Bob and Mabelle Pizzutiello have found joy and purpose in supporting collaborative programs at the University of Rochester.

“Most human beings are not monolithic,” says Bob Pizzutiello ’77, ’78 (MS), “They enjoy different perspectives.” He and his wife Mabelle Pizzutiello ’63N, P’89 support many programs at the University of Rochester, with their interests spanning the arts, sciences, and healthcare, as well as those focused on equity, diversity, and inclusion, but the is one of the most unique.

Finding intersections between music and science comes naturally for Bob who pursued a degree in electrical engineering but also made time to study the physics of music. His education at the University of Rochester allowed him to explore the interconnection between his broad interests. When he first came to Rochester in 1973, a teenage Bob had the impression that he would be done learning at the end of college. Instead, those years launched a lifelong career of discovery.

Bob recognizes the valuable life skills that he gained at Rochester—how to think and solve problems. As a Joseph C. Wilson Scholar, Bob had the opportunity to take any course across the University, and he made the most of it. In addition to his undergraduate workload, he took classes in the School of Medicine and Dentistry, which were foundational for him and his future work.

He credits his full scholarship for not only making it possible to pursue his education, but to find a career. At the age of 23, he completed a master’s degree, and he started his first real job at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Bob spent his career working in community hospitals as a medical physicist, while also bringing his learnings about physics and technology into the national discussion, as an advisor to the Food and Drug Administration. He founded and led Upstate Medical Physics, a regional practice, and was the senior vice president of Landauer Medical Physics, a national organization, collaborating with medical physicists to deliver services to individual health care facilities and larger integrated delivery networks. He is also a past president of the New York State Radiological Society.

Violinist Alexandra Cutler-Fetkewicz ’99E, ’02E (MM) expands music career and serves the community

Share a bit about yourself! What are you up to now?

Since graduating with my master’s degree, so much has happened in my professional life, that it is tough to choose what to highlight! I have made a career as a performer, recording artist, arranger, and contractor, and it seems the list of my musical endeavors is ever-expanding, something I attribute to the worldly music education I received at Eastman.

I have shared the stage with many big stars, from The Who, to Lauryn Hill, to Earth, Wind, and Fire, and many others. I have contributed to a Grammy-nominated album, and I am also the co-owner and founder of an entertainment contracting and production company called Philly Music Lab which I started with a close friend from ESM in 2015, Samantha Wittchen. Last summer, I had the honor of performing as a featured soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony, alongside Pittsburgh rapper Frzy, as the orchestra performed my original arrangement of the hip hop song co-written by Frzy and I called “What Do I Know” for the city’s Juneteenth celebration.ÌęIn addition to my performing and recording activities, I am extremely proud to serve the music community as vice president and co-chair of membership for the Philadelphia Chapter of the Recording Academy.

After finishing my degrees, I had always hoped to move back to the incredible music town that is my hometown of Philadelphia, so after a couple of years freelancing (Albany Symphony, Binghamton Philharmonic, and many regional gigs), I did just that, and am still based in Philly. However, as life is unpredictable, just before leaving Rochester, I was severely injured in a hit-and-run motor vehicle accident. This completely derailed my life and career, and I was told (erroneously) that I would never play professionally again. If not for my incredible family, and one special doctor who believed in me, I likely would have wound up in a very dire set of circumstances. After a long recovery, I began to play again little by little and won a position in the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, where I still perform.

What are your most cherished memories from the University of Rochester?

My most cherished memories from my time at Eastman include the years of incredible teaching, friendship, and mentorship I received from my beloved violin teacher, the inimitable Oleh Krysa. He taught me to believe in my talent, no matter where it would take me, and to honor and respect it. We still talk, and his teaching still guides my playing every day. One incredibly important moment for me during my time at ESM was my appointment as concertmaster when John Williams came to conduct a program of his music. I performed the solos from many of his films (on the Vuillaume violin owned by the school), including “Schindler’s List,” “Far and Away,” “The Reivers,” and more, to a standing-room-only audience in Eastman Theater. It remains a highlight of my career.

My membership in the professional fraternity Mu Phi Epsilon afforded me relationships with other musicians who still guide me in connecting and working with others in our industry today. The camaraderie we established allowed us to work together to help others, bringing music to the community while making life-long friendships along the way. Eastman is a place where many of my current collegial and personal relationships within the music world originated, and I am always proud and excited to work with fellow alumni. I also spent a great deal of time at Java’s, mostly practicing in the boiler room there instead of in the Annex at school. Yes, the boiler room. You’d be surprised how inspiring an industrial-looking space can be for practicing! Shout out to Mike Calabrese and his staff for keeping us caffeinated and working hard!

How did your experience at the University of Rochester influence your life?

I was awarded significant scholarships for both degrees, which allowed me to use part of my grad school loans to purchase the amazing violin I now own. Eastman allowed me to succeed, not only by affording me that financial flexibility, but by giving me the tools to grow my music business acumen. There were hardly any other conservatories offering arts leadership, so when the ALP program began during my undergrad, I quickly started taking advantage of that resource. Without courses like “Music Business Law 101,” or “How to Survive and Thrive in the Arts,” frankly, without teachers like Ramon Ricker, Adrian Daly, or Fred Sturm, I’m not sure where my career would have wound up. They all gave me the critical tools needed to work as a musician, not just be one.

