Class Notes

Eastman School of Music

1939
H. Owen Reed (PhD) was named the Louisiana State University Alumnus of the Year for 2004.

1947
The musical Real Men, by composer Charles Strouse, had its premiere at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami last January.

1949
Arthur Frackenpohl (MA) (see ’47RC undergraduate).

1953
Arnold Berleant ’55 (MA) is the author of Re-thinking Aesthetics: Rogue Essays on Aesthetics and the Arts. Arnold is professor emeritus of philosophy at Long Island University.

1954
Doris Bogen Preucil received a lifetime achievement award from the Eastman School. She is a cofounder of the Preucil School of Music in Iowa City, Iowa.

1955
Arnold Berleant (MA) (see ’53). . . . Tenor Earnest Murphy (MM) performed at his undergraduate alma mater, Stetson University, in DeLand, Fla., last January.

1956
A concert marking the 72nd birthday of conductor Khunying Mojdara Boonyaratavej (Mas) was held at the National Theatre in Bangkok, Thailand, last December. The performers included those who were trained or were influenced by Khunying, a national artist in choral conducting, as well as some of Thailand’s top singers. . . . Paul Freeman ’63 (PhD) is the founding music director of the Sphinx Competition for black and Latino string players. He also is music director of the Czech National Symphony. . . . Former Chicago Symphony percussionist Gordon Peters ’62 (MM) was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame last November.

1957
Sydney Hodkinson ’58 (MM), Almand Chair of Composition at Stetson University in DeLand, Fla., won two prizes at the Harelbeke Town of Music Concert Band Composition Contest in Belgium last November. His Monumentum pro Umbris received second prize as well as the audience prize.

1961
Violinist Richard Kilmer ’64 (MM) was a featured artist in the 2004–05 Mazie Barnett Kilmer Recital Series at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kan. Richard is principal second violin of the Austin Symphony and concertmaster of the Laredo Philharmonic.

1962
Pianist Constance Knox Carroll (MM) gave a concert as part of the Golden Triangle Music Forum at Mississippi State University in Starkville last January. . . . Gordon Peters (MM) (see ’56).

1963
Paul Freeman (PhD) (see ’56).

1964
Richard Kilmer (MM) (see ’61).

1968
Leone Buyse (see ’75) . . . . Percussion group Nexus, featuring Bill Cahn and Bob Becker ’69, ’71 (MM), was nominated for a 2005 Juno Award for the CD Drumtalker. Bill also held a weeklong residency at Eastman last December. . . . Bassist Tony Levin performed with the California Guitar Trio in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., last January.

1969
Max Stern writes, “I was invited by the Jewish community of Gothenburg, Sweden, to be a special guest composer at the interfaith program commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on January 27, European Holocaust Day. I directed Monica Danielsson, one of Scandinavia’s top contemporary performers, and pianist Bernt Wilhelmsson in the three Terezin Songs—From Tomorrow On, Birdsong, and Alone—which are original settings of texts written by children of the ghetto and camps. I am associate professor at the College of Judea and Samaria, in Israel. I am also music critic for the Jerusalem Post.”

1970
Geary Larrick (MM) is included in the 2004 editions of Madison Who’s Who and The Contemporary Who’s Who of Professionals. He’s the author of the Annotated Bibliography of Percussion Music Publications. For Black History Month last February, he performed music composed by African-American musicians at various venues in Wisconsin.

1973
Lt. Kenneth Megan directed the U.S. Coast Guard Band, including harpist Megan Sesma ’02, ’02RC as a soloist, in a holiday concert last December. He also directed the band in the concert Song and Dance last March. . . . Drummer and composer Ted Moore is director of jazz and jazz ensembles at the University of California at Berkeley. He also is leader of the jazz group Brasilia, which performed two concerts, one with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and one with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, last February.

1974
Pianist Janice Weber performed with violinist Ilya Kaler at Seully Hall in Boston last February. She is a faculty member at the Boston Conservatory.

1975
Geraldine Hayslett Boone (MA) teaches music theory and composition at Norfolk (Va.) State University and is the director emeritus of the Chesapeake Civic Chorus, which gave a concert at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Indian River, Va., last February. . . . Tiiu Haamer (MM) was the adjudicator for the junior piano division of the 24th annual Kiwanis Music Festival in Hamilton, Ontario. . . . John Larrere (MM) is general manager of the Hay Group’s metropolitan New York office. . . . Andrea Kapell Loewy writes, “I would like to announce the release of my CD of contemporary flute works, Apparitions and Whimsies. It includes Robert Muczynksi’s Duos for Flutes, with alumna Leone Buyse ’68. I received a Louisiana Division of the Arts artist fellowship to support this project. I continue to teach at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where I am professor of flute and graduate coordinator.”

