Tenor Limmie Pulliam ’98, Who Sang on Stages Worldwide, Dies at 50</h1> <article> <h1>Tenor Limmie Pulliam ’98, Who Sang on Stages Worldwide, Dies at 50</h1> <p>eburnett — Wed, 20 May 2026 16:27:23 +0000</p> <span>Tenor Limmie Pulliam ’98, Who Sang on Stages Worldwide, Dies at 50</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2026-05-20T12:27:23-04:00" title="Wednesday, May 20, 2026 - 12:27">Wed, 05/20/2026 - 12:27</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Dramatic tenor Limmie Pulliam, a 1998 graduate of ��سԹ� Conservatory who gave life to a host of leading opera roles and as a classical soloist on prominent stages across America and around the globe—and whose unlikely rise to fame after years away from music buoyed the dreams of performers everywhere—has died. He was 50.</p><p>Last week, Pulliam had been the tenor soloist in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8.</p><p>Raised in Kennett, Missouri, Pulliam, the son of a preacher, grew up singing in his church choir before his passion for classical music took shape. At ��سԹ�, he was a student of the legendary voice professor Richard Miller, who played a vital role in developing Pulliam’s remarkably powerful sound.</p><p>Soon after graduating, however, Pulliam found himself disillusioned over concerns related to his weight and the audition rejections and body shaming he was subjected to as a result of it. For 12 years, he pursued work as a debt collector and security guard—even operating his own security business. For most of that time, he seldom even thought of music, let alone sang.</p><p>Pulliam’s rediscovery of his own voice came in the unlikeliest of ways: While working as an organizer for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign in Missouri, he was invited to sing the National Anthem when the scheduled singer backed out.</p><p>The performance, and several others that followed, signaled to Pulliam that his voice had matured and grown in size in the years since his ��سԹ� training. It reignited his interest in exploring where he might go with it. His formal return to the stage happened at age 36, with a performance in the National Opera Association’s vocal competition. </p><p>In November 2024, <a href="/news-and-events/running-to-the-noise-podcast/running-noise-episode-14">Pulliam discussed his career trajectory</a> with ��سԹ� President Carmen Twillie Ambar on the <em>Running to the Noise</em> podcast. In it, he revealed how he revisited old videotapes of his sessions with Professor Miller.</p><p>"It was almost like riding a bicycle," he recalled. "As I began to work with the tapes, the coordination began to come back." </p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Gifted singer became a regular presence on the ��سԹ� campus where he honed his craft.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2026-05-20T12:00:00Z">Wed, 05/20/2026 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Communications Staff</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2368">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2412">Obituaries</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Limmie Pulliam, in an October 2022 preview performance of "The Ordering of Moses" with the ��سԹ� Orchestra and ��سԹ� choirs in Finney Chapel. The following month, the musicians presented the work at Carnegie Hall.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Yevhen Gulenko</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-flex-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden vertical-spacing--basic field__items"> <div class="field__item"> <div class="body-centered-layout"> <div class="side-caption pull captioned-image" data-caption-position="right"> <div id="obj-51027" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--default"> <figure> <figcaption> <div class="figure__caption"><p>Limmie Pulliam performing the title role in <em>The Ordering of Moses</em> with the ��سԹ� Orchestra and ��سԹ� choirs at Carnegie Hall in January 2023.</p></div> <div class="figure__credit"><p>Photo credit: Fadi Kheir</p></div> </figcaption> </figure> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-51029" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-copy paragraph--view-mode--default o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <p>As Pulliam’s career resurgence took shape, so did his involvement with ��سԹ�, where he delighted in working with students on projects and in rehearsals.</p><p>His on-campus collaborations included singing the title role in<em> The Ordering of Moses</em>, an oratorio penned by 1908 ��سԹ� alum R. Nathaniel Dett. The work, performed by the ��سԹ� Orchestra and ��سԹ� choirs in January 2023, marked Pulliam’s Carnegie Hall debut.</p><p>The previous month, he had made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Radamès in Verdi’s <em>Aida</em>. He was the first Black singer in the history of the Met to perform the role.</p><p>Also in 2023, Pulliam debuted with the Cleveland Orchestra in the title role of a semi-staged production of Verdi’s <em>Otello</em>.</p><p>“He has an amazing voice,” Cleveland Orchestra Music Director Franz Welser-Möst said in an interview with cleveland.com. “I’ve not heard a better Otello in a very long time. He really is quite something."</p><p>Within days of Pulliam’s Carnegie Hall premiere, he was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/23/arts/music/limmie-pulliam-opera-body-shaming.html">featured in a <em>New York Times</em> story</a> with the headline “He Quit Singing Because of Body Shaming. Now He’s Making a Comeback.” </p><p>Former First Lady Michelle Obama called out Pulliam on Facebook in February 2023, recalling his initial performance on her husband’s campaign and his spate of debut performances. “Limmie, I’m so proud of you,” she wrote. “Your story is incredible and I hope you know how much you are inspiring people to never give up on their dreams.”</p><p>In 2024, Pulliam was one of several ��سԹ� contemporaries who reunited for a collaborative concert production of <a href="/news/coming-full-circle"><em>Omar</em></a>, the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera by Rhiannon Giddens ’01 and Michael Abels. He sang the title role alongside his longtime friends and collaborators Giddens, bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch ’98, and baritone Michael Preacely ’01. Another prominent ��سԹ� alum, John Kennedy ’82, conducted the performance. Pulliam and Giddens <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/12/07/nx-s1-5214629/former-oberlin-students-return-to-the-finney-chapel-for-a-performance-of-omar" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.npr.org/2024/12/07/nx-s1-5214629/former-oberlin-students-return-to-the-finney-chapel-for-a-performance-of-omar&source=gmail&ust=1779387380018000&usg=AOvVaw1eYJvhZRUrjDMa_V07hkWj">spoke with NPR</a> about the experience of returning to campus to perform the opera.</p> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div class="body-centered-layout"> <div class="side-caption pull captioned-image" data-caption-position="left"> <div id="obj-51030" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--default"> <figure> <figcaption> <div class="figure__caption"><p>Pulliam performing the title role in Rhiannon Giddens' <em>Omar</em> in Finney Chapel in December 2024.</p></div> <div class="figure__credit"><p>Photo credit: Mike Crupi</p></div> </figcaption> </figure> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-51032" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-copy paragraph--view-mode--default o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <p>Pulliam derived great joy from his work with ��سԹ� students, and he offered them a word of support in his podcast conversation with Ambar.</p><p>“Don’t be afraid to face your fears, to step out of your comfort zone, to be persistent in your work, to be consistent in your work, and don’t let a <em>no</em> deter you from continuing to push forward,” he said.</p><p>“It’s up to us to take control of our own destinies and to define ourselves, as opposed to allowing other people to define us.”</p><p>In October 2025, ��سԹ� students attended Pulliam’s performance as soloist in Mahler's <em>Song of the Earth</em> with the Cleveland Orchestra, after which the orchestra hosted a reception for Pulliam and his ��سԹ� guests. In February of this year, a busload of ��سԹ� students experienced Pulliam’s performance in <em>Turandot</em> at Detroit Music Hall.</p><p>Most recently, Pulliam returned to campus to honor the late Daune Mahy, a longtime voice professor whom the conservatory celebrated with a memorial concert in early March. Pulliam sang Richard Strauss’ <em>Zueignung</em> (<em>von Gilm</em>).