . Joan Templar Smith (Mas), '76 (PhD) writes that she attended a wind band concert conducted by her former teacher, Frederick Fennell '37, '39 (MA), '88 (HNR), at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. She sent a summary: "Fennell conducted a full program of wind band literature, then, while making informative commentary, performed expertly on a 19th-century rope tension field drum and was later joined by three piccolo players in examples of 18th- and 19th-century fife and drum music." Participating in the concert, organized in part by Robert Sheldon '60, was bassoonist Phillip Kilker '63, '67 (MM), hornist Carl (Jeff) Bianchi '64, percussionist Ronald Barnett '60, Sheldon on horn, Thomas Miller '53, '54 (MM) on euphonium, oboist Sandra Flesher '60, '65 (MM), clarinetist Jerry Smith '63 (PhD), percussionist Albert Merz '64, trombonist Donald King '64, '65 (MM), trumpeter Christopher Tranchitella '82 (MM), contrabassist Elizabeth Twaddell Ferrell '56, trombonist David Fetter '60, and saxophonist Robert Silberstein '53. Many players flew in from around the country to participate in the concert.

'58

Nicholas DiVirgilio sends an update. He is co-artistic director of the Opera Aegean, which, in its second season, brings opera to the Greek Isles during the summers. He is a professor of voice and opera at the University of Illinois School of Music.

'60

Beverly Ward (MM), organist and choirmaster of St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Asheville, N.C., performed an organ recital following Evensong at Canterbury Cathedral on Easter Tuesday, April 17, 2001. He also served as musician-in-residence for the meeting of the primates (archbishops and the presiding bishops of the 38 provinces) of the Anglican Communion.

'62

Diane Wekner Toulson has been active in the flute section of the Penns Woods Festival Orchestra at Penn State University. She and her husband, Smith Toulson, collaborated in a commissioned work by Libby Larsen for flute, clarinet, and piano. They both toured Spain last summer with the American Flute Orchestra in Grenada, Madrid, Seville, and Toledo. Both Diane and Katherine Hoover '59 attended Joseph Mariano's 90th birthday in Boston at Symphony Hall.

'63

Vincent Frohne (PhD) was one of seven Rome Prize-winning American composers to be featured in a Chicago radio broadcast last May. The broadcast featured short interviews and recorded performances of new works commissioned by the Merit Music School. His work, titled Emergence for piano and vibraphone, was written in 1999. Vincent has been composer and organist at St. Paul Church in Macomb, Ill., since 1984. . . . Nexus, the Toronto-based percussion group that includes John Wyre and Bill Cahn '68, premiered a new film score for the 1926 Teinosuke Kinugasa film A Page of Madness at the Dryden Theater of the George Eastman House last September.

'65

A. Laurence Lyon (PhD) sends an update of the recordings of his sacred music by other artists. Various songs were recorded on albums by musicians that included the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the London National Philharmonic Orchestra. He also has received a commission from Western Oregon University to write a major sacred oratorio for chorus, orchestra, and soloists for the Ricks College Sacred Music Series.

'66

Mary Jeanne van Appledorn (PhD) (see '48).

'67

Pianist Curtis Stotlar presented an all-French benefit recital for the Alliance Francaise de Milwaukee last May at the Skylight Theater in Milwaukee. Included were works by Ravel, Debussy, and Chopin with commentary in French by Stotlar.

'69

Steve Wasson '71 (MM) presented the world premiere of the second revision of his Piano Sonata No. 3, Eclectics, last July as part of a series of farewell concerts presented by his parents, the founders of Wasson Piano Studios in Dayton, Ohio. The concert, entitled "Father and Son," marked the last public appearance by Wasson's father, who died September 1, 2001, at the age of 85.

'70

Frederick Koch (DMA) writes that the New York premiere of his String Quartet No. 2 with voice took place last May at the Kosciusko Foundation in New York with the Downtown Music Chamber Music Players, featuring Jennifer Foster, soprano. The performance was scheduled to be repeated in Cleveland on October 28, 2001, by the Cavani Quartet in residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music. His new CD, Contrasts, available on the Dimension label, includes a recording of the quartet by the Cleveland Orchestra String Quartet. . . . Geary Larrick writes that he co-authored an article, "Music as Therapy: A Bibliography," in the summer 2001 Journal of the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors.

