Welcome to our Alumni News Highlights page!

This page consists of some of the many activities and accomplishments of our former students from the college division. The information on these pages has been submitted directly to us by individual alumni and/or their publicity representatives.

These listings are organized under the last year each alumnus/na attended the School and shows the degree program(s) in which they were enrolled. There is also a section honoring the memory of those alumni and faculty who have passed away in the last few years (In Memoriam).

1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s

In Memoriam


Send us news: Alumni should submit and share their Class Notes with other alumni through our new Online Alumni Community; register now by clicking here.

Questions or corrections for this page, contact John Blanchard at jblanchard@msmnyc.edu


CLASSES OF 1950–1959

 

Roy Eaton (BM ’50 / MM ’52) has been performing selections from his latest solo piano CD, I Play for Peace, at New York venues this year. He also appeared on the Piano in the Park series in Bryant Park, performing works of Joplin, Chopin, and Gershwin. [added 01/11/13]

 

Dianne Danese Flagello (BM ’52 / MM ’52) oversaw the re-release of Nicolas Flagello’s Passion of Martin Luther King (1968), L’Ininito (1956), and The Land (1954) on the Naxos label. The recording features Nick’s brother Ezio Flagello as bass-baritone with the London Philharmonic and I Musici di Firenze with the composer conducting. Fanfare reported, "Throughout, the composer’s sense of musical and dramatic timing remains absolutely flawless.... This is music to live with and love, in performances of color and commitment.” [added 01/11/13]



 


CLASSES OF 1960–1969

 

Richard Elder Adams (MM ’61) has written his first play, The Treachery of Honesty, which will receive eight performances at The Birdcage Theater in Northern California this January. [added 01/11/13]

 

Lenard Bowie (MM ’63) has seen his book, entitled African American Musical Heritage 1600–Present, published by Xlibris. The 574-page resource includes six remastered CDs with 117 songs. Dr. Bowie is a member of the faculty at the University of North Florida. [added 01/11/13]

 

Capt. Kenneth Force, USMC (BM ’64 / MM ’65 / Professional Diploma ’70) was a featured speaker at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery this October for the unveiling of a restored gravesite for American composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Capt. Force had initiated the effort, which has been some fifteen years in the making. [added 01/11/13]





CLASSES OF 1970–1979

Elmar Oliveira (BM ’72) appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center this past spring, performing the solo part in Chausson’s Concerto in D for Violin, Piano and String Quartet and Saint-Saëns’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor. The New York Times reported that he “dexterously navigated both its bravura challenges and its more intimate moments.” [added 01/11/13]

 

Walter Simmons (BM ’72 / MM ’74) was executive reissue producer on the Naxos release of works by the late Nicolas Flagello. (See Flagello 1952 listing above.) [added 01/11/13]

 

Judy Blazer (BM ’77) was featured on the PBS Great Performances broadcast of The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater, a work by Michael Tilson Thomas. Blazer portrayed Thomas’s grandmother, Bessie, and fellow alumnus Shuler Hensley played her husband Boris. Photo Courtesy of Joshua Robison. [added 01/11/13]

Elinor Abrams Zayas (MM '78) appeared as pianist of the duo Cross Island, which she co-founded with cellist Suzanne Mueller, at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in New York. [added 01/11/13]

 

Caryn Block (BM’78) had her new dramatic song cycle—Long, Too Long America for soprano, baritone, and piano, written in commemoration of 9/11—performed in a vocal concert by singers of the Opera Project in Lambertville, New Jersey. Block’s new duo, Dionysus for marimba and cello, received a favorable review in the March 2012 issue of Percussive Notes. [added 01/11/13] 



 


CLASSES OF 1980–1989

Aaron Jay Kernis (BM ’81) has been awarded the Nemmers Composition Prize, a biannual award that comes with a residency at Northwestern University's School of Music and a commission by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. [added 01/11/13]

 

Peter Sanders (BM ’84) is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival, which he founded. The festival is featured in the March 2012 issue of Chamber Music Magazine. Photo by Harold Shapiro. [added 01/11/13]

 

Robert Losinno (undergraduate studies ’81-84) and Ian Burr (undergraduate studies ’74-76) performed the Danzi Concertino for clarinet and bassoon with the CVE Deerfield Symphony Orchestra in Deerfield Beach, Florida. [added 01/11/13]

 

Lynn Marie Delmato (BM '84 / MM '85) toured as keyboardist with the heavy-metal rock band Virgin Steele in New York, Argentina, Brazil, and throughout Europe. This June she appears on a re-issued recording entitled Life Among the Ruins by the same band. [added 01/11/13]

 

Richard Sussman (MM ’85) has co-authored the book Jazz Composition and Arranging In the Digital Age, with Michael Abene, which has been published by Oxford University Press. Sussman is heard playing piano and synthesizer on a new jazz quintet CD, released in June on Origin Records, which also features Randy Brecker, Jerry Bergonzi, Mike Richmond, and Jeff Williams. Sussman composed and arranged most of the tunes. [added 01/11/13]

 

Chris Hajian (BM ’87) wrote the musical score for the documentary Unraveled about Ponzi schemer Mark Dreier, which premiered at the NYC Film Festival this past spring. He also wrote the soundtrack for First Position, about the Youth America Grand Prix ballet competition. [added 01/11/13]

 

Tian Jiang (BM ’87) was presented by the Foundation for the Revival of Classical Culture in a solo recital at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall this past May. The concert, billed as “From Mao To Mozart To Stern,” commemorates Isaac Stern’s momentous 1979 visit to China and honors Mr. Stern, who sponsored a young Tian Jiang’s move to the U.S. to study Western classical music. Photo by Peter Schaaf. [added 01/11/13]

 

Susan LaFever (PS ’89) appeared at the International Horn Symposium at the University of North Texas this past May as hornist of the Zinkali Trio, performing the world premiere of a work by Adrienne Albert. [added 01/11/13]



 


CLASSES OF 1990–1999

 

Gila Goldstein (MM ’90) appeared as soloist this past March as part of New York City's Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church Concert Series. The New York Concert Review wrote: “Goldstein gave one of the finest accounts I can recall of Bach Partita in E minor… Liszt's Vallee d’Obermann was given great loving attention to detail in the gentler sections and a bold approach in the octave fusillades… such abounding excellence.” [added 01/11/13]

 

Shuler Hensley (BM ’90) is starring in Samuel D. Hunter’s new play The Whale at Playwrights Horizons. He also starred on the PBS broadcast of The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater this past spring (see Blazer 1974 listing above). [added 01/11/13]

 

Robert Cassidy (MM ’92) has seen the recent release of a CD on the Albany Records label, which includes works by Debussy, Mozart, and David Noon. [added 01/11/13]

 

Gary S. Press (MM ’92) has joined the American International Group as a Senior Analyst in the Executive Leadership Development team. [added 01/11/13]

 

Gregor Huebner (MM ’96) performed his Violin Concerto in New York with conductor Dong-Hyun Kim and the Nova Philharmonic. Other appearances this past spring include Theaterhaus Jazzstage in Stuttgart with Richie Beirach and Uri Caine; Tribeca New Music Festival at Merkin Concert Hall; New York’s The Jazz Gallery; and concerts in Germany with the Sirius Quartet. [added 01/11/13]

 

Hsia-Jung Chang (DMA ’97) has seen her recent recording of the piano works of Claude Debussy receive critical acclaim in the U.S. and abroad, including Marvin J. Ward of CVNC, who writes: “Hsia-Jung Chang channels Debussy. . . this recording easily places itself among the best interpretations, those that serve as benchmarks for Debussy's sound world.” [added 01/11/13]

 

Scott Dunn (MM ’97) has appeared recently as conductor of the Atlanta Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, among others. He conducted Vernon Duke’s Orphic Trilogy in Russia with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and gave the West Coast premiere of Phillip Glass’s rarely heard Another Look at Harmony Part IV. The LA Times wrote that Scott Dunn “conducted almost as if he were in the trance of sacred Bruckner. The final, ecstatic section was pure rapture.” He also led a Hollywood Bowl tribute to Serge Gainsbourg. [added 01/11/13]

 

Heather Johnson (MM ’97) sang the title role in Holst’s one-act opera Savitri with the Little Opera Theater of New York this past May. The New York Times wrote: “Savitri is given impassioned, ‘Liebestod’-like monologues that the mezzo-soprano Heather Johnson sang with penetrating power and natural phrasing… her eyes were haunted and her performance was both grand and intimate, in the best Wagnerian tradition.” [added 01/11/13]