</p><p>“Limmie was an extraordinary, powerful artist,” says Dean of the Conservatory William Quillen. “Even more, he was a deeply good, kind-hearted, funny, brilliant, and generous colleague and friend who transformed the lives of everyone he met. His performances with our students were life-changing for all involved. On behalf of everyone at ��سԹ�, we send deepest condolences to Limmie's family, friends, classmates, and loved ones. He was a remarkable artist, and we will miss him greatly.”</p><p>In his podcast conversation, Pulliam’s reaction to achieving notoriety later in life offered a fitting example of that big-hearted generosity. “I hope [my story] inspired others to just really know not to ever give up on their dreams,” he said.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-article-header field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">0</div> </article> <article> <h1>Dolores White ’54, Composer, Educator, and Pianist, Dies at 90</h1> <p>jreinier — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 18:41:34 +0000</p> <span>Dolores White ’54, Composer, Educator, and Pianist, Dies at 90</span> <span><span>jreinier</span></span> <span><time datetime="2023-03-30T14:41:34-04:00" title="Thursday, March 30, 2023 - 14:41">Thu, 03/30/2023 - 14:41</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A prolific composer, Mrs. White enjoyed a lengthy and diverse career incorporating teaching and performing into her artistic practice, while raising a family and supporting her husband, Donald, a cellist and the first Black member of the Cleveland Orchestra.</p> <p>Her music reaches into American traditions and draws on ethnic and international influences. In a <a href="/news/oberlin-conservatory-launches-dolores-54-and-donald-57-white-prize">November 2021 interview</a> for the ��سԹ� News Center, Mrs. White said, “I’ve always thought the average person needs to know about different cultures. It’s important to have exposure to different music, different genres, and different histories.” Of her composition work, she said “I take risks, I dream big, and I use humor in my works in different ways which helps to keep my optimistic views.”</p> <p>Mrs. White was born in Chicago, Illinois. She attended Howard University for two years before transferring to ��سԹ� Conservatory of Music where she earned her bachelor’s degree in piano performance. She later completed her master of music in both piano performance and composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music, twenty years after finishing her undergraduate degree. She pursued additional studies at The Ohio State University and The Juilliard School.</p> <p>Mrs. White held positions at several colleges, universities, and arts organizations, including College of Wooster, Hartt School of Music, Cleveland’s Karamu House, and the Metropolitan Campus of Cuyahoga Community College, where she served as assistant professor of music. She was also a piano instructor at the Cleveland The Music Settlement. After retiring from teaching in 2000, White continued to compose vocal and instrumental works, remaining vitally involved throughout her life.</p> <p>Her most recent visit to ��سԹ� was in November 2021, for the occasion of the Contemporary Music Ensemble’s presentation of her work <em>Crystal Gazing</em>. She worked with the students in rehearsal and she delivered her composer’s notes from the stage at the performance in Finney Chapel.</p> <p>Mrs. White’s interests included Afro-Cuban music and dance, and African American arts, as well as the profile of women in music. She conducted numerous workshops and lectures on these topics.</p> <p>Her works have been performed by The Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, among other artists and ensembles. Recordings of her music are on the Cleveland Chamber Symphony’s <em>The New American Scene No. 2</em>, which features <em>Crystal Gazing</em>. Her string quartet is on the Cleveland Composers’ Guild recording titled <em>Telling Tales</em> (Albany). A piano piece, <em>Toccata</em>, is included in <em>Dark Fires</em>, performed by Karen Walywn (Albany). Most recently, Rachel Barton Pine recorded her <em>Blues Dialogues</em> for solo violin on the eponymous album (Cedille).</p> <p>Her pieces have been published by Willis Music Company, Boston Music Company, Cuyahoga Community College Press, Southern Illinois University Press, and Ludwig Music Publishing Company. Mrs. White was a recipient of numerous commissions and grants from the Bascom Little Fund, American Society of Composers, and the Cleveland Women’s Symphony Orchestra. Most recently, she was honored with The Cleveland Orchestra’s 2022 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Award.</p> <p>Mrs. White was a member of the Chicago-based 6Degrees Composers and the Cleveland Composers’ Guild. She is a contributor to the book <em>Black Women in America: A Historical Encyclopedia</em> by Carlson Publishers. Both Dolores and Donald White’s biographies are in the <a href="https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/dolores-white-40">HistoryMakers Digital Archive</a>.</p> <p>In fall 2021, Mrs. White established a fund at ��سԹ�, The Dolores '54 and Donald '57 White Prize, to support student performance-based projects that elevate the Conservatory’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. ��سԹ� Conservatory students Malcolm Bamba and Blake Logan are the first awardees of the prize and will be presenting programs on campus this spring. They were selected on the basis of their demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging—in particular their demonstration of these values in musical programming and artistic work—and their demonstrated excellence in musical performance.</p> <p>��سԹ� Conservatory’s Dean William Quillen shares, “Dolores White was an extraordinary musician and true exemplar of the ��سԹ� ethos. We are forever grateful to her for the many lives she touched here at ��سԹ�, and throughout the world, and express our heartfelt condolences to her family and loved ones.”</p> <p>Mrs. White is survived by her daughter and ��سԹ� Conservatory piano performance alumna Dianna White-Gould ’84 (Eric), her son Darrow White (Avanda), and three grandchildren, Alexandria, Gabrielle, and Daniel.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">A prolific composer, Mrs. White enjoyed a lengthy and diverse career incorporating teaching and performing into her artistic practice.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2023-03-30T12:00:00Z">Thu, 03/30/2023 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Cathy Partlow Strauss</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>��سԹ� Conservatory alumna Dolores Rae (Miller) White ’54 died after a brief illness on Friday, March 24, 2023 at the Cleveland Clinic. She was 90.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2974">Conservatory Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2412">Obituaries</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Michael Morgan '79, Bay Area Conductor and Arts Advocate, Dies at 63</h1> <p>eburnett — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 13:46:32 +0000</p> <span>Michael Morgan '79, Bay Area Conductor and Arts Advocate, Dies at 63</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2021-08-24T09:46:32-04:00" title="Tuesday, August 24, 2021 - 09:46">Tue, 08/24/2021 - 09:46</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Michael Morgan recognized early what many never recognize at all: that each artist bears the responsibility for cultivating the next generation of artistry.</p> <p>The longtime music director of the Oakland Symphony and a lifelong believer in the power of music to elevate communities, Morgan died August 20, 2021. He was 63.</p> <p>“We have lost our guiding father,” the symphony’s executive director, Mieko Hatano, said in a statement as news of Morgan’s passing began to circulate.</p> <p>Over the course of 30 years in Oakland, Morgan relished the dual nature of his role: to facilitate compelling performances of a broad range of repertoire—from well-known masters to unknown local composers—and to ensure that his orchestra reached out to its community at every turn. Through regular programming in the Oakland schools and innovative concerts that showcased the music of marginalized cultures, the symphony under Morgan became a model of outreach and education for music organizations everywhere.</p> <p>He perpetually appealed to those on the margins of his world, in part because he had long felt like an outsider himself.