Roy Ernst, professor emeritus of music education, taught at Eastman for 25 years and chaired the music education department for 12 years. In 1991, Dr. Ernst started the first New Horizons Band at Eastman for the purpose of creating a model program emphasizing entry and reentry points to music making for older adults. Later, he…
Jon Engberg has enjoyed a long and prosperous affiliation with the Eastman School, beginning with undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral studies, and culminating in a career as Eastman’s associate director of academic affairs and associate dean of graduate studies from 1975 to 1995. Coming to Eastman in 1950 as a freshman cellist from Los Angeles, he…
Pianist José Echániz (1905-1969), a Cuban-born child prodigy, studied at the Falcon Conservatory in Havana, where he was awarded the title “professor of piano” at age 14. During the 1920s, he appeared at Carnegie Hall, toured U.S. cities, and appeared in Paris, The Hague, Amsterdam, and Madrid. During the 1930’s, he was a featured soloist…
Known for her artistic integrity and individuality, Jan DeGaetani (1933-1989) had one of the broadest repertoires of any vocalist, ranging from the Renaissance to Cole Porter. She inspired the creation of vocal works by composers such as George Crumb (who wrote his Ancient Voices of Children for her), Elliott Carter, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, William Schuman,…
Anne Theodora Cummins (1888-1977), who became the Eastman School’s first dean of women in 1922, was born in England and studied at the University of London, the Sorbonne, the University of Perugia, Harvard University, and Middlebury College. A member of the Eastman School’s humanities department from 1924-1953, she taught generations of students French and Italian.…
Called “an internationally renowned teacher and one of the most highly regarded organists of our time” by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Catherine Crozier studied organ at Eastman with Harold Gleason. Born in 1914, she earned her bachelor’s degree in 1936 and master’s degree in 1941, as well as both the Performer’s Certificate and the prestigious…
Born in 1924, David Craighead, professor emeritus of organ and former chair of the Eastman organ division of the keyboard department, received a bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In his last year at Curtis, Mr. Craighead joined the faculty of the Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. Following his…
John Celentano, distinguished professor emeritus of chamber music, received his bachelor’s degree with Performer’s Certificate from Eastman in 1937, and his master’s degree in 1941. He also studied in Milan and New York City. Born in Montreal in 1912, Mr. Celentano served in the United States Army and Air Force from 1942 to 1944. During…
Abram Boone (1907-2000) served on the Eastman string faculty as a senior instructor of violin and viola for 26 years, from 1947 to 1973. After earning a bachelor of music degree from the School in 1929, he worked for Bausch & Lomb in Rochester during World War II and began his Eastman teaching career in…
A professional performer by the age of 14, Warren Benson (1924-2005) played timpani in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Ormandy, Reiner, Goossens, Bernstein, and others while an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. He also was the percussion instructor there during his freshman year, 1943. From 1950-1952, Mr. Benson was awarded two successive Fulbright grants…