 

Jason Moran (BM ’97) and wife/fellow alumna Alicia Hall Moran were featured in the New York Times this past May in an article about their performance of Bleed, at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Ben Ratliff wrote: “Bleed was neither about jazz nor about opera, per se, though it contained some of both, and much else: film, video, dance, poetry, lecture, diary, journalism and alternative medicine… [It] was pretty extraordinary in breadth, depth, planning and execution.” [added 01/11/13]

 

Stacey Tappan (MM ’97) can be heard singing the songs of Ricky Ian Gordon, with the composer as pianist, on the Blue Griffin Records release, Once I Was. [added 01/11/13]

 

Hyung-Ki Joo (BM ’93 / MM ’99) is part of the Igudesman & Joo comedy duo, which performed a show entitled A Little Nightmare Music at the Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall this past April. [added 01/11/13]

Pawel Knapik(MM '99), a member of Orchestra of St. Luke's, has given a World Premiere of his original "Wroclaw" Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra (1993/2001). The piece was awarded a Composition Grant by the Arthur Foundation in 2001, and the version with piano premiered by Pawel at Carnegie Hall in June 2005. The May 2012 premiere of the full orchestral version at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music featured Pawel Knapik as a soloist with Orchestra 54 under the baton of Jean-Pierre Schmitt. [added 01/11/13]

Patrick Soluri (BM ’99) has seen his one-act opera Embedded win Fort Worth Opera's 'Frontiers' Competition, with a showcase to follow in spring 2013. Fort Worth Opera has also recently presented Soluri’s satirical opera Figaro's Last Hangover as part of their Opera Shots series this fall. His newest opera, Polka, received its world premiere at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in October by the Remarkable Theater Brigade. [added 01/11/13]



 


CLASSES OF 2000–2009

 

Alicia Hall Moran (BM ’00) and husband/fellow alumnus Jason Moran performed at the Whitney this past spring (see Moran 1997 listing). [added 01/11/13]

 

JoAnn Lamolino (MM ’02) won the position of second trumpet of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. [added 01/11/13]

 

R. David Salvage (MM ’03) can be heard as solo pianist on a new CD entitled Lock and Key, released by Navona Records in works that he composed. This summer, he performed at the Bologna Estate Festival in Italy. [added 01/11/13]

 

Yin-Chu Jou (PS ’04) produced The Rhythms of One World 2012 Choral Festival with performances at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall and the UN General Assembly Hall. The concert featured seven international choral groups and two world premieres. [added 01/11/13]

 

Enrique Marquez (MM ’04) has founded The MESDA Group (Music Education for Social Development Agency), which is now based at Harvard University's Cultural Agents Initiative. MESDA offers orchestra and choir after-school programs for at-risk youth in the Americas to positively affect their lives. [added 01/11/13]

 

Ruth Bennett (PS ’05) won third prize in the Dutch International Harp Competition in Utrecht, Holland this past spring. She is principal harpist of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Yucatan. [added 01/11/13]

 

Anna Clyne (MM ’05) has written a new double violin concerto, entitled Prince of Clouds, which receives multiple performances by soloists Jennifer Koh and Jaime Laredo during the 2012–13 season, including in Tennessee, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, D.C. Prince of Clouds is Clyne’s third work premiered in 2012, coming after Night Ferry by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in February, and See(k) by Houston Ballet in May. Photo by Todd Rosenberg  [added 01/11/13]

 

Craig Price (MM ’06) was recently awarded the Wagner Prize at the 2012 Orpheus National Music Competition for Voice. [added 01/11/13]

 

Theodore Buchholz (MM ’06) has recently begun his term as President Elect of the American String Teachers Association of Arizona. Buchholz teaches at Pima College and is a member of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. [added 01/11/13]

 

Jenny Q Chai (MM ’06 / PS ’07) appeared at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall this past April in a solo piano recital that featured two world premieres and one U.S. premiere, presented by Ear to Mind, an organization that introduces audiences to contemporary music and for which Chai is a co-director. The New York Times wrote that she “demonstrated true affinity for contemporary music … playing with resourceful technique and sensitivity [and with] rippling clarity and elegance.” [added 01/11/13]

 

Wang Jie (BM ’05 / MM ’07) has been awarded the sixth annual Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Award for Female Composers from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. She will compose a new work that will be given its premiere in the 2013–14 season, in addition to a cash prize and a one-month residency at the artists’ retreat Ucross Foundation. [added 01/11/13]

 

Julia Sakharova (PS ’07) has been appointed the newest member of the Arianna String Quartet and has also joined the faculty of the University of Missouri–St. Louis, where the ensemble is quartet-in-residence. [added 01/11/13]

 

Kristi Shade (MM ’07) and fellow alumna Kathryn Andrews (MM ’09) are featured on the cover of the September/October issue of Harp Column magazine. Their ensemble Duo Scorpio has released the CD Scorpion Tales, on the American Modern Recordings label. [added 01/11/13]

 

William Hestand (BM ’05 / MM ’08) has been appointed second bassoonist of the Cleveland Orchestra. [added 01/11/13]

 

Ashley Gonzalez Daneman (MM ’09) has seen the release of a new CD of original songs entitled Harvest Town, funded by a grant from the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo. [added 01/11/13]







CLASSES OF 2010–Present

 

Jonathan Floril (BM ’10 student) was pianist and artist-in-residence at the Salzburg Vocal Festival this past summer in Austria. [added 01/11/13]

 

Sandy Hughes (MM ’10) has been appointed second flutist of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. [added 01/11/13]

 

Joseph Lee (MM ’10) has joined the cello section of the New York City Ballet Orchestra. [added 01/11/13]

 

Jesús Reina (BM ’09 / MM ’11) was violinist and artist-in-residence at the Salzburg Vocal Festival this past summer in Austria. [added 01/11/13]

Yoonshin Song (PS ’09 / AD ’10) has been appointed concertmaster of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, becoming the ensemble’s first new concertmaster since 1988. [added 01/11/13]

 

Samuel Gelber (BM ’11) has accepted a position at the Metropolitan Opera as assistant to Artistic Administrator Jonathan Friend. [added 01/11/13]

 

Shaun Trubiano (BM ’08 / MM ’10 / PS ’11) has been appointed principal percussionist of the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra in Sydney. [added 01/11/13]

 

Sul Sheryl Hwangbo (PS ’12) has joined the violin section of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. [added 01/11/13]



In Memoriam


We honor the memory of alumni, former faculty, and staff members who have passed away in recent months:


Robert Abramson (BM ’65 / MM ’68 / faculty member from 1971–2001) passed away on July 22, 2008. Robert M. Abramson had a long and varied career as a coach, pianist, conductor, composer, author, teacher, writer, and video creator. He taught at every age level in every type of school in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. He was a teacher of teachers and performers at the Juilliard School in the Dance, Drama, Opera, and Instrumental Music departments.He was internationally acclaimed as a leading developer of the methods of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze. Mr. Abramson was the founder and director of the Manhattan Dalcroze Institute, which was located at the Juilliard School. His major contributions were in the fields of music, movement, and musicality, and he was known for his gifts of musical improvisation. After many successful years at the Dalcroze School of Music, he left and began directing his own school, the Robert Abramson Dalcroze Institute in New York City. It is there that he and his colleague, Daniel Cataneo (BM '83 / MM '85), taught all of the original Dalcroze solfège, rhythmique, and the original Dalcroze exercises from his first collection of Rhythmique, Gymnastique, and Plastique Animé. Mr. Abramson was the author of Music for Perception and Cognition, published by C.P.P. Belwin; Teaching Music in the 21st Century with Choksy, Gillespie, and Woods, published by Prentice-Hall; Rhythm Games I and II with text and original music composed and performed by the author, published by Warner Brothers; and Teaching Music as a Second Language, a theory, ear-training, and sight-singing method, published by Music and Movement Press. His most recent works were Dalcroze HanDances, a beginner's method for piano, and a video tape, Eurthymics, done with Bob Abramson and published by GIA Publications, Inc. Mr. Abramson was working on a new video, Dances and Movement of the Baroque Instrumental Suites and Operas, which was to be a guide to better rhythmic performance. As a composer, he wrote six documentary film scores; a concerto titled, Dance Variations for Piano and Orchestra, recorded by Angel Records; and a ballet titled, Touch and Go. He has written three song cycles on texts by Whitman and James Joyce, and one set of orchestral songs on text by James Joyce. The Three Old Songs Resung was written because of his interest in extending and renewing the world of American and English folk music as narratives for our own times. Additionally, Mr. Abramson recorded with the famous folk singers Oscar Brand and Jean Ritchie on many recordings for Electra and Traditional Records. Mr. Abramson also taught theory, solfège, rhythmics, piano improvisation, and sight reading at Manhattan School of Music for 30 years.