</p> <p>“Being a classical musician, being a conductor, being Black, being gay—all of these things put you on the outside, and each one puts you a little further out than the last one,” he told <em>Georgia Voice</em> in 2013, in advance of a guest appearance with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. “So you get accustomed to constructing your own world because there are not a lot of clear paths to follow and not a lot of people that are just like you.”</p> <p>Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Morgan was introduced to the piano at age 6, when his biologist father purchased one for the family home for $10. By 12, Morgan was conducting school and church orchestras, and soon after rose to the stand of the D.C. Youth Orchestra. He studied composition at ��سԹ� and at Tanglewood, where he learned from legendary conductors Gunther Schuller, Seiji Ozawa, and his longtime mentor, Leonard Bernstein.</p> <p>Just one year beyond his ��سԹ� studies, Morgan catapulted into the spotlight in 1980 by winning the Hans Swarowsky Conducting Competition in Vienna; two years later, he assumed the role of Leonard Slatkin’s assistant conductor with the St. Louis Symphony. Also that year, Morgan made his operatic debut at the Vienna State Opera, in a production of Mozart’s <em>Abduction from the Seraglio</em>. He later recounted that he hoped simply to escape the hall without being booed, but he ultimately was invited to return.</p> <p>Morgan called the Vienna engagement “The most pretentious thing in my biography, which is full of pretentious things,” but it was also a welcome springboard to his role as assistant conductor of the Chicago Symphony—the first Black conductor appointed to a title position. There he served for five years, first under the baton of Georg Solti, then Daniel Barenboim. He became music director of the Oakland Symphony in 1991.</p> <p>Resolved to avoid the itinerant life of many high-profile conductors, Morgan contented himself with building a vibrant and varied career almost entirely in the Bay Area. In addition to the Oakland Symphony, he was artistic director of the Oakland Youth Orchestra and served for 16 years as music director of the Sacramento Philharmonic and Sacramento Opera. He was artistic director of Festival Opera for more than a decade and music director of the Bear Valley Music Festival. Since 1993, he also served as music director of the Gateways Music Festival, dedicated to supporting the professional development of musicians of African descent and to inspire communities through performance.</p> <p>When Morgan traveled—to festivals, or to guest-conduct major orchestras in Atlanta and New York and elsewhere—he made sure to interact with each region’s schoolchildren, his mission to cultivate future musicians and audiences never relegated solely to his home turf. And wherever he went, he exalted the work of little-known composers when Mozart or Brahms could have sufficed.</p> <p>“He launched new works by an entire generation of grateful composers,” Daron Hagen said of Morgan, who premiered a piece by the young composer in 1992—at the helm of the New York Philharmonic.</p> <p>Unceasingly passionate in his day-to-day work, Morgan was also endlessly cheerful, and his ubiquitous good humor and trademark high-pitched laugh capably disarmed audiences and everyone else in his presence.</p> <p>Lee Koonce ’82, president and artistic director of the Rochester, New York-based Gateways Music Festival, called Morgan’s death a tremendous loss for the international classical music community.</p> <p>“I believe that his greatest legacy will be his honesty as a human being and as a musician, his fearlessness in the breaking of traditions, his ability to authentically connect the orchestra with the local community beyond the concert hall, and showing us a new model for what an American ‘maestro’ could be,” Koonce said. “If the United States had 20 more Michael Morgans leading major orchestras across the country, I suspect that all the conversations we’ve had over the years about the lack of diversity in classical music and its lack of relevance would be virtually nonexistent.”</p> <p>As the arts world scrambled to reinvent itself amid the pandemic, Morgan continued the work he had done all his life. In 2020, he curated a series of virtual programs for the San Francisco Symphony that highlighted intersections between classical music and distinctive musical styles deeply rooted in the Bay Area: jazz and hip-hop, as well as sounds of China and Mexico.</p> <p>“I tell people who are undertaking projects like this that they shouldn’t worry about trying to change the world,” he said at the time. “The simple fact of going from absolute zero to something means that this effort can have a disproportionate impact.”</p> <p>Despite his outward resilience and charisma, Morgan lived a quiet life with his mother and sister. He suffered from chronic kidney disease since 1989, and he endured dialysis every day for seven years until undergoing a successful transplant in May 2021. Three months later, complications surfaced that resulted in a severe infection.</p> <p>Morgan’s roommate at ��سԹ� was Steven Isserlis ’78, a cellist from Britain who went on to become a world-renowned soloist and chamber musician. To Isserlis and others at ��سԹ�, Morgan was known affectionately as “Mikey.” In a Facebook post shared shortly after Morgan’s death, Isserlis recounted his friend’s musicianship, his cutting wit, that unforgettable laugh, and the camaraderie that bridged continents throughout their lives.</p> <p>“I can only hope that wherever he is now, he’s cackling with delight at the old friends he’s meeting—and getting together orchestras of angels to conduct,” Isserlis wrote. “Goodbye, Mikey—there will never be anyone like you.”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Oakland Symphony music director championed lesser-known repertoire, emphasized the orchestra’s role in the community.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2021-08-24T12:00:00Z">Tue, 08/24/2021 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2412">Obituaries</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2974">Conservatory Alumni</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=35616">Conducting</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/contemporary-music" hreflang="und">Contemporary Music</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">courtesy Oakland Symphony</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Richard Hoffmann, Composer and Protégé of Arnold Schoenberg, Dies at 96</h1> <p>eburnett — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 15:06:09 +0000</p> <span>Richard Hoffmann, Composer and Protégé of Arnold Schoenberg, Dies at 96</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2021-07-15T11:06:09-04:00" title="Thursday, July 15, 2021 - 11:06">Thu, 07/15/2021 - 11:06</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Richard Hoffmann’s Viennese heritage provided a cherished link to many of the great Western composers. Family ties provided Hoffmann with another crucial link: to one of the 20th century’s most fertile musical minds.</p> <p>A professor of composition at ��سԹ� Conservatory for 50 years, Hoffmann imparted his wisdom upon generations of ��سԹ� students, unwaveringly firm in his approach to his craft—and equally so in his conviction that every composer must chart their own musical course.</p> <p>Born in 1925, Hoffmann was already a prodigious violinist in his native Vienna by the time the spread of Nazism forced his family to relocate from Austria to New Zealand when he was 10. He completed an undergraduate degree at the University of New Zealand, then arrived in Los Angeles in 1947 to study composition with his cousin, the great serialist composer Arnold Schoenberg. From 1948 to 1951, Hoffmann served as Schoenberg’s secretary and editor, while continuing his postgraduate studies in musicology at the University of California, Los Angeles.</p> <p>In 1951—the year of Schoenberg’s death—Hoffmann began lecturing in music theory at UCLA. Three years later, he became an assistant professor of composition and music theory at ��سԹ�, where he remained for the duration of his career.</p> <p>Hoffmann married Joan Flint ’60 in 1957. That same year, he completed a summer lecture tour of New Zealand that also served as a showcase for his outspoken style. At one point, he railed against the nation’s import restrictions on American records, a condition that resulted in the populace buying readily available British records—thereby placing undue emphasis on British music, in his estimation. He told <em>The Auckland Star</em> at the time that such trends were inappropriately elevating the stature of relatively unknown composers such as Benjamin Britten and Arnold Bax.