1977
Gary Bordner (MM) has released a new CD, Trumpet Works. . . . Clement Reid writes, “My composition Adventure for String Orchestra was commissioned and was premiered in June 2004 by Matthew Underwood and the Stadium High School Chamber Orchestra in Tacoma, Wash., and my Morrell Variations for Piano and Toy Piano was premiered last September by Walter Kovshik at the Seattle Composers Salon. I also have recorded a CD, The Far Field, a collection of music for voice, chamber orchestra, and chamber ensembles. I have been teaching composition at Pacific Lutheran University since 2002.”

1979
Michael Drapkin is the author of Symphonic Repertoire for the Bass Clarinet, Volume 2. He writes, “Volume 1 is used by virtually all orchestra bass clarinetists worldwide and is referenced as a source for bass clarinet orchestra auditions. Volume 3 will be released this summer.” . . . Elizabeth Reed Smith ’83 (DMA) and Leslie Petteys make up the Nevelson Duo and perform works by American composers and repertoire for violin and piano. Elizabeth is professor of violin, viola, and chamber music at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va. . . . Paul Worfel (MM) is assistant professor of education at Huntington College in Huntington, Ind.

1980
Organist Terry Yount (DMA) performed in the 2004–05 concert series at First Presbyterian Church of Lake Wales (Fla.) last January. Terry is music director of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Winter Park, Fla.

1983
Diane Belcher (MM) gave the 24th annual Carroll Hendrickson Organ Recital at the Mercersburg (Pa.) Academy Chapel last February. Diane is assistant professor of organ at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J. . . . Elizabeth Reed Smith (DMA) (see ’79). . . . Trumpeter Byron Stripling led the Columbus Jazz Orchestra at the Marshall University Jazz Festival in Huntington, W.Va., last January.

1984
Compositions by Mark Hierholzer (MM), including Missa Brevis, were premiered by the Fredericksburg (Texas) Chorale last February. . . . Maria Newman’s commissioned work for flute, violin, and viola, Pennipotenti, was premiered at the Pacific Serenades concert series in Los Angeles last January. She has played violin and viola on a number of movie and television soundtracks, including The Incredibles, Meet the Fockers, Alias, and American Idol. . . . Pianist William Nyaho (MM) gave a free concert and taught a master class at the University of Mississippi last February, as part of the university’s Black History Month celebrations.

1985
Baritone John Kramar and pianist John Keene gave a recital last January at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. They have performed as a duo since 1992. John is associate professor of voice and opera at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.

1986
Raphael Bundage (DMA) celebrated his 20th anniversary as coordinator of choral studies at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro last February. The university’s choral society, concert chorale, and percussion ensemble, as well as Eastman alumnus John Kramar ’85, performed in the season’s final concerts in his honor. Raphael also is director of the Middle Tennessee Choral Society and conductor for the First Presbyterian Church of Nashville. . . . Chelsea Tipton conducted the Toledo (Ohio) Symphony’s Mozart and More concert last January. Baritone Ivan Griffin (MM) was a featured soloist.

1987
Richard Cohn, professor of music at the University of Chicago, has been named the Helen B. and Frank L. Sulzberger Professor in Music. Richard also is a board member of the Chicago Chorale. . . . Kathrine Handford is director of music and organist at Hamline United Methodist Church in St. Paul, Minn. . . . Our apologies to Jamal Rossi (DMA), whose name was incorrect in the Spring 2005 issue of Review. His appointment as the dean of academic affairs at the Eastman School begins July 1.

1989
Saxophonist and composer Rick DiMuzio (MM) has recorded his first solo CD, First Offerings. John Hollenbeck ’90, ’91 (MM) is featured on drums. Rick is associate professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

1990
Keyboardist Peter Lewis ’94 accompanied “artistic whistler” Hans Martin Werner in the concert Whistles and Pipings at the United Church of Marco Island in Florida last January. . . . Robin Holtz Williams (DMA) has recorded her first CD, A Piano in the House. Last February, she performed in the Third Sunday Concert Series at Christ Episcopal Church in Covington, La. Robin teaches piano and music appreciation at the University of New Orleans and is the graduate coordinator for the music department.