Raffael Adler (BM’59 / MM’61) passed away in early March 2011 in New York City, where he was living. Maestro Adler, known to friends and family as Raffi, was born in Wroclaw, Poland, in 1922. Raffael and his brother Max were part of the Youth Aliya which transported children to Palestine during WWII. He spent his formative years on a farm Kibbutz in Israel. In 1963, Raffael came to NYC to study conducting at Manhattan School of Music with Maestro Jonel Perlea. Adler began his career as a choral conductor in NYC, and in 1969 his newly formed ensemble, the New York Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra made their debut at Reisinger Auditorium of Sarah Lawrence College as part of the Chamber Music series there. Maestro Adler has conducted at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charlsetown, SC, the State Philharmonic orchestra of Wroclaw, Poland and the Kiev Camerata. Prior to his appointment, in 1991, as Music Director and Conductor of the Five Towns Symphony Orchestra on Long Island, NY, he served as Music Director and Conductor of the Huntington Philharmonia and the Westchester Symphony Orchestra. In 2007, he appeared in his final concert as a guest conductor of the Manchester Festival Symphony Orchestra in Vermont.


Betty Allen (member of the voice faculty since 1969 / Board of Trustees since 1984), an internationally renowned mezzo-soprano, educator and administrator, passed away on June 22, 2009. She was president emeritus of the Harlem School of the Arts, where she taught a master voice class, and a member of the faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music. She appeared as soloist with symphony orchestras under such major conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Pablo Casals, Edo de Waart, Antal Dorati, Istvan Kertesz, Rafael Kubelik, Erich Leinsdorf, Lorin Maazel, Jean Martinon, Charles Munch, Eugene Ormandy, Seiji Ozawa, John Pritchard, Georg Solti, William Steinberg, and Leopold Stokowski. She is especially well known for her performances in Virgil Thomson’s Four Saints in Three Acts. Apart from her symphonic appearances, Miss Allen was an active recitalist. She made her New York recital debut at Town Hall in 1958 and followed with appearances in London, The Hague, Oslo, Berlin, and Montreal. In 1964 she made her formal opera debut at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. She made her North American opera debut with the San Francisco Opera in 1966 and continued with the Canadian Opera and the Bellas Artes in Mexico City (1971), the New York City Opera (1973), and the Metropolitan Opera’s mini-Met (1974). The Viewing will take place Tuesday, June 30 from 4–8 PM at Benta's Funeral Home: 630 Saint Nicholas Avenue (at West 141st Street), in Harlem.

Chester “Chet” Amsterdam (more information to come). 

Ardyth Alton (member of the faculty from 1969–2005) passed away in February 2008. Dean of Faculty Richard E. Adams writes: “A gifted and active cellist, a dedicated teacher, she was much beloved by her students and colleagues.” Born in Cherokee, Iowa, she was to earn a Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin College and studied at The Juilliard School with Felix Salmond and Leonard Rose. She gave over 1,000 trio concerts and solo appearances throughout North America under auspices of Columbia Artists Management. She taught at the Incontri Musicali Internazionale festival in Italy (1989, 1990, 1991) and was a member of the faculties at New York University, SUNY-Purchase, and the The Juilliard School. She was a member of the MSM Precollege Division since 1969 and the College Division since 1985.

Alba Barbadoro (BM 1963 / MM 1965, theory) passed ways on October 9, 2008. She was 72 and living in Branford Connecticut. The New Haven Register wrote: “Alba Barbadoro’s whole life revolved around music. Having started playing piano at an early age, she went on to become a public school music teacher. “Alba was taking lessons by age 8,” noted sister Irene Asprelli of Orange. “My father loved opera, and she came to love that as well. She also became a member of her school’s glee club. And years later, she introduced my son, Paul, to music.” In later years, when Barbadoro suffered from debilitating arthritis and couldn’t get around easily, a niece would take her to the opera. ‘One time, a friend of hers, an opera singer, came to visit and sang for us while my aunt played the piano,’ said Ilene DeFelice of Orange. ‘My aunt and I would sing Camelot together, and even when she couldn’t move her fingers as well anymore, she would still play the piano.’ Born January 19, 1936, in New Haven, a daughter of Adolfo and Anna Barbadoro, she attended Wilbur Cross High School and the Manhattan School of Music. She taught music at Fair Haven Junior High School and East Haven High School. A parishioner of St. Francis Church in New Haven, Barbadoro was the church’s director of music as well as the founder and conductor of the choir, organist and soloist… Barbadoro also was a member of her local Italian-American and Lions clubs, and had lived in Branford the last 24 years. In her spare time, she liked to go to the beach, attend the theater, watch the A&E Channel and read. Never having married, she enjoyed traveling either by herself or with others, to Italy, Ukraine, California, Arizona, all over New England and Canada.”

Stanley Bednar (BM '49 / MM '52) passed away on September 15, 2012. Mr. Bednar joined the violin and chamber music faculty in 1954. The School will be eternally grateful for his dedicated work in almost every area of the administration, which included facilitating the School’s move from East Harlem to its current home as well as establishing college admission procedures and seeing that a doctor of music degree was added to its curriculum.

Hubert Berberich (BM ’69 / MM ’71, voice) passed away suddenly on June 10, 2009. Berberich was a faculty member at Iona College, where he founded the Iona Singers, and a former instructor for the MSM Preparatory Division. While a student at MSM he participated in the 1967 tribute to American Musical Theater, presented at the Waldorf Astoria and then, at the invitation of President and Mrs. Lyndon Johnson, at the White House. Mr. Berberich had a rich career performing and composing as well. He performed a solo at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, and sang the National Anthem at more than 160 Mets games starting in 1986. Berberich served as organist and musical director at St. John's Church in Mahopac. He founded and directed the Candlelight Concert tour in Mahopac, and over the years produced dozens of recordings, including classical, pop, rock, blues, Christmas, ethnic, and solo performances. Berberich performed on many commercial recordings and telecasts with the New York Philharmonic, as well as with Paul McCartney. The academic also taught at Hofstra University, Westchester Community College, and Manhattan College. He is survived by his wife, alumna Janet Sitchenko Berberich, who met Hubert during new student registration at MSM, and his sons, Christopher and Alexander. The family has requested donations be made in Berberich's memory to either the Putnam County Humane Society or the Putnam County Land Trust. (More information here.)


Eddie Bert (more info to come shortly)


Bobbie Lee Boulware (more info to come shortly)

Earl S. Brown (BM ’72 / MM ’73), pictured, passed away on November 12, 2009. He was 69 and living in Mount Vernon, New York. A singer his entire life, he had retired as a teacher for the New York City school system, where he worked for over 30 years. He is immediately survived by his wife of 40 years, retired opera singer Esther Hinds (Brown); his children Elizabeth Maynard, Emerson Brown, and Erica Buchanan; and five grandsons.