</p> <p>“I have no knowledge of popular music,” Hoffmann noted to <em>The Star</em>, calling out the music of Elvis Presley in particular. “I hear it on the radio, but I usually turn it off.”</p> <p>Though gifted on the violin and proficient at the keyboard, Hoffmann composed almost exclusively without the aid of instruments. He earned acclaim for his Duo for Viola and Cello at the 1956 Darmstadt Festival of Contemporary Music, and subsequently made waves there with his Piano Concerto (1957) and Piano Variations No. 2 (1960). He was a regular contributor to ��سԹ�’s annual Festival of Contemporary Music, the 1951 creation of then-Dean of the Conservatory David Robertson and an early indicator of ��سԹ�’s enduring commitment to new music.</p> <p>Throughout his career, Hoffmann wrote extensively on composers of the Second Viennese School, among them its founder Schoenberg, as well as Anton Webern and Alban Berg. (Of particular interest to Hoffmann was the mysterious shorthand used by Berg in annotated scores of Schoenberg.)</p> <p>While ��سԹ� remained his home, Hoffmann frequently took to the road for extended periods, often with his young family in tow. He dedicated a sabbatical leave in the 1960-61 school year to studying and creating electronic music in Vienna, followed by a 1962-63 trip during which he served as one of a team of editors of the first complete edition of Schoenberg’s work, while completing a string trio of his own.</p> <p>His travels also included a 1970 Guggenheim Fellowship devoted to composing in Berlin, studies toward the critical volume of Schoenberg’s opera <em>Von heute auf morgen</em> (1972), research at the Schoenberg Archives in L.A. (1973), presentation of a paper at the Third International Schoenberg Congress in Vienna (1977), and a second Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts awards that supported work in Vienna and Cambridge, Massachusetts (1977-78). By then, Hoffmann’s focus had turned to completing a work for quartet with computer-generated portions that were recorded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The project became his String Quartet No. 4; it was dedicated to Austrian violinist Rudolf Kolisch, a pioneer in the performance of string quartets by Schoenberg and his contemporaries, who died in 1978. The work was performed at the 1984 International Computer Music Conference at the Pompidou Center in Paris.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>courtesy ��سԹ� College Archives</figcaption> </figure> <p>In the early 1980s, Hoffmann composed and studied in Vienna on sabbaticals, and taught under a Fulbright grant at the Musicological Institute of the University of Vienna, on the topic of serious American music of the 20th century. It was a genre he came to view as all but extinct.</p> <p>“Serious music, like the church, is finished,” he declared to <em>The Plain Dealer</em>’s Wilma Salisbury in 1992, his words tinged with a measure of his trademark searing wit. “We don’t have an audience for serious music. My hope for the future is that we will have robots rather than audiences. They will be programmed when to applaud. If they don’t like the music, they will walk out and slam the door.”</p> <p>For many years, Hoffmann led annual student trips to Vienna, where they studied composition and analysis, German language at the Goethe Institute, and visited the graves of masters including Beethoven, Mozart, and Brahms. Initially a Winter Term experience, the trips were expanded by Hoffmann to unfold over a semester, in response to his concern that a period of several weeks was simply not enough time for such immersive study.</p> <p>“I take the students to Vienna not only for book knowledge, but to get them closer to what music can be,” he told <em>The Plain Dealer</em>. “It’s a tremendous experience for them. It’s lots of fun for me to go back.” Hoffmann spoke to the newspaper from the posh apartment he called home each time he visited Vienna—the same apartment where Schoenberg developed his twelve-tone technique in the 1920s.</p> <p>Steven Cahn ’81, a former piano major at ��سԹ� and a professor of music theory at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, was among the students who took part in Hoffmann’s first Winter Term trip to Vienna, in January 1980.</p> <p>“That was a very powerful experience for me,” Cahn recalls. “For Richard to be in Vienna, it was always a very emotional experience for him, and we were all moved by the things he was moved by.” The trip nurtured Cahn’s own love of Schoenberg, whose music he performed on his senior recital at ��سԹ�, with guidance from Hoffmann.</p> <p>“From my cohort, there was a great feeling that Richard did a tremendous amount for us and helped everyone in very meaningful ways,” Cahn says. “He was quite exceptional in caring for his students.”</p> <p>A self-described maverick, Hoffmann expressed no patience for his colleagues who composed minimalist music, or for those whom he felt harbored insufficient knowledge of the repertoire. He also railed against the incursion of financial factors on the creative process.</p> <p>“I only write music if I want to,” he said in 1992, in reference to the premiere of one of his works for the Cleveland Chamber Symphony. “I am not interested in writing commissioned pieces for money.” Hoffmann was absent from the premiere performance; he was teaching his ��سԹ� students in Vienna.</p> <p>For many years, Hoffmann provided an aesthetic counterpoint to his ��سԹ� composition colleague Randolph Coleman, an acolyte of John Cage who—unlike Hoffmann’s emphasis on craft—embraced extended discourse about musical concepts and experimentalism. Despite their contrasts, the two composers maintained a deep respect for one another and shared an open-mindedness toward the approaches favored by their students—among them Pulitzer Prize-winner Christopher Rouse ’71, who studied with both professors.</p> <p>In addition to his early teaching at UCLA and his half-century career at ��سԹ�, Hoffmann was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley (1965-66), Victoria University (1968), Harvard University (1970), the University of Iowa (1976), and Vienna University (1984). His numerous honors included a Fromm Music Foundation commission (1960), faculty membership in Pi Kappa Lambda (1960), and recognition by the National Institute of Arts and Letters (1966).</p> <p>Hoffmann retired from ��سԹ� in 2004, his tenure matching that of influential composition and organ professor George Whitfield Andrews (1883-1932) as the longest in the conservatory’s 155-year history. In retirement, Hoffmann continued to live less than a mile away from campus, in the home he had built in 1964 almost entirely out of aluminum, from its heavily insulated walls to its bathroom cabinets. The design dovetailed with his long-held fascination with Europe’s influential architecture trends of the 1920s and ’30s.</p> <p>Despite the close proximity, his interactions with the conservatory were few. He contented himself with regular lunches in downtown ��سԹ� with his contemporaries, a revolving cast that invariably included Coleman and Emeritus Professor of Conducting John Knight. To others, they represented a window into the very history of music itself.</p> <p>“Richard’s students saw him as an authentic connection to the world of modern Europe—its aesthetics and ethics—and as someone who could see through facades and get to the essence of things,” says Cahn.</p> <p>Not even Hoffmann himself was spared. “When he turned 90,” Cahn adds, “my wife asked him how he came by all this energy he had, to which he responded: 'It’s all fake.'”</p> <p>Hoffmann died June 24, 2021. He was 96. He is survived by a son, Peter, and by a daughter, Anna, ��سԹ� Conservatory’s longtime manager of Summer Programs. He was preceded in death by his wife and his son Paul.</p> <p>Hoffmann's archive of letters, musical scores, recordings, and other communications will be housed at the <a href="https://exilarte.org/en">Exilarte Center</a> in Vienna.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Fifty-year teaching career at ��سԹ� included annual student trips to his native Vienna.