Class Notes

Eastman School of Music

A Message from the Eastman Alumni Relations Office
Please note that we inadvertently disseminated incorrect information regarding reunion years that appeared in recent issues of Rochester Review. The correct years have been published in Eastman Notes and on the Web. We apologize to members of class years ending in 2 or 7 for any confusion this may have caused. Please be assured that your official celebration will be held on schedule in 2008, along with classes ending in 3 and 8. Of course, Eastman Weekend is for all alumni of the Eastman School of Music, and we encourage everyone to return to Rochester this October.

1945
Madeline Bramer Ingram (see ’61).

1946
Dorothy Purdy Amarandos (see ’61).

1947
Composer Charles Strouse received a Lifetime Achievement Award at a benefit for the Encompass New Opera Theatre in New York City last May.

1949
Robert Thayer is dean of the Conservatory of Music at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis. Robert, dean emeritus of the College of Musical Arts at Bowling Green State University, served as interim music unit executive at DePauw University in 2001–02 and the University of Connecticut in 2003–05.

1950
K. David Van Hoesen (see ’86).

1952
Alvin Fulton ’53 (MM) (see ’61).

1953
John Braund ’61W (Mas) (see ’61).

1954
Donald Hunsberger ’59 (MM), ’63 (DMA) (see ’61). . . . Myrta Borges Knox (Mas) (see ’61). . . . Daniel Patrylak ’60 (MM) (see ’61).

1961
John Ingram writes, “Recently rediscovered, rebalanced audio tapes have yielded 81 tracks on four remastered CDs recorded live and drawn from 16 Ars Antiqua musical productions performed in the Fountain Court of the Memorial Art Gallery from 1960 to 1965. The robust and greatly entertaining music from before 1750 was performed using authentic period instruments and was enhanced by singers, narrators, and actors. More than 40 performers had either Eastman or College affiliations, including Masako Toribara (Eastman faculty), Joyce Castle ’66 (MM), Myrta Borges Knox ’54 (Mas), Daniel Patrylak ’54, ’60 (MM), Alvin Fulton ’52, ’53 (MM), Robert Eliscu ’66, Donald Hunsberger ’54, ’59 (MM), ’63 (DMA), John Braund ’53, ’61W (Mas), Madeline Bramer Ingram ’45, me, and many others, with Dorothy Purdy Amarandos ’46 as director.”

1966
Joyce Castle (MM) (see ’61). . . . Robert Eliscu (see ’61).

1968
Bill and Ruth McLean Cahn were in residence at the University of Michigan School of Music last spring. They conducted percussion and music education workshops and master classes, as well as held a concert with the school’s percussion ensemble, which performed Bill’s compositions Raga No. 2, Balalaika, Night Ride, and Time Traveler. In addition, Bill held a workshop, “Creative Music Making,” at the Oberlin Conservatory in February. Bill and Bob Becker ’69, ’71 (MM), as part of the percussion group Nexus, performed four concerts at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games 2006 Festival last March.

1970
Geary Larrick (MM) writes, “My ninth book, An Autobiographical Bibliography of Percussion Music, was published last spring, and I was recognized for 20 years of citations for scholarly writing in RILM Abstracts of Music Literature. I have earned 28 notices since 1987.”

1972
Eden Vaning-Rosen (MM) writes, “I was named the Florida Studio Teacher of the Year by the American String Teachers Association. Last February, I presented a lecture, ‘Expressive Vibrato, the Window to the Soul,’ at the ASTA National Convention in Kansas City, and I performed at a benefit concert in the San Francisco Bay area. I published my 20th book in my violin series—The Violin Book 6a: The Tension-Free Bow Hand. In the summer, I toured the Southeast, giving lectures on violin teaching and my book series.”

1979
Judy LeClair (see ’86).

1980
Kate Light ’82 (MM) writes, “My new concert narration, Einstein’s Mozart: Two Geniuses, commissioned by the Colorado Chamber Players to celebrate Mozart’s 250th birthday and the 101st anniversary of Einstein’s Miracle Year, was premiered in Denver last January. The piece features my light poetry and prose about the lives and works of Einstein and Mozart and chamber music by Mozart. My third book, Gravity’s Dream, published in June, won the inaugural Donald Justice Poetry Award.”

1981
Anne Lindblom Harrow (see ’86). . . . Pater Noster, a choral work by composer Dan Locklair (DMA), was recorded for the fourth time in one year, most recently by the Choir of Men and Boys of Saint Thomas Church.

1986
Roger Nye writes, “My wife, Caroline Park ’85 (MM), has been playing principal oboe and English horn with the Princeton Symphony since we moved to New Jersey in September 2005. She also continues to serve as the oboist with the Lake Placid Sinfoniettia in the summer months along with K. David Van Hoesen ’50 (long-time Eastman bassoon instructor) and Anne Lindblom Harrow ’81 (current instructor of flute at Eastman). I am enjoying my new job as second bassoon with the New York Philharmonic, especially playing with Judy LeClair ’79, the principal bassoonist. Caroline and I and our 3-year-old son, Zeke, live in Kendall Park, N.J.”

1989
A composition by Gordon Chin (DMA), Double Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra, was performed by the Kansas City Symphony last spring.

1993
Jeff Vidov has released a set of classical, jazz, and world music, Arise, for There Are Four Paths to Truth, featuring compositions by Scott Good ’95 and performances by Mark Babbitt, Matt Senra, Jeff Zeigler ’95, Neal Shaffer ’95, ’96 (MM), Greg Pinney ’95, Elisa Swift, and Jesse Lowry ’95. Jeff also is working on four scores simultaneously at his home studio—one for a feature film and three for shorts. His CD of rock/pop/progressive music is scheduled for release in September, and a rock opera/concept CD is due in early 2007. He writes, “I am recording, mixing, and mastering my own material. Any Eastman alumni who live near Toronto should e-mail me at jvidov (at) sympatico (dot) ca, because when I need players for my film scores and rock songs, I prefer Eastman alums!”

1994
Tom Bara (MM) is an organ instructor at Interlochen Center for the Arts and music director at Central United Methodist Church in Traverse City, Mich.

1995
Scott Good (see ’93). . . . Jesse Lowry (see ’93). . . . Greg Pinney (see ’93). . . . Neal Shaffer ’96 (MM) (see ’93). . . . Jeff Zeigler (see ’93).

1997
Andrew Harnsberger (DMA) is artist-in-residence and a percussion instructor at Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn. He gave a marimba recital at the school last March. . . . David Pope (MM) was granted tenure and promoted to associate professor of saxophone at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va.

1998
Scott Provancher is vice president and campaign director of Cincinnati’s Fine Arts Fund.

1999
Lina Perkins Wilder (see ’99RC undergraduate).

2000
Carol Frierson-Campbell (PhD) is the author of Teaching Music in the Urban Classroom.

2001
Nicole Cabell performed the role of Juliette in Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C., last spring.