Frances Blaisdell (member of the flute faculty from 1957–1973) passed away on March 11, 2009. The New York Times wrote: “Frances Blaisdell, a flutist who played her way into what was then the male world of orchestral music, becoming one of the early women to play a woodwind instrument with the New York Philharmonic, died on March 11 in Portola Valley, Calif. She was 97. Her son, John, announced her death. In addition to playing with the Philharmonic, Ms. Blaisdell performed with prominent chamber ensembles, on Broadway, at Radio City Music Hall, in vaudeville, and with Phil Spitalny and His All-Girl Orchestra on the ‘Hour of Charm’ on CBS and NBC radio. She also taught generations of leading flutists. ‘I had lots of opportunities because I was sort of a freak, and people couldn’t imagine a girl flutist,’ she said in an interview printed in The Flutist Quarterly in 2005. Chamber Music magazine suggested in 1992 that she was considerably more than that, saying, ‘Every woman flute player in every major American orchestra, every little girl who pays the flute in a school band, has Frances Blaisdell to thank. She was first.’ Ms. Blaisdell had to overcome the mixed feelings of her father to become a professional; proud of her talent, he feared that as a woman, she would not survive as a player. He was in the lumber business, but his own love was the flute, and he started teaching her to play when she was 5. He wished she were a boy and called her Jim, she said in The Flutist Quarterly interview, which first appeared in the New York Flute Club newsletter. Ms. Blaisdell wrote to Ernest Wagner, a flutist with the New York Philharmonic, to ask if he would teach ‘Jim.’ When she appeared for her lesson, she said, Mr. Wagner refused to teach her, saying there was no future for a woman trying to play the flute in orchestras. But he finally agreed to six lessons, and then more. Ms. Blaisdell’s father wanted her to pursue a career, but saw no future for her in music. He gave her the choice of being a teacher, nurse or secretary. She persuaded him that since she was graduating at 16, two years early, she should spend the two years pursuing her dream. ‘Two years, but not another day,’ he said. So in 1928 she wrote Georges Barrère, the great French flutist, who taught at what is now Juilliard. She was given an appointment, perhaps because her name had been taken down as ‘Francis.’ She was admitted with a scholarship. Ms. Blaisdell later studied with two other giants of the flute, Marcel Moyse and William Kincaid. In 1941, after Barrère had a stroke, she took his place in the Barrère Trio. In 1930, she became first flute of the National Orchestral Association and soon joined Barrère to play Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 under the baton of Walter Damrosch at Madison Square Garden. She was first flute in the New Opera Company and in the New Friends of Music. On Nov. 26, 1932, she was the soloist with the Philharmonic at a children’s concert, playing Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2 in D major. Josh Marcum, a spokesman for the Philharmonic, confirmed the appearance. But in 1937, she was refused an audition for an opening as assistant first flute of the Philharmonic because she was a woman. In 1962, she said, she became one of the first women to play a woodwind with the Philharmonic, when a piece demanded extra flutes. Mr. Marcum said this was possible, but not provable. In 1937, Ms. Blaisdell married Alexander Williams, first clarinetist for the Philharmonic. They and three other Philharmonic players formed the Blaisdell Woodwind Quintet, which had a radio series. Mr. Williams died in 2003. In addition to her son, Frances Louise Blaisdell is survived by her daughter, Alexandra Hawley; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Ms. Blaisdell played several concerts with the soprano Lily Pons, providing the requisite flute trills that accompany many showpieces for a coloratura soprano, and taught at the Manhattan School of Music, among other places. In 1973, she moved to California, where she taught at Stanford for 35 years. Ms. Blaisdell adapted to the show business side of classical music. She said she wore a beautiful gold lamé dress at Radio City Music Hall for five shows a day in 1934 or 1935. She had two Rockettes on each side of her. Still, she was deathly frightened the first time she gazed into the immense black space, which looked, she said, like the ‘caverns of hell.’ A Rockette nudged her and said, ‘Get going, kid, and smile.’ Ms. Blaisdell did. After a couple of shows, it was easy.”

Bob Bowen (more information to come).

Christine Masear Broome (more info to come shortly)

Ariana Bronne (former MSM Faculty), a celebrated violinist during the 1950's and teacher to hundreds of violin students, died yesterday March 9, 2011 at St. Luke’s hospital following a long illness. Born in New York City, Ms. Bronne studied exclusively with her father, the renowned Russian violin pedagogue Raphael Bronstein. At the age of 10 she was encouraged to pursue a solo career by Jascha Heiftez, who had been her father's classmate at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Sponsored by the Society to Aid Young Musicians, she gave her Carnegie Hall recital debut at the age of 13. Subsequently, she appeared in recitals and as soloist with orchestras around the world, including the New York Philharmonic, Copenhagen Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony, and Vienna Philharmonic. She also concertized extensively as a member of the Columbia Concert Trio and the Manhattan Trio. Bronne had taught at the Manhattan School of Music for over 30 years, during which time she influenced the careers and lives of many musicians. She also served on the faculties of the Hartt School of Music and the Mannes College of Music, and gave master classes throughout the world. One of her students, Elmar Oliveira, was the only American violinist to win the Gold Medal at the prestigious Tchaikovsky International Competition and many others went on to join major orchestras. Ms. Bronne is survived by three children, and by two grandchildren. No services are planned at this time. Please send notes of remembrance and photos to John Blanchard at jblanchard@msmnyc.edu

Aldo Bruschi (more information to come).

David Thomas Cook (more info to come shortly)

Carlos Correa (MM ’90) passed away on September 9, 2009, after a long illness. “Carlos has been very sick for many months, and was in need of a liver transplant,” fellow alumnus and long-time friend Daniel Stroup informs us. “The transplant was not possible because of his weakening condition. He just could not make it.” Carlos Correa began his piano studies at the age of twelve at the Music Conservatory in his native Peru. At the age of eighteen he made his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra of Peru. He quickly garnered several awards in national and international competitions. Having emigrated to the United States, Mr. Correa received a full scholarship to attend Brigham Young University and later to The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, where he earned a Master of Music degree in 1990. At MSM he studied with Solomon Mikowsky and Donn-Alexandre Feder and was a winner of the MSM Concerto Competition. He has appeared as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestras of Argentina, Ecuador and Peru, as well as the Utah Symphony, Philippine Philharmonic, Manhattan Philharmonic, New Britain Symphony, and the SAR Ensemble of Hong Kong. He formed a piano duo with fellow alumnus Daniel Stroup, touring Asia, Europe, and the U.S., and making their New York debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in 1997. For the past 10 years, Carlos has been Music Minister at St. Cecilia’s Church in Manhattan and working at the United Nations International School as a private piano teacher. In addition, he has been performing solo piano fund raising concerts in his native Peru, helping the Peruvian Government to buy a 9-foot concert grand for their concert hall in Trujillo – which now, thanks to Correa’s efforts, has a Steinway D. As the family, most of whom live in Peru, have incurred large costs in traveling back and forth to New York, condolences and any gifts can be sent to Carlos’ sister: Blanca Correa, 145 Attorney Street, #5-A, New York, New York 10002.

Lyle “Rusty” Dedrick (former faculty 1971–82) of Summitville, New York, passed away on December 25, 2009. With a career spanning over seven decades, Rusty made a unique contribution to the world of Jazz. As a trumpeter, solo brilliance was his hallmark, in addition to his creativity as an arranger and composer. Rusty studied at Fredonia College and was tutored by composers Paul Ceston and Stefan Wolpe. He played with several prominent "Big Bands" including Dick Stabile, the Red Norvo/Mildred Bailey Orchestra, Ray McKinley, and the Claude Thornhill Orchestra. Rusty had a long career in the New York City Jazz music field. His credits include writing and/or playing with Don Elliot, Urbie Green, Maxine Sullivan, Lee Wiley, Lionel Hampton and others, as well as radio and television work with Arthur Godfrey, Ed Sullivan, Sid Ceasar, and more. At the same time, Rusty was recording his own LP's. In 1971, Rusty joined the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music were he conducted the School’s first official jazz ensembles. In 1977 he became director of Jazz Studies. As a pioneer in Jazz Education, his jazz band charts for the education field received acclaim for their creativity and accessibility by musicians of all ages. Throughout his jazz education career, Rusty continued to arrange and play, and in 1996 he was the musical director of the prestigious Smithsonian Institute American Songbook Series tribute to Fats Waller and Andy Razaf. Rusty completed the writing, arranging and recording of Music of America in 2007, which was a decade long project. (more information to come).

Phillip DeLuca ( BM '77, piano / MM '78, music education) passed away on April 10, 2009 (more information to come).

Gayle Dixon (undergrad studies, 1964–68) died on November 23, 2008. She was 61 and lived in New York City. She had studied violin with Stanley Bednar and was a frequent member of the Manhattan School of Music orchestras. A violinist, composer, arranger and educator, Ms. Dixon joined the Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians in 1968. From the Local 802 online obituary: “She served on the Trial Board from 1985 to 1986 and on the Executive Board from 1987 to 1993. Several of her articles in Allegro, most notably one on black violinists, won first place journalism awards. Ms. Dixon was a busy freelancer who played with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra and Brooklyn Philharmonic among others. She also performed on Broadway. One of her formative experiences was playing in the Symphony of the New World, which was formed by activist musicians in the 1960’s to give opportunities to black musicians. Later, she was among a group of 30 African-American string players who founded the String Reunion, which developed a repertoire of music by black composers. In jazz, Ms. Dixon was the founding first violinist of Quartette Indigo and was an original member and first violinist of the Uptown String Quartet. Ms. Dixon accomplished so much in her life that it’s impossible to sum it up in this short space. She was an educator who was highly in demand. She founded Jazzbows Music, which published and recorded string music by African-American composers. She even chaired a financial investment club called Sokoma, which taught financial literacy to women and young people. Ms. Dixon is survived by her sisters Akua, Stephanie and Cleo, brother Joseph, sister-in-law Linda, brothers-in-law Steve Turre and Roy Coles, eight nieces and nephews and many cousins. To learn more about Ms. Dixon, see www.JazzBows.com. On that site you can read an interview that Ms. Dixon gave with Allegro in March 2000, which contains many more details about her life.” Ms. Dixon had been a donor to Manhattan School of Music.