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2021-07-15T12:00:00Z">Thu, 07/15/2021 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3341">Conservatory Faculty</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2412">Obituaries</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=33331">Composition</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=28876">Music Theory</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/contemporary-music" hreflang="und">Contemporary Music</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/music-theory" hreflang="und">Music Theory</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">courtesy ��سԹ� College Archives</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Norm Craig '53, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, Dies at 89</h1> <p>anagy — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 21:39:13 +0000</p> <span>Norm Craig '53, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, Dies at 89</span> <span><span>anagy</span></span> <span><time datetime="2021-03-09T16:39:13-05:00" title="Tuesday, March 9, 2021 - 16:39">Tue, 03/09/2021 - 16:39</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Norman Castleman Craig (OC '53) was born in Washington, D.C. on November 12, 1931 to David Norman Craig (OC M.A. ′23) and Frances Castleman Craig. He arrived at ��سԹ� College in the fall of 1949. In 1953 he graduated at the top of his class with a major in chemistry. While a student at ��سԹ�, he met his future wife, Ann Williams (OC ′55). They were married in 1955. Upon completing his Ph.D. in physical chemistry at Harvard with George Kistiakowski in 1957, he returned to ��سԹ� and served on the faculty for 43 years until his formal retirement in 2000. As professor emeritus, he continued to teach, guide student research, and sustain multiple international collaborations, in a very productive second phase of his career. Norm’s work at ��سԹ�, spanning 63 years, resulted in over 150 publications, with many featuring ��سԹ� undergraduates as coauthors.</p> <p>Norm taught chemistry to generations of ��سԹ� students. His expansive portfolio included courses in general chemistry, physical chemistry, analytical chemistry, and organic chemistry. He pioneered a course in environmental chemistry, which was adopted nationally and is now a staple of current offerings. His love of thermodynamics led him to write <em>Entropy Analysis</em>, an uncommon and rigorous introductory text to the subject. It is still in use today. In any subject he taught, Norm’s style was grounded in clarity, organization, and rigor. A constant innovator, he experimented with new pedagogies and embraced new instructional technologies. His passion for demonstrations led to him incorporating “Demo-a-Day” in his classes. He treated his classes and his time with students as sacrosanct. As a teacher and advisor, he was demanding, yet he honored his students at every turn. Over the decades, countless alumni have attributed some of their best learning experiences to his dedicated advising and teaching. When the College established teaching awards in 1998, Norm was the first recipient in the natural sciences division.</p> <p>Norm established a world-class research program in the synthesis and molecular spectroscopy of small organic molecules, all of it involving ��سԹ� undergraduates. He and his students invented new methods to synthesize isotopically labeled compounds for analysis. High-resolution vibrational and rotational spectra of these molecules, done locally and via multiple collaborations, combined with high-level numerical computation, led to structures of unprecedented accuracy. The element fluorine figured prominently in his research, and he always made it a point to pronounce “fluorine” with added gusto. In the 1960s, Norm helped establish a tradition of undergraduate research, making the ��سԹ� Chemistry Department one of the earliest adopters of this practice among liberal arts colleges. Along with his colleagues, Norm <a href="https://www2.oberlin.edu/alummag/spring2010/features/scientific.html">spearheaded efforts</a> to bring state-of-the-art instrumentation to ��سԹ�, giving students hands-on experience. Support from the College and external agencies enabled teaching leaves at Princeton and in China, as well as research leaves at the University of Minnesota, University of California at Berkeley, the NIH, and in Germany. </p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-left"> <figcaption>Courtesy of the Craig family.</figcaption> </figure> <p>Norm’s achievements were recognized with several national awards. In 1987, he received the Chemical Manufacturers Association Catalyst Award for Excellence in Teaching Chemistry. In 1996, he was given the American Chemical Society (ACS) Award for Research at an Undergraduate Institution. He is one of only two people to have won both awards. In 2010, he was selected to be in the first group of ACS Fellows, recognized for their outstanding contributions to science, the profession, and the Society. In 2010, he was awarded the Morley Medal by the Cleveland Section of the ACS for his body of research, the only person from a liberal arts college to have achieved this honor.</p> <p>Norm’s time on the faculty involved extensive service, including multiple stints as department chair and on elected faculty committees, and as associate dean. He was associated with ��سԹ� Shansi for many years, also as the chair of its board of trustees, himself hosting several visiting scholars from India. Norm was also a keen chronicler of ��سԹ� history. He documented in detail Charles Martin Hall’s discovery of the electrolytic process of isolating aluminum from ore, recreating Hall’s experiments at the centennial celebration, and he spearheaded efforts to establish ��سԹ� as an ACS National Historic Chemical Landmark for Hall’s discovery. For his historical research he received the 2010 Heritage Guardian Award from the ��سԹ� Heritage Center. Norm served on national committees and panels, which had a wide impact on chemistry research and education in the United States. These included the ACS Committee on Professional Training, the Advisory Board of the Petroleum Research Fund of the ACS, Project Kaleidoscope, Mathematical Association of America’s Committee on the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics, NSF Science Education Directorate panel, and many more.</p> <p>Humble and self-effacing, but never shy to voice his reasoned point of view, Norm sought opportunities to promote the accomplishments of alumni and colleagues. He and Ann were tireless fundraisers for ��سԹ� College and generous donors themselves. Norm directed prize monies from his awards to strengthen various initiatives in the chemistry department and at the College. He cherished connections with former students, exchanging thousands of letters and emails over the years. Alumni showed appreciation for his devotion through donations that led to the Science Center’s Craig Lecture Hall, and the Ann Williams Craig ′55 and Norman C. Craig ′53 Lobby. The Alumni Association awarded him the Alumni Medal in 2002. Within the science division, Norm was a <a href="https://www2.oberlin.edu/alummag/spring2010/we.html#shoes">mentor to younger faculty,</a> generous with his time, gentle feedback, and thoughtful advice. Norm’s was an alert presence in the front row of seminars, and his office door was always open. Both are apt metaphors for the engaged commitment he brought to every endeavor and the kindness with which he gave of himself.</p> <p>Norm and Ann were active, concerned citizens, thoroughly embedded in their ��سԹ� community. Both were longtime members of First Church in ��سԹ�, UCC, where Norm was best known as a member and chair of the Stewardship Committee. Norm’s passion for scientific discovery was a natural outgrowth of his faith. The Craigs were patrons of the arts, with their sustained generosity to programs at the College and in Lorain County. A tireless advocate for free and fair elections, Norm was politically active as a local precinct leader, a participant in candidate town halls and in voter registration drives, often serving as a poll observer on Election Day.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-left"> <figcaption>Ann and Norm Craig. Courtesy of the Craig family.</figcaption> </figure> <p>An avid baseball fan, Norm was fiercely competitive on the softball diamond at the annual spring departmental softball games. He was also an avid skipper, who could be found racing his 18-foot Interlake sailboat on Lake Erie in the summers. He often invited students and colleagues to join him sailing, which usually ended in an ice cream treat at the local Baskin-Robbins, with pistachio almond fudge his favorite choice.