Class Notes

1950 John (Billy) Tamblyn (MA), ’61 (PhD) died in January, his wife, Carolyn, writes. A pianist and composer, Billy was a native of Auburn, Alabama, and served on the Auburn University faculty for four decades. A veteran of World War II who served in the Pacific theater, “Dr. T,” as he was later known to his students, founded the Auburn Chamber Music Association and the Auburn chapter of Phi Mu Alpha. Although his music was performed widely, Carolyn shares that “his family took particular pleasure in the music he composed for the weddings of his daughters and the improvisational pieces he wove into his organ music.” Carolyn and Billy were married for 68 years, and their family includes three daughters and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

1968 Bill Cahn, cofounder with Bob Becker ’69 of the percussion ensemble Nexus, writes that the group created music for the soundtrack of a documentary released by the National Film Board of Canada. The film, La part du diable (The Devil’s Share), explores Québec’s “Quiet Revolution” of the 1970s. Nexus has also released a new CD, Quantum Fields (William L. Cahn), which includes performances by the Eastman Marimba Ensemble and the Eastman Percussion Ensemble. Bill adds that in June, he’ll be on the faculty of Tócolo Tucson, a new weeklong chamber percussion seminar at the University of Arizona’s Fred Fox School of Music.

1969 Bob Becker (see ’68). . . . Max Stern, a professor emeritus at Israel’s Ariel University, has published a book on music theory, Speech of the Angels (KTAV Publications). He adds: “I wanted to let friends at the U of R know about a conference inspired by my books Bible and Music (KTAV, 2011) and Psalms and Music (KTAV, 2013) that took place in Poland last October under the auspices of the faculty of fine arts and music at the University of Silesia in Katrowice, entitled Biblical Motifs as a Source of Inspiration for Artists at the Turn of the 21st Century. I was invited as opening speaker and special guest composer for a concert devoted entirely of my works. It was really something.” Max sends a photo from the conference (see page 57).

1975 Pianist and composer John Serry ’91 (MM) has released a new album, Disquisition (SPCo Records). He notes that the title track was included on Jazziz on Disc, the CD sampler that accompanies Jazziz magazine.

1977 Composer Clement Reid has received several honors in the past year. They include a Silver Medal (Outstanding Achievement) from Global Music Awards in the contemporary classical category for his Adventure for String Orchestra, and the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition, his Realizations for Horn and Piano was premiered at the Seattle Composers Salon last November, and his music was featured on several programs by the Pacific Northwest Chamber Ensemble in 2017.

1981 Last February, Rodney Winther was invited by the U.S. Coast Guard Band as guest conductor for its concert “Music from Around the World.” The performance, including music from British, Chinese, Czech, and American-born composers, took place in the band’s Leamy Concert Hall in New London, Connecticut. Rodney has served as director of wind studies at the University of Cincinnati’s College–Conservatory of Music and as director of bands at Ithaca College. Several Eastman alumni are members of the U.S. Coast Guard Band, including chief musician and tubist Stephen Lamb ’00 (tuba), principal percussionist Robert McEwan ’90, and chief musician and harpist Megan Sesma ’02, ’02RC. Chief Warrant Officer Richard Wyman ’92, ’93, who has served as assistant director of the band since 2004, delivered his final performance in the role in April.

1984 Saxophonist Tom Christensen ’86 (MM) writes that the quartet Spin Cycle, which he coleads with drummer Scott Neumann, has released its second CD, Assorted Colors (Sound Footing Records). Tom and other members of the group marked the April release with a performance at Smalls in New York City, followed by a tour of the Midwest.

1985 Mallory Thompson (DMA) is conductor of the Northwestern University Symphonic Wind Ensemble, which released a CD, Reflections (Summit Records), last December.

1986 Tom Christensen (MM) (see ’84).

1988 Rob Barrett is an assistant professor of recording arts and music business at North Central University in Minneapolis. He and his students have recorded a CD, The Classroom Sessions (Third Street Music). Rob writes: “I try to use hands-on projects as much as possible to engage students in my classroom. So, for the last couple of years, we have recorded songs in the classroom using students as the musicians and learning audio engineering and mixing techniques. This project is a compilation of those classroom sessions.”

1991 John Serry (MM) (see ’75).

1992 Richard Wyman ’93 (see ’81).

2002 Mirna Lekic won third place in the professional solo division of the 2017–18 American Prize in Piano contest. Founded in 2009, the American Prize is awarded in a variety of performing arts to recognize excellence among artists, ensembles, and composers in the United States. Mirna is an assistant professor of music at Queensborough Community College, City University of New York.

2007 Hao-An (Henry) Cheng won first prize at the 2018 European Union Competition for Orchestra Conductors. Based in Berlin since 2015, Henry is music director of the Klangkraft Orchestra. As winner of the prize, he’ll conduct throughout Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Poland during the 2018–19 season.