Ellen Faull (member of the voice faculty from 1970 – 1986, Chair of the Voice Department from 1983) passed away on December 2, 2008 in Vancouver, Washington, where she had been living since 1990. Faull was 90 years old and still teaching; she continued to teach until just a few days before she died. Ellen Faull was a major force in the opera world for many years and taught more than a generation of professional singers including Dawn Upshaw, Ashley Putnam, and Patricia McCaffrey. In addition to MSM, Ms. Faull taught at the Juilliard School for a number of years as well as at Sarah Lawrence College and the University of Michigan. Born Ellen Hartla Faull in Pittsburgh PA on October 14, 1918, attended the Curtis Institute. Faull married Dr. Maurice Gordon, a well-known New York psychiatrist who died in 1987. She is survived by her daughter, Judith S. Gordon, PhD, her son-in-law, Paul Schwyhart and her grand daughters, Sarah and Rachel Schwyhart, all of Eugene, Oregon. A soprano, Faull, sang leading roles for many years with New York City Opera. She became one of the premier American opera singers, performing in opera houses all over the country, and was a frequent performer on nationwide Mutual Network Radio Broadcasts. She sang for many of the most prominent conductors then working in opera: Eugene Ormandy, Laszlo Halasz, Julius Rudel, Tullio Serafin, Fritz Busch, Serge Koussevitsky, Leopold Stokowski, Victor De Sabata, Josef Krips and Georg Solti. At the urging of Julius Rudel, she expanded her repertoire from Mozart to Cio-Cio San in Butterfly, Birdie in Regina (Blitzstein), Abigail Borden in Lizzie Borden (Jack Beeson premiere), Leonora in Il Trovatore, Mimi in La Boheme, Eva in Die Meistersinger, and Aida. She was Lady Billows in the first American performance of Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring at the Tanglewood Music Festival. Faul established the Ellen Faull Gordon Vocal Competition (in the Pacific Northwest) and the Bel Canto Northwest Vocal Institute (Portland, OR). Ellen Faull was a mentor to the current generation of voice teachers including Edith Bers, Chair of the Juilliard Voice Department and a member of the MSM College Faculty, and Jane Olian, New York City voice teacher and MSM Precollege Faculty member. The following is a link to the appreciation published in the Portland Oregonian: http://blog.oregonlive.com/classicalmusic/2008/12/ellen_faul_obituary.html#more

Ellen (Svendsen) Fezer (piano/theory studies, 1939) passed away on March 18, 2008 at the Westerly Nursing Home in Rhode Island. She was 100. Mrs. Fezer was born in New York on Dec. 4, 1907, the daughter of Svend and Margrethe Jensen Svendsen. Prior to her retirement in 1967, she was employed as a controller at the Ethyl Corporation. She was married to Harold E. Fezer in New York City on June 8, 1968. Mr. Fezer died June 10, 1995. Mrs. Fezer is survived by nieces and nephews, Emilie Commander, Ellen Cromwell, Camilla Hanson, Andrew Svendsen Jr. and William Nussbickel. She was predeceased by her siblings, Michael, Ejnar, Andrew Svendsen, Stella Robinson and Camilla Nussbickel.

Ezio Flagello (Diploma 1952 / BM 1953) passed away on March 19, 2009 in Florida. Ezio Flagello, born January 28, 1931, was an Italian-American bass, who sang at the Metropolitan Opera from 1957 to 1984. Flagello was born in New York City, and studied at the Manhattan School of Music, where he was a pupil of Friedrich Schorr and John Brownlee. He also studied at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, in Rome, Italy, with Luigi Ricci with a Fulbright Scholarship. Flagello made his professional debut at the Empire State Festival, in Ellenville, New York in 1955, as Dulcamara in L'elisir d'amore. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut on November 9, 1957, as the Jailer in Tosca. Four days later, as a last minute replacement, he sang Leporello in Don Giovanni. He was First Place Winner of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air in 1957. He quickly became a favorite with the audience in comic roles, such as Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Dulcamara in Elisir d'amore, though he also excelled in more lyrical and dramatic repertory. In his twenty-seven seasons with the company, he sang, notably, Rodolfo in La Sonnambula, Giorgio in I Puritani, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Silva in Ernani, Wurm in Luisa Miller, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Fra Melitone in La forza del destino, Philippe II in Don Carlos, Pogner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Timur in Turandot, etc. He created the role of Enobarbus in Samuel Barber's opera Antony and Cleopatra for the opening of the new Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Centre on September 16, 1966. Flagello also enjoyed a successful international career, appearing frequently in Vienna, Milan, Berlin, London, etc. Flagello possessed a dark and very rich voice with a remarkable upper register extending to high A. He left an impressive discography which includes: Così fan tutte, opposite Leontyne Price, Tatiana Troyanos, George Shirley, Sherrill Milnes, under Erich Leinsdorf; Lucrezia Borgia, opposite Montserrat Caballé, Alfredo Kraus, Shirley Verrett; Lucia di Lammermoor and Luisa Miller, both opposite Anna Moffo and Carlo Bergonzi; Rigoletto, opposite Robert Merrill and under Georg Solti; and Ernani, Ballo in maschera, Forza del destino, all opposite Leontyne Price. He also recorded Handel's Alcina and Bellini's I Puritani, both opposite Joan Sutherland. He interpreted the role of Harapha in the famous Archiv recording of Handel's oratorio Samson (1968). He appeared in Leornard Bernstein's 1973 Unanswered Question series at Harvard (available on DVD) as Teresias in a performance of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex. In addition to his operatic career, he had a small role in the flashback sequences in The Godfather Part II (1974) as an impressario threatened by Don Fanucci. Ezio Flagello retired from the stage in 1987. He is the brother of composer Nicolas Flagello. He was married to Italian-American writer Anna Mione (BM 1951 / MM 1952), with whom he had four children.

John Forgacs (more information to come).

Marie Fountain (more information to come). 

Jill Gartman (more information to come). 

Theodore Grame (more info to come)

Nicholas Granitto (member of the Academic faculty from 1949 – 1989) passed away on August 22, 2008. Born October 1, 1921, in NYC of Neapolitan parentage, Granitto was raised in Brooklyn. After serving in the American armed forces in Italy during WW II, he attended Columbia University, where he majored in Italian Studies. He was awarded the University’s Oldrini Traveling Fellowship to study in Florence, Italy, where he prepared his doctoral thesis on the renowned Italian poet, Aldo Palazzeschi. Upon his return to the U.S., he continued teaching at the Casa Italiana at Columbia until 1968. His publications include translations of song anthologies and opera libretti, and reviews of poetry recordings for Language Laboratory Journal. During his tenure at Manhattan School of Music, he taught Italian and French; he was Academic Department Coordinator (1964 – 71); and he contributed to the development of the Unified Academics Program (UAP) during the 1970s. His daughter, Linda, writes: “[My father] was passionate about teaching and instilled in his students a deep appreciation for expression of text in poetry and song. Countless unpublished translations of poetry, songs, and operatic roles were provided and distributed to MSM students over a period of 40 years. He opened his home, sharing his vast collection of recordings, books, photos, letters, and anecdotes to generations of eager students and young professional singers. As diction studies became more developed and integral to the curriculum, he was able to combine a lifelong love of music with his expertise and passion for language and poetry. Among the hundreds of students he taught and remembered were Catherine Malfitano, Harris Goldsmith, Yusef Lateef, Dolora Zajick, Dianne Danese Flagello, and the late Walter Turnbull.” Please send notes of remembrance to John Blanchard at jblanchard@msmnyc.edu

Brannon Hall-García (more information to come). 

Neal Hatch (former administrator) passed away on September 25, 2009, at his residence in Fredrickburg. He was 66 years old.
(more information to come).