</p> <p>Norm is survived by his wife, Ann, his sister, Elizabeth Tabbutt (OC ′55), his three children, Julie Lautens (Ralph Harding), Mary Craig (OC ′86) (Markus Vodosek), David Craig (OC ′87) (Jocelyn Sisson), five grandchildren: Margot Lautens (Kris), Nathan Lautens, Miriam Vodosek, and Claudia and Eliza Craig, as well as members of the extended Williams and Tabbutt families. He is preceded in death by his grandson, Simon Vodosek. The family are deeply grateful to the many staff at Kendal in ��سԹ� who supported Norm and Ann through their respective health challenges over the last few years. A proud ��سԹ�ian, dedicated husband, caring father, “teacher’s teacher,” world-class scholar, conscientious mentor, citizen activist, trusted colleague, and mensch, Norm leaves behind a towering legacy that will serve to inspire future generations of ��سԹ�ians. </p> <p>A memorial service is being planned, which will be announced soon. The Craig family welcomes your remembrances of Professor Craig. Please submit your memories to <a href="mailto:communications@oberlin.edu">communications@oberlin.edu</a> and we will share with the Craig family upon receipt.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Craig taught chemistry to generations of ��سԹ� students and embodied ��سԹ�’s ideals.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2021-03-09T12:00:00Z">Tue, 03/09/2021 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Manish Mehta and Julie Craig Lautens</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Norman Craig ′53 died on Sunday, March 7, 2021 at Kendal at ��سԹ�, in the presence of family. He was 89. Known as “Mr. Craig” to his students and “Norm” to his friends and colleagues, he was the embodiment of ��سԹ�’s ideals.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2414">Faculty</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2412">Obituaries</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25306">Chemistry</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/chemistry-biochemistry" hreflang="und">Chemistry and Biochemistry</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">From left, David Evans '63, Chuck Jonah ’65, Gene Switkes '65, and Norm Craig '53.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Courtesy of 1963 graduates David and Sally Evans</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Stanley Cowell ’62, Jazz Pianist, Composer, and Educator, Dies at 79</h1> <p>eburnett — Sun, 20 Dec 2020 20:20:08 +0000</p> <span>Stanley Cowell ’62, Jazz Pianist, Composer, and Educator, Dies at 79</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2020-12-20T15:20:08-05:00" title="Sunday, December 20, 2020 - 15:20">Sun, 12/20/2020 - 15:20</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Stanley Cowell was a groundbreaking jazz pianist who played alongside a slew of legendary musicians and appeared on more than 30 recordings, a handful of them on the influential independent label he co-founded. An avid performer on the New York City scene as a young man, he ultimately dedicated his career to teaching and composing in a wide array of styles. Cowell’s contributions are considered underrated by many jazz insiders, in part because of his retreat from live performance during some of the most fertile years of his career.</p> <p>Cowell returned to the stage in the final decade of his life, reveling in the dream-come-true of a weeklong residency at New York City’s famed Village Vanguard in 2015 and performing his suite <em>Juneteenth</em> with an ensemble of strings, voice, and percussion at An Die Musik Live in Baltimore in 2019.</p> <p>Cowell died December 17, 2020, at his home in Camden, Delaware. He leaves his wife Sylvia and two daughters.</p> <p>“On behalf of the ��سԹ� Conservatory community, I extend my deepest condolences to Mr. Cowell’s family, friends, and loved ones," says Dean of the Conservatory William Quillen. "Stanley Cowell was a towering figure in the history of jazz, and the history of 20th- and 21st-century music more broadly. As a composer, performer, and thinker, his contributions shaped contemporary musical life in profound and lasting ways, and we join with colleagues around the globe in celebrating his life and honoring his memory.”</p> <p>A native of Toledo, Ohio, Cowell was raised the son of a businessman who operated the city’s first motel, which also included a record store and grill. By the time he was 6, young Stanley intersected for the first time with piano great Art Tatum, a family friend who also called Toledo home. By then two years into his own piano studies, Cowell traded turns at the keyboard when Tatum visited their home.</p> <p>Cowell earned a rich and varied education grounded in classical piano and composition. At ��سԹ�, he was a student of the legendary piano teacher Emil Danenberg at a time when jazz existed at the far fringes of the conservatory. During his ��سԹ� years, Cowell also had the formative experience of performing with jazz multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk. He earned a master’s degree in piano performance at the University of Michigan and pursued additional studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the University of Wichita, and the University of Southern California.</p> <p>By 1966, Cowell relocated to New York City and began gigging in the bands of free-jazz saxophonist Marion Brown, drummer Max Roach, saxophonist Stan Getz, and vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson. In 1969 he struck out on his own with the album <em>Blues for the Viet Cong</em> (Polydor), which featured seven Cowell originals—one of which he had written before beginning his studies at ��سԹ�—and a take on the Rodgers and Hart tune “You Took Advantage of Me,” an interpretation heavily influenced by Tatum, who had played it in the Cowell household years earlier. The album was hailed for its surprising power, especially in light of Cowell’s still-tender age.</p> <p>A pioneer in the realm of 1970s post-bop, Cowell played in numerous ensembles during that period. Most notable among them was the Piano Choir, which boasted a lineup of seven pianists and released its first two albums—<em>Handscapes</em> (1972) and <em>Handscapes 2</em> (1974)—on Strata-East, the label Cowell started with his longtime friend and collaborator, trumpeter Charles Tolliver, with whom he also created the band Music Inc. Strata-East was also home to Cowell’s first solo piano album, <em>Musa: Ancestral Streams</em> (1973).</p> <p>At the height of his creative powers, Cowell mostly stepped away from the live concert scene—averse as he was to the smoke-filled rooms of the era—and turned his attention to teaching at Amherst College, Lehman College at the City University of New York, New England Conservatory, and finally Rutgers University.</p> <p>With his 2013 retirement, he found himself reinvigorated to perform and write—for chamber ensembles, orchestras, and choirs, and branching increasingly into electroacoustic sounds. During an acclaimed weeklong stint at the Village Vanguard in 2015, he filtered his acoustic piano through Kyma, a system used to digitally manipulate sound. It represented the latest innovation in a career marked by it.</p> <p>In October 2019, Cowell helped christen the new Keystone Korner, a Baltimore club opened by jazz impresario and NEA Jazz Master Todd Barkan ’68 and modeled after the San Francisco club of the same name, which thrived from the early 1970s until 1983. A recording of the performance, which featured an all-star lineup of performers—including Cowell’s own vocalist daughter, Sunny—was released on Steeplechase Records this fall.</p> <p>Over the course of Cowell’s career, his numerous collaborators included Tolliver—his best friend for more than 50 years—as well as drummer Max Roach, trumpeter Miles Davis, poet Gil Scott-Heron, and saxophonists Sonny Rollins, Clifford Jordan, Stan Getz, and <a href="/node/7076">Gary Bartz</a>, a longtime professor at ��سԹ�. For 10 years, Cowell was also a member of the Heath Brothers.</p> <p>When ��سԹ� celebrated the opening of the Bertram and Judith Kohl Building—the home of <a href="/node/3231">Jazz Studies</a> at the conservatory—in 2010, Cowell was on hand for the gala celebration. He strode onto the Finney Chapel stage, unannounced, and took a seat at the Steinway next to Stevie Wonder, with whom he played duets—with Wonder on harmonica—for some 45 minutes.</p> <p>��سԹ� guitar professor <a href="/node/6686">Bobby Ferrazza</a> will remember the moment—and the man—forever.</p> <p>“Stanley was an extremely kind, thoughtful person,” recalls Ferrazza, the longtime director of Jazz Studies. “We once had a conversation about the details of some of J.J. Johnson's music, and Stanley subsequently sent me one of J.J.'s lead sheets. He was a great musician and a truly thoughtful one.”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-12-20T12:00:00Z">Sun, 12/20/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Inventive performer played with numerous greats, dedicated himself to teaching in mid-career.