© University of Rochester 1996-2012
1939
Robert Ward, a Pulitzer Prize–winning composer, was commissioned to write music for the opening of the Life Sciences Complex at Syracuse University.
1943
Genevieve Barber Smith was inducted into the Attica Central School Hall of Fame in Attica, N.Y. Genevieve founded the high school band program and retired in 1979 after teaching 39 years. The band received 76 “A” ratings and attended both the Disney Parade and the Rose Bowl in California.
1958
Margaret Shelton Meier writes to announce the release of her CD But Joy Comes in the Morning: Choral Music of Margaret S. Meier (Albany Records). She writes that in 18 short movements the cantata that is the principal work on the CD “expresses the horror and heartache of childhood sexual abuse and the hope, healing and, finally, the joy involved in the long road to recovery.” The text, written by Margaret with interpolations from the Bible, is interpreted by the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Ars Brunesis Choir under the direction of Andreas Baumgartner. Additional choral compositions are sung by the Chamber Singers of Mt. San Antonio College.
1963
Vincent Frohne (PhD) has five works on G&F Associates’ Music for Pipe Organ. Vincent, the organist at St. Paul Church in Macomb, Ill., has had his compositions recorded, broadcast, and performed by major orchestras, leading soloists, and chamber ensembles around the world. He is a founder and former director of the Schiller College (now Schiller International University) Music School in Berlin and has been an associate professor at several U.S. universities.
1967
James Undercofler, a former dean of the Eastman School, has announced he will step down next summer as the Philadelphia Orchestra’s president and chief executive officer. He plans to stay in Philadelphia to pursue freelance projects in arts education.
1968
Bill Cahn, Bob Becker ’69, ’71 (MM), and other members of the Toronto-based percussion quintet Nexus have their music featured in the award-winning documentary film Inside Time, which tells the story of the notorious outlaw Stephen Reid.
1969
Bob Becker ’71 (MM) (see ’68).
1970
Geary Larrick (MM) writes that he was recognized in the summer 2008 issue of the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors’ Journal for writing 30 reviews and 35 articles in the Journal since 1968. The issue also contains Geary’s book review of Encyclopedia of Percussion, (Second Edition), edited by his Eastman percussion professor John Beck ’55, ’62 (MM).
1971
Bob Becker (MM) (see ’68).
1974
Dorothy Darlington writes that she is still playing oboe with the Greenwich Symphony and is principal oboe in the Ridgefield Symphony in Ridgefield, Conn. The Ridgefield Symphony’s new conductor has asked her to play the Strauss Oboe Concerto this season. Dorothy is a real estate agent with William Raveis Real Estate in Old Greenwich and is involved with a new solar-thermal company called Solar Sense. She is now single and raising her two sons, ages 11 and 15, in Riverside, Conn.
1975
Martha Sobaje (MM) announces the publication of her book The Silver Fox: The Life and Legacy of Russell Saunders (Wayne Leupold Editions, Inc.), a biography of her former Eastman organ professor. The book, with a foreword by Eastman organ department chairman David Higgs, is the first biography of Saunders and contains remarks by several former students.1980
Lauren Puckett was named by the Abilene Music Teachers Association in Texas as its Teacher of the Year for 2007-08. She is an associate professor of piano at Hardin-Simmons University, an adjudicator who has presented symposiums on improvisation to music teachers’ organizations and college groups, and a member of the Abilene Chamber Players. She and her husband, Mark, founded and direct the Abilene Summer Piano Camp, held on the HSU campus.
1981
Dan Locklair (DMA) had his music performed by the Saint Thomas Choir in Manhattan, a leading ensemble in the Anglican choral tradition in the United States. In November, Dan was principal guest composer at the Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival. He is composer-in-residence and professor of music at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. . . . Akmal Parwez (PhD) writes that he presented a lecture-performance of several of his vocal and instrumental works at the Pakistan Friendship Society in Fountain Valley, Calif., in August. A winner this year of another ASCA Award, he also performed five of his vocal compositions at the Sikh Cultural Center in Buena Vista, Calif., and was invited by the Guru Nanak Society of Central Ohio to sing three of his Shabads at the Columbus Gurdwara. . . . Shawn Sanders (MM) released the CD Back to the Garden—A Tribute to Joni Mitchell, which includes an original piece. He is a freelance cellist in Austin, Texas, where he teaches privately and plays with the Austin Lyric Opera orchestra and the group Strings Attached.
1983
Craig Cramer (DMA), a professor of organ at the University of Notre Dame, presented an organ concert celebrating the new 31-stop, 37-rank pipe organ at the Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City, Iowa. Craig has performed concerts in 42 states, Canada, and several European countries.
1988
Dean O’Brien ’91 (MM) plays viola in the UCalgary String Quartet, whose recent CD Far Behind I Left My Country: Klezmer and East European Folk Music was a finalist for the 2008 Canadian Folk Music Awards–Instrumental Group of the Year. Arranged and composed by Edmond Agopian, the recording was released in spring 2008 on the American label MSR Classics during the University of Calgary–based quartet’s tour to Portugal.
1990
Beth Vanderborgh (MM) has been appointed an assistant professor in the music department at the University of Wyoming.
1991
Dean O’Brien (MM) (see ’88). . . . Mike Titlebaum ’92 (MM) gave his debut recital in September as Ithaca College’s director of jazz studies.
1992
Mike Titlebaum (MM) (see ’91).
1995
David Beauchesne ’99 (MM) is the executive director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic .
1997
James Higdon (DMA) is the Dane and Polly Bales Professor of Organ and director of the Division of Organ and Church Music at the University of Kansas. He also is director of music at the Lutheran Church of Our Saviour in Kansas City.
1998
Rick Basehore is a member of the “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band. The staff sergeant is the newest trumpeter and cornetist for the nation’s oldest professional musical organization.
1999
David Beauchesne (MM) (see ’95).
2000
Jean Cardinale (PhD) (see ’88 undergraduate).
2003
Anna Gerrish (MM) sends a photo announcing her marriage to David Fisher of Washington, D.C., on October 25, 2008. The wedding took place in Anna’s hometown of Twin Falls, Idaho. David works for Sen. Lisa Murkowski in Washington, D.C., and Anna is on the faculty at the Levine School of Music where she teaches early childhood music classes in addition to running a private piano studio. The couple lives in Falls Church, Va. . . . Caitlin Sullivan will complete her second year at The Academy, a competitive fellowship program for postgraduate musicians sponsored by Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education. The fellowship offers graduates from leading music schools the opportunity to perform and work in New York City public schools and gain skills in education, advocacy, and community engagement. In addition, Gregory DeTurck ’04 has been accepted to The Academy beginning with the 2008–09 season.
2004
Gregory DeTurck (see ’03). . . . Brian Shaw (MM) has recorded the CD Virtuoso Concertos for Clarino, trumpet concertos of the late Baroque era performed on period instruments. Brian is an assistant professor of trumpet and jazz studies at Louisiana State University and coprincipal trumpet of the Dallas Wind Symphony.
2006
Matthew Brown (MM) is the director of music ministries at First United Methodist Church in Salisbury, N.C. He is developing the church’s youth choirs and has started a concert series involving the community.
2007
Kristen Keating (MA) married Eastman graduate student Nathan Swift on June 21 in Farmingdale, N.Y. Kristen is a music teacher at the Three Village Central School District’s Arrowhead Elementary School. Nathan is pursuing a master’s degree in music education. The couples lives in Bohemia, N.Y.
© University of Rochester 1996-2012