Helen Grace Hodam (graduate voice studies, 1950 – 51) passed away at the age of 93 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 21, 2008. Her 50-year teaching career, predominately at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music, produced students who performed with all of the major American opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, and the San Francisco Opera, and with European opera companies in Cologne, Munich, Bremen, Vienna, Paris, Zurich, Madrid, and Amsterdam. Born June 23, 1914, in Ludlow, Illinois, Miss Hodam (as she was universally addressed) graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University, pursued graduate work at Juilliard and Manhattan School, and, in 1952, received a Master of Music degree from Hartt College of Music. After graduation, she began her teaching career with one year at Hardin-Baylor College followed by nine years at Muskingum College. From 1963 to 1984 at Oberlin Conservatory, Miss Hodam taught 20 students a year in a voice performance studio that was always highly sought, and a celebrated class on French art song. She was also on the faculty of the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. Her constant study of repertoire included time at the Aspen Music School, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and the Goethe Institute in Munich. After retiring from Oberlin in 1984, she taught full-time at New England Conservatory until 2003, when her health made it no longer possible to come to her studio. Writes Brad Swing: “Miss Hodam was truly a legend: throughout the music world, people who never met her attempt the impersonation lovingly repeated by colleagues and students of her matchless style—the nod of her head, the soft ‘coo’ of her voice.” In recognition of her achievements, Hodam was elected to the American Academy of Teachers of Singing in 1988. She was appointed adjudicator in 1998 for the Washington International Competition for Singers. Her students included mezzo soprano Denyce Graves. Miss Hodam was a soprano soloist for many years, singing at Christ Church in New York, with various opera and summer theater groups, including the Paper Mill Playhouse and the Berkshire Opera Players, and on live radio programs. In 1936, she sang the national anthem at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. A memorial concert will take place at New England Conservatory in the fall. (Information provided by Brad Swing.) [posted 5/22/08]

Grace “Goldie” Hoffman (undergraduate studies, 1944–1947) passed away in 2008. She was 83 and living in Neckartailfengen, Germany. A mezzo-soprano, she was a former student of Friedrich Schorr. Born in Cleveland, Goldie Hoffman [Hoffmann] was educated at Western Reserve University in Cleveland, at Manhattan School of Music, and in Milan (where she studied with Mario Basiola). After appearances in the USA, Grace Hoffman sang in Florence and Zürich. In 1955 she became a member of the Württemberg State Theater in Stuttgart. In March 1958 she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in New York as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde. She made many appearances at La Scala in Milan, Covent Garden in London, Bayreuth, and the Vienna State Opera. In 1978 Grace Hoffman became professor of voice at the Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart. She was noted for her performances of the music of Wagner and Verdi, particularly for her roles of Brangäne, Kundry, and Eboli. She also sang widely in concerts. Mrs. Hoffman was a long-time, generous supporter of Manhattan School of Music.

Ralph Hollander (more information to come). 

Yevgeniy Karafin (BM ’99 / MM ’01 / DMA ’06) passed away on November 4, 2009, following a long battle with colon cancer. Yevgeniy had performed as a recitalist and as a chamber musician in Ukraine, Russia, Austria, and the United States. He began his musical studies at the age of seven, and left home at fourteen for professional music college. In 1991 he continued his studies at Donetsk State Conservatory, Ukraine. After his family moved to New York, he completed his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees under the guidance of Ms. Nina Svetlanova. Yevgeniy participated in national and international competitions, winning the Prokofiev Festival Competition in 1993 and the “Best Collaborative Pianist” prize at the second International Competition of Folk Instruments in Tcherepovets, Russia. In 2005 he won the Artists International Auditions and debuted at Carnegie Hall in New York City. He performed at the prestigious Mirabel Schloss concert series and his appearances include chamber music recitals at Weill Recital, Alice Tully, and Steinway Halls. He performed with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra and at Instituto Cervantes in New York City, which was broadcast live on WQXR 96.3 FM. He has also starred in an independent film about music’s ability to transcend cultural and religious boundaries: “Yevgeniy and the Choir.” Yevgeniy enjoyed teaching as well, and taught and accompanied at Harlem Boys and Girls Choir, and was on the staff of Brooklyn College’s Preperatory Division. He was in the process of publishing his annotated translation of Soviet teacher/artist Grigory Kogan’s book on piano pedagogy. 

Nolan K. Lindley (undergraduate studies 1957-59) passed away on September 16, 2009, in San Francisco. He had studied composition with Nicolas Flagello.

Rosario (Sonny) Marruso (more information to come). 

Elizabeth "Betty" Dickman McKellar (MM ’49, music education), of Nanuet, New York, passed away on October 22, 2009. She was 88 years old. Her vocal music career spanned over 50 years. As a music teacher with East Ramapo Central School District, Rockland County, New York, she taught two generations, and she was an active member of the Pearl River United Methodist Church music ministry, Pearl River, New York. During WWII, she sang with USO Camp Shows, entertaining US troops abroad. She later continued her music studies in Italy, while working in intelligence at the US Embassy. While at Manhattan School of Music, she studied voice with Friedrick Schorr. She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Hargrove McKellar. Survivors include daughters, Elizabeth Eastlake and Kathryn Lackey, and grandchildren, Stephanie Higginbotham, Joshua Eastlake, Kaitlyn Lackey and Grayson Lackey.

Coleman Mellett (MM 1998, jazz guitar) was killed on February 12, 2009, when Continental Flight 3407 crashed near Buffalo. He was 34. Born in South Natick, Mass., Mellett graduated from elementary and high school in Maryland and attended William Paterson University in Wayne, N. J., and Manhattan School of Music. A member of the Chuck Mangione band since 1999, he was hired after the trumpeter spotted him on a Manhattan cable television show. He also performed frequently with his wife, jazz singer Jeanie Bryson, the daughter of Dizzy Gillespie.

John J. Miller (more information to come).

Dr. John Motley (former staff/faculty member) passed away May 22 after a long illness. He was 89. In the 1960’s, as Director of Music for the New York City Public Schools, Dr. Motley formed the All City Concert Choir,which sang  for two decades at such venues as Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center; for dignitaries including President Jimmy Carter, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, Pope John Paul II and Mayors Abe Beame and John Lindsay; and with musicians like Dizzy Gillespie and opera singers Marian Anderson, William Warfield and Camilla Williams. Motley was Director of the St. Francis College Choir in Brooklyn for 14 years and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts by the College in 2002. In addition to his decades of experience teaching music for New York City public school students, Dr. Motley was also a professor at City College and Marymount Manhattan as well as music director at Grace Congregational Church of Harlem. Alumnus Felipe Hall writes: “John exposed me to all forms in music from Bach to Clementi, Haydn, Spirituals, to W.C. Handy.  I spent the weekends at his home in Brooklyn where I listened, imitated, and copied his musical styles in conducting, playing the piano, singing, and even playing the cello.  John introduced me to music prepared me for my entrance audition at Manhattan School of Music and encourage me to enter the Young Concert Artist Guild.  John is the Oak of my musical life.”

Joseph P. Muranyi (more info to come shortly)

Max Neuhaus (BM 1961 / MM 1962, percussion) died on February 2, 2009. The New York Times wrote: “Max Neuhaus, a percussionist known for creating site-specific works of ‘sound sculpture,’ allowing unsuspecting passers-by to come upon musical sounds in unlikely places, died Tuesday in Maratea, a coastal town in southern Italy, where he lived. He was 69. The cause was cancer, said his sister, Laura Hansen. As a young man, Mr. Neuhaus was celebrated in classical music circles as one of the foremost interpreters of the experimental percussion music of composers like John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pierre Boulez. As a soloist, Mr. Neuhaus performed concerts in prominent halls… And his recordings were testaments to a virtuosity that was matched by few other percussionists… Mr. Neuhaus himself preferred the term ‘sound installations’ for the nonvisual artworks he created from electronically generated sounds emanating from an invisible source at a particular location. He worked, he said, from the premise that a person’s sense of place is determined by what he hears as well as by what he sees, and his art argued that a place can be denoted and described as definitively by the sound that fills it up as by a set of walls… His most famous piece, or at least the one that has been heard by the most people, is ‘Times Square.’ It was installed in 1977 beneath a traffic island in Manhattan where Broadway and Seventh Avenue converge, just south of 46th Street. Thousands of pedestrians a day traipse over a wide grate that appears to be nothing more than a steam escape hatch for the subway system below, but as they cross it, they are enveloped by a deeply resonant and mildly undulating drone, its tone suggestive of low-pitched chimes or church bells. (The piece was discontinued in 1992 but reinstated in 2002.)... Mr. Neuhaus did not record his site-specific compositions, believing that the sounds were meaningless without their surroundings. ‘Traditionally, composers have located the elements of a composition in time,’ he once wrote. ‘One idea which I am interested in is locating them, instead, in space and letting the listener place them in his own time.’ “

Estelle Parnas Oringer (Diploma ’42 / BM ’45), pictured, passed away on April 2, 2010. At Manhattan School of Music she studied with Mildred Dassett, Harold Bauer, Dora Zaslavsky, and Frances Hall. She was the music director of the New Dance Group, accompanist for Martha Graham dancers. An outstanding teacher in public schools and Hebrew schools who communicated her passion for music and living. Returning to concertizing in her 60s, she performed at NYU’s Maison Française, synagogues, churches and halls, with a well-received “début” at Carnegie Recital Hall followed by concert tours in Haiti. Specialties: Baroque, romantic, French and Spanish composers. At recent concerts through JASA to captive audiences she said: “I love watching people do a double take when I slide over from the wheelchair onto the piano bench and seem 50 years younger when I play”. A bright star, who left a deep impression everywhere, has left us. She is survived by her loving daughter, Judith. 