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2412">Obituaries</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=29541">Piano</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/gary-bartz" hreflang="und">Gary Bartz</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/keyboard-studies" hreflang="und">Keyboard Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/jazz-studies" hreflang="und">Jazz Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Stanley Cowell in concert with the Heath Brothers at Rockefeller Center in June 1977.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tom Marcello/courtesy Wikimedia Commons</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Gene Young ’60, Former ��سԹ� Trumpet Professor, Dies at 79</h1> <p>eburnett — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 14:22:56 +0000</p> <span>Gene Young ’60, Former ��سԹ� Trumpet Professor, Dies at 79</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2021-07-23T10:22:56-04:00" title="Friday, July 23, 2021 - 10:22">Fri, 07/23/2021 - 10:22</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Six years after graduating from ��سԹ� Conservatory, Gene Young ’60 returned to his alma mater to teach trumpet. By the time he moved on from ��سԹ� 13 years later, his impact on students had spread beyond the brass section.</p> <p>Young left to indulge his passion for conducting—first at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, then at the Peabody Institute, where his love of new music found a vehicle in the Peabody Camerata, the ensemble he founded in 1987 and directed for many years.</p> <p>Young died June 19, 2018, in Coventry, Connecticut. He is remembered by former students and colleagues as an exacting and intense conductor, who prepared his scores with great precision—often memorizing them—and who nurtured his musicians with consistent waves of encouragement and praise. He was revered for his broad knowledge of orchestral repertoire, whether it was 200 years old or two.</p> <p>“Gene was way beyond comparison when it came to his talents as a conductor,” longtime friend Charlie Schlueter, retired principal trumpet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, wrote of Young in 2020. “His knowledge of repertoire was astounding, not only of standard orchestral literature, but particularly 20th- and 21st-century composers. His understanding and ability to convey the essence of those works not only to his trumpet students at ��سԹ�, but to all the young musicians he conducted…was beyond measure.”</p> <p>Born and raised in Middletown, Ohio, Young studied trumpet, piano, and conducting at ��سԹ�, including a junior year at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, as part of the conservatory’s study-abroad program. While still a student, he took part in the American Wind Symphony Orchestra’s inaugural season in 1957, and he continued to perform in its trumpet section—on tours along Pennsylvania’s Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers—for several years afterward.</p> <p>Young married Elizabeth Esterquest ’60 in October 1960, and together they raised three sons. He served in the U.S. Army from 1962 to ’65, performing in the West Point Band while taking lessons with New York Philharmonic principal trumpet William Vacchiano, a legendary performer and a key influence in Young’s decision to turn to teaching.</p> <p>Returning to ��سԹ� to join the faculty in 1966, Young directed the ��سԹ� Wind Ensemble and was principal conductor of the conservatory’s New Directions program, through which he brought a long list of acclaimed composers to campus, among them Milton Babbitt, Morton Feldman, Olivier Messiaen, and Iannis Xenakis.</p> <p>His trumpet pedagogy emphasized mastery of fundamentals—and especially proper embouchure, or lip placement, which is essential for preventing injury and for hitting the instrument’s highest notes. He authored a well-respected book on the subject, <em>Embouchure Enlightenment</em> (Tromba Publications), in addition to a tome titled <em>The Trumpets of Edgard Varése</em> (E.C. Kerby).</p> <p>After ��سԹ�, Young joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and founded its Contemporary Chamber Orchestra soon after. He returned to the American Wind Symphony Orchestra as assistant conductor for its 1983 tour of maritime performances from the Texas-Mexico border to the East Coast to the Great Lakes.</p> <p>Young transitioned once again in 1984, to the faculty of Peabody, where he formed the Peabody Camerata and the Peabody Institute Chamber Orchestra, and also directed the Peabody Youth Orchestra for many years.</p> <p>“I remember Gene Young as an intelligent, gifted musician and conductor,” Joseph Schwartz, a former longtime piano professor at ��سԹ�, wrote in 2019. “We were sorry to see him leave, but were glad that he found a wonderful position at Peabody.”</p> <p>From 1988 to 1997, Young conducted New York City’s historic Goldman Memorial Band at Lincoln Center. He also taught at the Hartt School at the University of Hartford, the University of Connecticut, New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, the Eastman School of Music, and the Tanglewood Festival. His trumpet students secured positions in major orchestras across the U.S. and around the world, including the symphonies of Boston, Seattle, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Sydney, Australia.</p> <p>“Gene Young was that true rarity amongst musicians...someone with an authentic passion and gift for the music of his time,” pianist and Peabody professor Leon Fleisher once said of his colleague in Baltimore.</p> <p>As a performer, Young began his career with the New Orleans Philharmonic, later serving as principal trumpet of the St. Louis Sinfonietta, the Mobile (Alabama) Symphony Orchestra, and the American Wind Symphony Orchestra, and performing with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra.</p> <p>He appeared as a performer or conductor on numerous recordings, including those of two ��سԹ� composers: jazz studies professor Wendell Logan (<em>Proportions</em>, on the Orion label) and former composition professor Olly Wilson (<em>Piece for Four</em>, on CRI). He also wrote several works of his own, including the song cycle "Herb Songs" and two commissioned theater pieces, <em>Banish Evil from this Place</em> and <em>Englespiel</em>. Some of his works were premiered by the Peabody Camerata.</p> <p>Young returned to ��سԹ� as the Edgar Distinguished Visiting Artist in Conducting during the 1996-97 academic year, during which he conducted the Contemporary Music Ensemble and the ��سԹ� Wind Ensemble, and guest-conducted the ��سԹ� Orchestra. During that time, he also guided the development of Eighth Blackbird, the sextet made up of ��سԹ� students that went on to win multiple Grammy Awards.</p> <p>“Gene was an important force in the very early days of <a href="https://www.eighthblackbird.org/">Eighth Blackbird</a>, at a time when most of the group were still undergraduates at ��سԹ�, and our future was entirely uncertain,” Eighth Blackbird founding cellist Nicholas Photinos ’96 wrote in 2019. “We were working on Schoenberg's First Chamber Symphony, and Gene was our coach, guide, and general encourager on that journey. It has been many years since then, and many years since we have seen Gene, but we remember him and his mentorship fondly.”</p> <p>Young is survived by his second wife, Linda Surridge, and his children.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Conservatory alum remembered for his enthusiasm and love of new music.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-09-16T12:00:00Z">Wed, 09/16/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2412">Obituaries</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=35616">Conducting</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/contemporary-music" hreflang="und">Contemporary Music</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">courtesy ��سԹ� College Archives</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Ryan Anthony, Trumpet Prodigy and Former ��سԹ� Faculty, Dies at 51</h1> <p>eburnett — Tue, 14 Jul 2020 21:00:48 +0000</p> <span>Ryan Anthony, Trumpet Prodigy and Former ��سԹ� Faculty, Dies at 51</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2020-07-14T17:00:48-04:00" title="Tuesday, July 14, 2020 - 17:00">Tue, 07/14/2020 - 17:00</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>“There must be other trumpeters in this world as fine as Ryan Anthony,” <em>Fanfare</em> magazine once proclaimed while his career was still near its infancy. “But you’d never think so while listening to him play.”