Celebrating EWE’s first foreign tour
August 16, 2021Exhibit displayed on the 2nd floor of Sibley Music Library, fall 2018–summer 2021; curated by David Peter Coppen.
First presented on the occasion of the 2018 Meliora Weekend at Eastman, when Eastman recognized the alumni of the classes of 1968 and 1978, this display recalls the East Asian tour undertaken by the Eastman Wind Ensemble in May and June of 1978, marking the EWE’s first concert engagements abroad.
The tour featured 25 concerts in five countries and the colony of Hong Kong, included public appearances and visits with music students in numerous cities, and yielded another commercial recording for the EWE’s discography: the live album Eastman Wind Ensemble in Japan, released by Toshiba Records.
Recounting the tour to the ESM Archivist in the fall of 2021, Dr. Hunsberger described the venture as a landmark, one that represented the culmination of all that the EWE had been doing in the 16 years following the end of Frederick Fennell’s EWE tenure. Further, the 1978 tour looked ahead to the Asian tours made regularly by the EWE between the years 1990 and 2002.
On Display
Letter from Eastman director Robert Freeman that was sent to the forty members of the EWE selected for the 1978 EWE tour. On the tour, students were accompanied by conductor Donald Hunsberger and associate conductor Rayburn Wright.
Letter from Eastman director Robert Freeman that was sent to the forty members of the EWE selected for the 1978 EWE tour. On the tour, students were accompanied by conductor Donald Hunsberger and associate conductor Rayburn Wright.
Concert schedule for the first phase of the tour, which comprised a three-week tour of Japan under the auspices of one of Japan’s most prestigious concert bureaus, the Kambara Music Office, Ltd.
Concert schedule for the first phase of the tour, which comprised a three-week tour of Japan under the auspices of one of Japan’s most prestigious concert bureaus, the Kambara Music Office, Ltd.
Concert schedule for the second three-week phase of the tour, which was a tour of Hong Kong, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and South Korea under the auspices of the International Exchange Branch of the US Department of State.
Concert schedule for the second three-week phase of the tour, which was a tour of Hong Kong, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and South Korea under the auspices of the International Exchange Branch of the US Department of State.
Five concert programs were developed for the tour. Included were representative American works, music by Eastman-affiliated composers, selected compositions by Japanese composers, and selected arrangements for wind ensemble by Donald Hunsberger. Professor Wright conducted the EWE in his original compositions Japanese Folk-Song Fantasy, composed expressly for the tour, and Verberations. The manuscript scores and parts of both works are archived in the Rayburn Wright Collection at the Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections Department of the Sibley Music Library.
Five concert programs were developed for the tour. Included were representative American works, music by Eastman-affiliated composers, selected compositions by Japanese composers, and selected arrangements for wind ensemble by Donald Hunsberger. Professor Wright conducted the EWE in his original compositions Japanese Folk-Song Fantasy, composed expressly for the tour, and Verberations. The manuscript scores and parts of both works are archived in the Rayburn Wright Collection at the Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections Department of the Sibley Music Library.
In preparation for the tour, the US Department of State’s background notes on the various countries were made available to Dr. Hunsberger and EWE members
In preparation for the tour, the US Department of State’s background notes on the various countries were made available to Dr. Hunsberger and EWE members
Equator Certificates received courtesy of Gardua Indonesian Airways in recognition of a passenger’s having crossed the equator by air. While such mementoes might seem quaint nowadays, it’s well to remember that in 1978, trans-Pacific commercial jet travel had been around for less than two decades.
Equator Certificates received courtesy of Gardua Indonesian Airways in recognition of a passenger’s having crossed the equator by air. While such mementoes might seem quaint nowadays, it’s well to remember that in 1978, trans-Pacific commercial jet travel had been around for less than two decades.
![Donald Hunsberger with the Eastman Wind Ensemble during a performance at Tokyo Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan [concert hall], June 4th, 1978](https://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/files/15-Ensemble-photo-710x454.jpg "Donald Hunsberger with the Eastman Wind Ensemble during a performance at Tokyo Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan [concert hall], June 4th, 1978")
The tour also yielded a two-disc commercial recording, Eastman Wind Ensemble in Japan, which was released in Japan by Toshiba Records, and which marked the EWE’s first commercial recording captured live in concert.
The tour also yielded a two-disc commercial recording, Eastman Wind Ensemble in Japan, which was released in Japan by Toshiba Records, and which marked the EWE’s first commercial recording captured live in concert.
Dr. Hunsberger’s impressions of the EWE’s three-week experience in Japan. Significantly, he comments on the two-disc LP recording that was released by Toshiba Records, marking the EWE’s first live-performance commercial recording.
Dr. Hunsberger’s impressions of the EWE’s three-week experience in Japan. Significantly, he comments on the two-disc LP recording that was released by Toshiba Records, marking the EWE’s first live-performance commercial recording.
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For further information, please inquire at the Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections department. Grateful thanks are hereby extended to Dr. Donald Hunsberger and to Professor George Sakakeeny for graciously making available documents from their personal collections.