Joseph J. Piazza (BM '50 / MM '51) of Mount Kisco, New York, passed away on May 31, 2009. His daughter Piazza writes: “He was very proud to be a graduate of your renowned institution as his love for music (playing and teaching sax, clarinet, and flute) was an integral part of both his professional and private life.”

Eileen Rifman (more information to come). 

Charles Russo, alumnus and former faculty, passed away on November 24, 2012. Mr. Russo was a member of the woodwind faculty, teaching clarinet since 1963. A widely celebrated instrumentalist, he held a notable tenure as Principal Clarinetist with the New York City Opera Orchestra and performed with artists ranging from Tony Bennett to Luciano Pavarotti. Russo is heard on more than 100 recordings, including those under the baton of Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, Leopold Stokowski, and Pierre Boulez.

Jeffrey Schlegel (undergraduate studies, 1970–1975, horn) passed away in Sanfa Fe, Argentina, on October 8, 2007. The obituary placed in the New York Times by family and friends, read: “Born in New York, Jeff was a beloved friend and colleague, an exceptionally gifted musician, and teacher. Principal Horn: Orquesta Sinfonica Provincial de Santa Fe; Orquesta Sinfonica de Entre Rios; Banda Sinfonica de la Policia de Santa Fe; Banda Municipal de la Ciudad de Santa Fe. Jeffrey is survived by his children Gabriel, Jonatan, Jennifer and step-son Diego of Santa Fe; sisters Stephanie Manning of Davis, CA, and Sully Bonn of Newton, MA; and many loving friends and colleagues on both continents. He will be remembered for his love of music, his wit, generosity and free spirit. Jeffrey will be grievously missed by all who knew him and we will celebrate his memory as he will continue to live on in our hearts.” A Times Guest Book will remain online for a full year (click here for access). Friend and colleague Howard Heller (Class of 1973) tell us: “Although Jeff had been gone for so long, he remained in touch with a few of us here in New York and he left a lasting impression on all who knew during his time at MSM and while living in his apartment on Claremont Ave.”

Ralph A. Schwartz (MM 1975, trumpet) of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, died August 13, 2007, after a sudden illness. He was 56. Born in Havre, Montana, Mr. Schwartz grew up in nearby Big Sandy. His extraordinary musical talent was evident early and he received many music awards while in high school. He graduated with music degrees from St. Olaf College, 1973 and Manhattan School of Music, 1975. He remained in New York City working as a professional musician until 1982 when he moved to the Twin Cities continuing as a respected freelance trumpeter. Ralph was preceded in death by father, Robert and brother, Richard. He is survived by children, Melani and Kyle; former wife, Patti Arntz; mother, Evelyn; brothers, Robert Jr. and Bruce and sister, Sondra. Please visit and sign a tribute page set up by family and friends. (Information courtesy of Steven Sako ’78)

Ellsworth Snyder (more information to come). 

Irene Pesce Sorensen (more information to come). 

Gilbert Stamler (more information to come). 

Dorothy Stone (BM ’80, flute) died on Morch 7, 2008. Chris Pasles of the Los Angeles Times wrote: “Dorothy Stone, an award-winning composer and virtuoso flutist who in 1981 co-founded the new-music ensemble the California EAR Unit, has died. She was 49. Stone was found dead March 7 by police at her home in Green Valley, Calif. No foul play is suspected, said her father, Jerome J. Stone of Kingston, Pa. Results of an autopsy are pending, he said. Dorothy Ann Stone was born June 7, 1958, in Kingston. She earned a bachelor's degree in music at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, where she studied with Harvey Sollberger, and a master of fine arts degree at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. While at CalArts, she also studied composition with Stephen "Lucky" Mosko, Mel Powell, Leonard Stein and Morton Subotnick. She and Mosko were married in 1989. During her performing career, Stone premiered solo works throughout the U.S. and Europe, and was showcased on National Public Radio and WGBH's "Art of the States" program. She also built a special electronic system for her solo flute composition, "Wizard Ball," which received a Freeman Composition Award as well as prizes from the International League of Women Composers and the ARS Electronica festival in Brussels. She recorded for Cambria, Crystal, New Albion and other labels and played on Subotnick's Voyager CD-ROM, "All My Hummingbirds Have Alibis," which was written for her and members of the EAR Unit. Her New World Records solo album, "None but the Lonely Flute," includes works composed for her by Milton Babbitt and Mosko, who wrote all of his flute music for her. Other composers who wrote for her include Rand Steiger, William Roper, Ann Millikan and Louis Andriessen. She and Mosko directed the U.S. premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen's "Sternklang" for the Los Angeles Olympic Arts Festival in 1984. Mosko died at their Green Valley home in 2005 at age 58. The couple had no children. In addition to her father, Stone is survived by her mother, Dorothy B. Stone of Kingston; and two brothers, Jerome E. Stone of Kingston and Donald G. Stone of Mountain Top, Penn.”

Warren Tekula (more info to come).

Leopold Teraspulsky (DP ’41 / BM ’47) passed away on February 14, 2008. A tribute written by Kristina Tedeschi of the Amherst Bulletin read: “The co-founder of the well-known Musicorda Chamber Music Festival in South Hadley, Leopold ‘Terry’ Teraspulsky, is being remembered by family members as a man who loved life, following his death Feb. 14. ‘Everybody talks about his life-loving smile,’ which was there the day before he died, his son, Peter Teraspulsky of Pelham, said, talking recently about his father. His enthusiasm, joie de vivre and dedication to classical music were some of his defining characteristics, said Peter Teraspulsky. Even in the days leading up to his father's death, he seemed happy and at peace, he said. Teraspulsky, who was a professor emeritus of music at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, died of complications of heart disease. He was 86. The elder Teraspulsky and his wife, Jacqueline Melnick, founded the Musicorda Chamber Music Institute and Festival, based at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, in 1987. They were both known in the Pioneer Valley music scene for their Musicorda program, which provided rigorous performance opportunities for promising young classical musicians and concerts for the community. A hallmark of the program was the Musicorda Summer String Program and Performance Festival at the college, which featured free performances by internationally known classical musicians, as well as by promising young players, from all over the world. The program also offered the Children's String Workshop, in which a dozen children from inner city Holyoke were given a start in their musical training each year. Teraspulsky and Melnick stepped down from their posts with Musicorda in 2004. Melnick died a year later, and Musicorda closed in 2005. An accomplished cellist and classical arranger, Teraspulsky studied with ground-breaking cellists Diran Alexanian and Pablo Casals early in his career before joining the Pittsburgh Symphony as a young musician. Over the course of his solo and chamber music career, he became a member of the music faculty at Indiana University, the University of Massachusetts, and the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, according to his obituary.”

Elias Tanenbaum (faculty member from 1971–2001) died on Thursday, January 10, 2008, in New Rochelle, New York, after a long illness. Mr. Tanenbaum was the founder of the Electronic Computer Music Studio at Manhattan School of Music. He composed over 140 works in all idioms, including music for concert, jazz, theater, television, ballet and electronic and computer music. His music has been performed extensively throughout this country, Europe and Japan and recordings of his music can be found on Albany, New World, MMC and other labels.Born in 1924 in Brooklyn, New York, Elias Tanenbaum studied trumpet at an early age and played with many jazz bands. He volunteered for the U.S. Army in World War II, and lost his right leg above the knee in Southern France in 1944. After being awarded a Purple Heart, he received a Bachelor’s from the Juilliard School of Music in 1949, and an M.A. from Columbia University, all on the G.I. bill. Besides music, he loved art, movies, reading, cooking, politics and comedy. He lived in New Rochelle, New York from 1959. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, pianist Mary Tanenbaum, his brother Ray, two children, David and Jacob, and three grandchildren, Zachary, Simon and Nicky.