</p> <p>Anthony was a child prodigy whose unbridled glee and unfaltering humility remained ever-present throughout a brilliant career that started with a two-year stint as an assistant professor at ��سԹ� Conservatory.</p> <p>He emerged as a precocious performer in part by winning the <em>Seventeen</em> magazine/General Motors Concerto Competition at age 16. He went on to earn two degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music before launching his teaching career at ��سԹ� in 1998. A frequent performer on the conservatory’s faculty series and elsewhere, he was a member of Brass Odyssey, Burning River Brass, and numerous other ensembles.</p> <p>By summer 2000, Anthony was granted a leave from ��سԹ� so he could take up touring with the Canadian Brass, with which he performed for three years. In 2004 he joined the Dallas Symphony and rose to its principal position two years later. While performing in Dallas, he also taught at Southern Methodist University and served for a time as chair of its winds, brass, and percussion department.</p> <p>While holding down his roles in Dallas, Anthony also appeared as principal trumpet with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the symphonies of Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Colorado, and in the sections of the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra, among other renowned orchestras.</p> <p>Through it all, he was universally hailed for his bold and beautiful sound, as well as his gentle nature.</p> <p>“What I remember most of Ryan was his ease and love of playing,” recalls former ��سԹ� trumpet major Kyle Lane ’99, general manager of the Charleston Symphony and a member of the Holy City Brass. “I always tried to get him to play so I could hear how he did things. He was a very natural player, and I remember him smiling whenever he performed.”</p> <p>In 2012 Anthony began treatment for multiple myeloma, a rare cancer of the blood that led to him enduring painful procedures and countless hospital visits for the next eight years. He continued to teach and perform with the Dallas Symphony whenever his illness permitted; by June 2019, when he revealed he would no longer be able to play, he was named principal trumpet emeritus. That same month, he was honored by the International Trumpet Guild.</p> <p>As cancer ravaged his body, Anthony’s spirit continued to shine through—most notably through his increasing role in fundraising for cancer research, initially through a foundation that bears his name and soon after with a series of concerts, dubbed “CancerBlows,” that featured performances by orchestra friends and trumpet luminaries such as Arturo Sandoval and Doc Severinsen. Anthony was honored by the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation with its Spirit of Hope award in 2016 and its Courage and Commitment award the following year.</p> <p>He died June 23, 2020, leaving his wife Niki and two children.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-07-14T12:00:00Z">Tue, 07/14/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Electrifying performer appeared with major orchestras across America.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2597">Faculty and Staff</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2412">Obituaries</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Reve Arts Management</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Christine Haff-Paluck, Former Ensembles Manager and Librarian, Dies at 65</h1> <p>eburnett — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 13:11:26 +0000</p> <span>Christine Haff-Paluck, Former Ensembles Manager and Librarian, Dies at 65</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2020-08-18T09:11:26-04:00" title="Tuesday, August 18, 2020 - 09:11">Tue, 08/18/2020 - 09:11</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A pure love of music—especially mentoring young musicians and presenting concerts that stoked their interest—fueled the work and the life of Christine Haff-Paluck for more than 40 years.</p> <p>She served from 2003 to 2008 as ensembles manager and librarian at ��سԹ� Conservatory, a position through which she worked closely with students. She later transitioned to similar roles with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she was director of performance and community programs. In 1991 she founded the nonprofit Arts Renaissance Tremont in the historic Cleveland neighborhood and continued to be a driving force in its presentation of free community concerts for almost 30 years.</p> <p>Through it all, she inadvertently cultivated the reputation of a selfless promoter of music and musicians, shying away at every turn from attention for herself.</p> <p>“Chris’ commitment to music in our community was extraordinary,” <a href="/node/6946">Darrett Adkins</a>, an associate professor of cello at ��سԹ�, expressed in one of dozens of heartfelt tributes shared in honor of Haff-Paluck on <a href="https://clevelandclassical.com/chris-haff-paluck-tributes/">Cleveland Classical</a>. “She believed that music mattered, and that people wanted and needed it in and of their own community. She served music and all of us with her characteristic good humor and her unwavering belief in young people and in the arts as living and breathing right here and now. She reminded us every day how music can be made right in our backyard, with limited resources, some hard work, and a lot of goodwill.”</p> <p>Haff-Paluck died April 25, 2020. She leaves her husband Gerald and many adoring family members and friends.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-05-28T12:00:00Z">Thu, 05/28/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Ardent music lover founded concert series in Cleveland.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2412">Obituaries</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Former Organ Curator John Leek Dies at 90</h1> <p>eburnett — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 19:54:57 +0000</p> <span>Former Organ Curator John Leek Dies at 90</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2020-08-17T15:54:57-04:00" title="Monday, August 17, 2020 - 15:54">Mon, 08/17/2020 - 15:54</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>John G.P. Leek was an organ craftsman in his native Netherlands before relocating to America, where he served for a dozen years as ��سԹ� Conservatory’s curator of organs and later launched the organ company that still bears his name.</p> <p>Born the youngest of 11 children, Leek was a cabinetmaker’s apprentice before his 10th birthday; by the time he turned 11, he was working in organ-building shops. He became an apprentice at the Bernard Pels & Sons Pipe Organ Co and rose to journeyman builder for several firms.</p> <p>Leek immigrated to America with his wife Maria in 1961 and accepted a position with the Walter Holtkamp Company in Cleveland, where he worked for three years. From 1964 to 1976, he served as curator of organs at ��سԹ�, caring for the instruments at a time when the conservatory overflowed with organ students.</p> <p>He left the conservatory to open the Leek Pipe Organ Co., which he operated until his retirement in 1992. After 39 years in its original location in ��سԹ�, the business moved to Berea, Ohio, in 2015. Leek remained a resident of ��سԹ� for many years and was active with Sacred Heart Catholic Church for a half-century.</p> <p>In a tribute to Leek written for <em>The Diapason</em> magazine, former organ student John Bishop ’78 recalled how he found himself gravitating away from a life of performance and toward his first love: Leek’s workshop, where he served as a student assistant.</p> <p>“My overwhelming memory of John was just how fun it was to be with him,” says Bishop, executive director of the Organ Clearing House in New York City. “He was perennially cheerful. And he taught me everything. His willingness to share what he knew and his pleasure in seeing me do something well was really important to me.”</p> <p>Leek died November 15, 2019, leaving his wife of 59 years, a daughter, two sons, and four grandchildren. His son James now helms the family business.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-05-15T12:00:00Z">Fri, 05/15/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Immigrant craftsman cared for ��سԹ�’s renowned collection, launched his own company.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2412">Obituaries</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=32966">Organ</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/keyboard-studies" hreflang="und">Keyboard Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">courtesy Leek family</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> </main></body></html>