1991
Craig Arnold (DMA) will join the faculty of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, in August as director of choral activities and conductor of the Nordic Choir. . . . John Bodinger (DMA) is the organist and choir director for the Manito Presbyterian Church in Spokane, Wash. . . . Kate Hartnagel-Nasuti and her husband, Tony, announce the birth of their first child, Emma Rose, on July 2, 2004. Kate writes, “Everyone is doing well in Norristown, Pa.” . . . Eric Plutz (MM) is principal university organist at Princeton. . . . The Ying Quartet—siblings Phillip ’92 (MM), Timothy (DMA), Janet ’92, and David ’92 (DMA)—Eastman’s quartet-in-residence, premiered Pierre Jalbert’s Icefield Sonnets at Kilbourn Hall last February. The work was one of the projects commissioned by the quartet’s LifeMusic project, designed to build American string quartet repertory.

1993
Pianist Marina Lomazov ’00 (DMA) performed with the South Carolina Philharmonic Orchestra at South Carolina State University last February. Marina is assistant professor of piano at the University of South Carolina School of Music in Columbia. She also is the artistic director of the Southeastern Piano Festival.

1994
Carlos Carrillo had the world premiere of his Algunas metáforas que aluden al tormento, a la angustia y a la Guerra during the American Composers Orchestra concert series at Carnegie Hall last January. . . . Soprano Janet Hackett (MM) gave a recital at Oregon State University in Corvallis as part of the university’s Music a la Carte series. Janet is a vocal music instructor at Oregon State. . . . Peter Lewis (see ’90).

1995
Organist Aaron Miller gave a concert at Grace Lutheran Church in Lancaster, Pa., last February. . . . Christopher Wicks writes that Sorelle, a flute, soprano, and harp trio, performed his song cycle based on the poems of Sappho in a concert at the Asian Art Museum in Seattle last January.

1998
The band SNMNMNM, made up of Seamus Kenney, his brother Matthew Kenney, Matt Vooris, and Mark Daumen ’99, has released a new CD, As Best We Can.

1999
Amy Eyles is flutist with the group Chinook Winds. The trio presented the concert Enchanting Cello with guest cellist Erin Eyles Espinoza, Amy’s sister, at the First Congregational Church in Great Falls, Mont. . . . John and Kari Capone Kaefer (see ’99RC undergraduate). . . . Bret Miller (MA) and Lisa Torres were married on July 9, 2004, in Rochester. Bret is a vocal music teacher at Waterloo (N.Y.) High School and is pursuing a degree in educational administration at SUNY Brockport. Lisa is a vocal music teacher in the Sodus Central School District.

2000
Nathaniel Bartlett gave a marimba concert at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Mass., last December. . . . Danan Healy (MM) writes, “I have a recording out with my band, Aeolian May—Port of Embarkation. It’s a collaboration with songwriter James Durham of folk/new age/rock songs with a touch of Celtic influence. I am ending my enlistment with the U.S. Army Field Band’s rock/pop group the Volunteers.” . . . Marina Lomazov (DMA) (see ’93). . . . J. Christopher Pardini (MM) is director of music and organist at Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pa.

2001
Daniel Bara (DMA) directed the combined choirs of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church and the First Presbyterian Church in Kinston, N.C., in a performance of Vivaldi’s Gloria last December. Daniel is assistant professor and director of activities at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C. . . . Eric Dudley is the assistant conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. . . . Martin Hodel (DMA) teaches trumpet and music theory at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. . . . Ben Wensel (MM), Annie Barley ’02, Elizabeth Matthews Brown ’02, ’04 (MM), Adam Carter ’02, ’04 (MM), Caroline Kang ’02, Susie Kelly ’02, ’04 (MM), Kevin McFarland ’04, and Florent Renard-Payen ’04 (DMA) make up the Tarab Cello Ensemble, which performed concerts in St. Petersburg and Tampa, Fla., last January. The group’s members also held seminars and performed at the University of Southern Florida and the Patel Conservatory.

2004
Andrew Cheetham (DMA) is visiting professor of trumpet and jazz at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. . . . Violinist Simeon Simeonov was a guest soloist with the Idyllwild Arts Academy choir and orchestra in a concert last December.