Mission and Program

Founded in 1964, with the late American composer and Eastman School Director, Howard Hanson, as its first director, the Hanson Institute for American Music was created to promote the commissioning, recording, performance, study and preservation of works of American composers.

The Hanson Institute is directly affiliated with the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester. A senior board of advisors, the Institute Board of Directors, is appointed by the University Trustees on recommendations by the Dean of the Eastman School of Music, who serves as the permanent Director of the Institute.

The Hanson Institute Board and Director annually determine program priorities that benefit American composers and music composition, keeping in mind Hanson’s devotion to the Eastman School of Music. Programs include numerous commissions, support for scholarly publications from the University of Rochester Press, an Eastman student commissioning program and support for Eastman composition students’ special projects, support for the performance of new American music, publishing support for Eastman faculty composers and miscellaneous projects that the Board deems important to the field.