'71

Truman Bullard (PhD) has been appointed music director of the Harrisburg Choral Society. He is professor emeritus of music at Dickinson College, where he retired last year after being on the faculty for 35 years. . . . Steve Wasson (MM) (see '69).

'75

John Larrere (MM) has been appointed general manager of the Boston office of Hay Group, a global human resources and organizational behavior consulting firm.

'76

Joan Templar Smith (see '52).

'80

Susan Whitenack (MM) was scheduled to sing the role of the "queen of the night" in a semi-staged concert version of Mozart's The Magic Flute in September 2001 for American Landmark Festivals in Geneva, N.Y.

'81

Dan Locklair (DMA) sends an update. Three of his choral works (A DuBose Heyward Triptych, Freedom, and Te Deum Laudamos) received world premiers. In addition, Reynolda Reflections, a trio for flute, cello, and piano, was performed last May in Houston.

'82

David Flippo (MM) writes that he has released his second CD, Ganesh, on Southport Records with his "globaljazz" ensemble Flippomusic. His music blends jazz, ethnic music, and concert music. Ganesh includes guest appearances from other well-known musicians and can be found at www.flippomusic.com. . . . Christine Osborne writes that she and her husband, Ken, had a new son, Nicholas Brennan Tristan Engstrom, on February 6, 2001. "I just love being a mom!" she writes. She is also beginning her 17th year as a bassonist with the Utah Symphony.

'85

Jamie Baer Peterson (MM) sends an update. She gave birth to her third child, Joseph Baer Peterson, on May 1, 2001. On September 20, she released her first solo CD, Rejoice Greatly, a collection of Christmas carols and songs arranged for chamber ensemble and soprano by composer David Fletcher. It is available from her Web site at http://hometown.aol.com/markandjamiep/JamieBaer.html. . . . Antonio Garcia (MM) has been appointed director of jazz studies at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. A trombonist, bass trombonist, and pianist who has played with such artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme, Doc Severinsen, and Phil Collins, Antonio serves as editor of the International Association of Jazz Educators' Jazz Educators Journal.

'89

Keith Benjamin (DMA) sends an update. He married Jennifer Rector on June 8, 2001. In his 13th year as trumpet professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, he has released a second CD of contemporary trumpet and organ works, New Music for Trumpet and Organ, with Los Angeles organist Melody Turnquist Steed, on Gothic Records. The CD contains all commissions, including one from Sam Adler.

'90

Molly Roberts Roseman (MM) was appointed assistant professor of piano and literature at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. She is also principal keyboardist for the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra.

'92

David Geho (see '93RC).

'94

Kevin Puts '99 (DMA) revived the 1928 ballad-poem John Brown's Body, a 377-page Civil War tale, as a 14-minute work for narrator and orchestra. The presentation, commissioned by the Pacific Symphony, was performed in July 2001. Kevin is an assistant professor of composition at the University of Texas.

'96

Samuel Buccigrossi was awarded second prize in the 2001 scholarship competition sponsored by the Keynotes of Music for Mt. Lebanon, Pa. He received $2,500 in recognition for his tuba performance.

'97

Susan Spafford performed in the 26th annual Korean Institute of Minnesota Celebration concert. The former Miss Pennsylvania and second runner-up in the 1999 Miss America pageant played the violin for the performance.

'98

Michael Timpson (MA) has been appointed assistant professor at Rhodes College in Memphis, where he will head the music theory program and start curricula in music composition and music technology. He recently won second place in the "Music from China" premiere works competition, second place in the National Association of Composers USA composition competition, honorable mention in the National Federation of Music Clubs Beyer competition, and was a finalist in the Joyce Dutka Arts Foundation composition awards.

'99

Jessica Freeman sends an update. She married Christopher Marks (DMA) on June 9, 2001. She is the director of music and organist for Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Fayetteville and Manlius, N.Y., and Christopher is the Hendricks Chapel organist at Syracuse University, where he also teaches organ lessons and theory classes as an adjunct professor. . . . Stefan Freund (MM) premiered No Apologies, a commissioned work by Gustav Mahler, at the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall on May 20, 2001. . . . Kari Capone Kaefer and John Kaefer (see '99RC). . . . Kevin Puts (DMA) (see '94).

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