Ludmila Ulehla, alumna and former member of the faculty for 60 years, passed away on Saturday, December 5, 2009. She was 86 years old and living in Miller Place on Long Island. She passed peacefully in her sleep after a long illness due to cancer, said her daughter Christina (Tina) Barkan. Miss Ulehla was a member of the faculty from 1947–2007, teaching composition and theory. She was composition department chair from 1969 to 1989. She earned her Bachelor of Music (1947) and Master of Music (1948) degrees from Manhattan School of Music as a student of Vittorio Giannini, making her the first woman composer to graduate from MSM. She was honored for her valuable half-century devotion and contribution to Manhattan School of Music through the awarding of the School’s first Presidential Award for Distinguished Service in 1998. Memorial donations should be sent to: Manhattan School of Music, External Affairs, 120 Claremont Avenue, New York, NY 10027 (please indicate: in honor of Ludmila Ulehla).

Lynn Vardaman (BM ’70 / MM ’85) died unexpectedly on November 12, 2008. She was 51. Lynn was a former member of the Precollege faculty and lived next door to the School. She had studied voice at MSM with Sten-Taubman and Judith Raskin. While a student at MSM, Vardaman appeared as soloist with the Manhattan School of Music Philharmonia (April 19, 1985) in Deolus Husband’s Tainted Trees with Patrick Flynn conducting, as well as appearing as a member of the Contemporary Music Ensemble on various concerts. She sang Nicolas Flagello’s Dante's Farewell with pianist Marc Peloquin in Hubbard Recital Hall on a 1998 concert to celebrate Flagello's music. A respected performer of contemporary music, Vardaman premiered more than fifty new works. She performed with a number of contemporary music ensembles and for many years was a regular member of North/South Consonance. With them she received particular critical acclaim for her performances of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and for Max Lifchitz’s Of Bondage and Freedom, a piece written for her and recorded on the North/South label. Concerts at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., the Chicago Cultural Center and in the Festival Camarissima at the Auditorio Blas Galindo in Mexico City were highlights of her association with this ensemble. Other especially interesting works include Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot by Peter Maxwell Davies, an hour long monodrama for soprano, and the soprano lead in Jack Beeson’s opera Dr. Heidegger’s Fountain of Youth, both performed with the American Chamber Opera. Ms. Vardaman and pianist/fellow alumnus, Marc Peloquin, began a recital partnership in 1997. Their strong commitment to the development of American art song brought about the premieres of works by Nils Vigeland, Christopher Vassiliades, Nathaniel Drake, Eric Samuelson and Jack Beeson. During the 1998–99 season in New York City, they performed three new programs ending the season with a gala event at Merkin Concert Hall where they premiered Jack Beeson’s "operina" Practice in the Art of Elocution. Highlights of Ms. Vardaman’s 1999–2000 recital season included a return to the Chicago Cultural Center and in May a trip to the island of Guam where she sang a concert and taught master classes. From 1992–1995 Ms. Vardaman performed with the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players. At home and on tour she sang eight of the G&S heroines to considerable audience and critical acclaim. In January 2000 she returned to the company to again play the title role in Princess Ida. Other favorite roles include Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, especially a production in New York City with guest star John Astin and that of Elsie Maynard in The Yeomen of the Guard. Since 1996 she was a member of Serenata, a trio with flute and harp. In July 2000, they gave a concert as part of the prestigious Sunken Garden Poetry Festival in Farmington, Connecticut. Ms. Vardaman has performed with the American Chamber Opera, the Augusta Opera, and at Wolf Trap and has recordings on the Opus One, North/South and Newport Classics labels. She taught voice at the Kingsborough campus of the City University of New York from 1989–1995 and chaired the Voice Department of the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division.

Emanuel Vardi (former MSM faculty) passed away on January 29, 2010. (more information to come)

David Wells, alumnus (BM’51, cello / MM’55, music education) and former faculty, passed away onAugust 7, 2012. He was 85. Mr. Wells co-founded the Yellow Barn Music Schooland Festival in Vermont and was a well respected teacher and cellist. He wasespecially known for his interpretations of the Bach Cello Suites and touredextensively with his pianist wife Janet in the Wells Duo. Born in East Chicago,Indiana, Wells began playing the cello when he was nine, and studied atManhattan School of Music with Diran Alexanian and Raya Garbousova. Heperformed as a soloist and chamber musician, and was a former member of theManhattan Trio, the Hartt Quartet, and the Columbia Concert Trio.  In 1969, after moving to Putney, Vermont,Wells and his wife founded Yellow Barn. What began as an informal summerretreat for Wells’s students at Manhattan School of Music, evolved into aleading chamber music performance and training center. Wells also taught at theHartt School of Music and most recently at New England Conservatory.

Earl Wild (former piano faculty) passed away on January 23, 2010. “Mr. Wild, with his shock of white hair and his high-energy performance style, could seem a flamboyant presence on the concert stage,” writes Allan Kozinn in The New York Times. “But although he reveled in bravura works — splashy Liszt operatic transcriptions, for example, and concertos by Rachmaninoff — his performances consistently combined a deeply considered interpretive approach and an ironclad technique. Even into his 90s, his performances projected both power and musicality.” 

William “Bill” Zakariasen (undergraduate studies 1953-54) passed away on September 4, 2004. A music critic, Zakariasen began his career as a classical tenor in the late 1950s, appearing in operas and in concerts. He sometimes performed under the name William Saxon. In the early 1970s he moved away from performance into the field of journalism, establishing himself as a respected Manhattan-based music critic. In 1976 he became the chief classical-music critic of the New York Daily News where he worked for the next seventeen years. After leaving the New York Daily News in 1993 he became the classical-music/opera critic for The Westsider/Chelsea Clinton News in 1994. He remained in that position until his death in 2004 in New York City. Zakariasen was also a repete contributor of articles to Opera News magazine and to New York Concert Review. 

Torrie Zito (composition studies 1958) passed away on December 3, 2009. He was 76. Mr. Zito, who started out as a jazz pianist in the bebop mold of Bud Powell, found lasting success as an arranger and orchestrator proficient in a wide variety of styles, with a special flair for string writing. After working with Perry Como on his album “Lightly Latin” (1966) and with the flutist Herbie Mann on “The Herbie Mann String Album” (1967), to take two examples from early in his arranging career, he provided the string orchestrations for the John Lennon album “Imagine.” This adaptability put him in demand with singers as different as Morgana King, Liza Minnelli, Carly Simon and the operatic baritone Samuel Ramey. He also did arranging for Doc Severinsen’s band on “The Tonight Show.” His most enduring musical relationship was with Mr. Bennett, who hired him as a pianist, conductor and arranger in 1967. For the next seven years, Mr. Zito toured with Mr. Bennett. Their work together can be heard on more than a dozen Bennett albums, most recently on “A Swingin’ Christmas,” which was released last year and has been nominated for a Grammy Award. In an e-mail message, Mr. Bennett said that Mr. Zito “gave me the greatest musical education I ever had.” In his early 20s he moved to Manhattan, where he took classes at the Manhattan School of Music and came to the attention of the renowned arranger Marion Evans, who taught him informally. Mr. Zito’s work with the saxophonist James Moody on the album “Moody With Strings” (1961) and with Darin on the album “Love Swings” (1961) led to projects with Mann and with Como on “The Perry Como Show” and on record. Soon after, he teamed up with Mr. Bennett. “I became more interested in the ballad kind of writing for orchestra, as opposed to jazz band, or even jazz band and orchestra combined,” Mr. Zito told the writer Les Tomkins in 1974, in an interview that can now be found on the Web site Jazz Professional. “When I got really attuned to the orchestral thing, I was greatly influenced by the Impressionists — Debussy, Ravel, Fauré, etc. — and somehow I tried to marry that within the pop thing.” His gauzy, Impressionist-influenced arrangements for Ms. King on the album “A Taste of Honey” (1964) caught the ear of Sinatra, who hired him to arrange two songs, for a 50-piece orchestra, from the 1965 musical “Skyscraper”: “Everybody Has the Right to Be Wrong” and “I Only Miss Her When I Think of Her.” Mr. Zito often collaborated on recordings with his wife, the jazz singer Helen Merrill, who survives him. Pop singers venturing into retro territory made a beeline for Mr. Zito, who did arrangements for Carly Simon’s album “Film Noir” (1997) and George Michael’s “Songs From the Last Century” (1999). More recently he did arrangements for Clay Aiken’s “Merry Christmas With Love” (2004).




 

CLASSES OF 1960–1969