What sparked your initial interest in volunteering with the University? What role(s) have you held?

Serving my community is important to me, so I volunteer with the Philadelphia Network Leadership Council (NLC) to help create more connections for Philadelphia area alumni and to help the University identify where we may have continuing opportunities for them.

What advice do you have for fellow alumni and friends who may be interested in taking a more active role in our alumni and friends’ community?

I would advise fellow alumni to get involved. We have a support system in place as a community of alumni of this great school, and when we show up for each other, we can work together and achieve great things. Also, I believe that networking is a very important part of being a successful performing artist, and a very important part of achieving representation. We need you in these rooms, and we need your voices to be heard.ÌęÌę

What’s the most rewarding part of staying connected with your alma mater?

The most rewarding part of staying connected to ESM is the continued support and development of initiatives to push our art form into the future while preserving its integrity. I feel so fortunate to have received the well-rounded music education I did and love seeing my fellow alums thrive and have great success. I’m writing this while attending the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles this week, and am proud that I will see more than one alumnus of Eastman being honored for their work and talent.

If you’d like to learn more about what Alexandra and her team are doing, visit and for more info.

Meet violinist and Global Leadership Council member Vivien Goh ’69E

Share a bit about yourself! What are you up to now?

I graduated with a bachelor of music in violin performance from the Eastman School. After graduation, I returned to Singapore and performed actively on stage, radio, and television in Singapore and the region. I taught violin classes in public schools and had a private violin studio until 2017. I was the founding music director and resident conductor of the Singapore Youth Orchestra from 1980-1990.

Currently, I am retired but still teach a chamber music class at the School of the Arts. I am an organist and choir director at the Wesley Methodist Church and sit on the Boards of the Youth Orchestra and the Music Conservatory. I am involved in projects to mentor young musicians. I am an avid walker in the various parks in Singapore and also on my travels in the UK, Europe, Japan, and New Zealand.

What are your most cherished memories from your time at the University of Rochester?

At Eastman, I was involved in so many musical activities that were not available in Singapore in the 1960s, like playing in a full Symphony Orchestra and being part of chamber music groups. The opportunity to listen to famous musicians “live” at school and on campus provided many moments of inspiration.

What University resources or initiatives were most impactful to your next steps after graduating?

The Sibley Library was and remains one of the great collections of music scores and audio recordings. The Eastman Theatre and Kilbourn Hall were thrilling to perform in. I was loaned a precious Italian violin – a G.B. Guadagnini – to use in my senior year.

How did your experience at the University of Rochester influence your life?

My experiences in the Eastman Orchestras, playing under various conductors and guest conductors and composers like Stravinsky and Khachaturian shaped my activities as conductor of the Singapore Youth Orchestra, as did my intensive activities as a member of the Eastman Honors Quartet. The Suzuki Method was first introduced at Eastman when I was there. I used the concepts of this method in my teaching. Listening to great musicians of the day “live” was a great inspiration.

What sparked your initial interest in volunteering with the University? What role(s) have you held?

My time spent in Rochester had a great influence on my life and I wanted to share this experience with aspiring young musicians in Singapore who were looking for a university education. Currently, I am on the Global Leadership Council.

What advice do you have for fellow alumni and friends who may be interested in taking a more active role in our alumni and friends’ community?

Being involved in this community brings you together with many alumni from different faculties and professions which broadens your horizons. It is also rewarding to help steer young students toward fulfilling their aspirations.

What’s the most rewarding part of staying connected with your alma mater?

I enjoy many of the live-streamed concerts from Eastman and webinars on a wide range of topics. It is fulfilling to know that I can help future students experience what I did at the University.

Meet musician and film producer Jeff Pifher ’07E

Share a bit about yourself! What are you up to now?

After lots of schooling including Eastman, University of Miami, and University of Southern California, I began my career in Los Angeles where I still reside. Recently I have released four recordings with my band called Socrates’ Trial. We perform my original music. I like to compose what I call “cinematic jazz”. It’s a combination of film score elements such as soaring melodies played alongside an orchestra with long improvised solos by all members of the band. I perform at venues such as Catalina Jazz Club here in Los Angeles and my band has been a featured guest at the Jazz Education Network Conference this past year.

As a music and film producer, I have produced a short film documentary entitled In the Same Direction: Jeff Pifher & Socrates’ Trial which chronicles my band and our latest projects garnering 24 “Best Documentary” and “Best Music” awards from film festivals worldwide. Most recently I have finished production on Somewhere, a short film musical centering around immigration reform featuring cast members from Wicked, Glee, American Idol, The Voice, and America’s Got Talent. I am the composer, lyricist, and executive producer for the film which has won “Best Musical” at NoHo Cinefest here in Los Angeles. In 2020, I produced Writing for Strings Masterclass featuring arrangements of my original music by Harlan Hodges (Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, League of Legends).

I am a member of the Recording Academy, Society of Composers and Lyricists, and several other entertainment organizations. I have also had the privilege to be a teaching artist with the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz outreach program Jazz in the Classroom.

What are your most cherished memories from your time at the University of Rochester?

Many of my fondest memories include making music with such incredible musicians and the late-night discussions about how to learn and be creative. Often my peers and I would engage in these lengthy debates that revealed how each one of us was similar but also strikingly different. Many of our goals were the same but how we went about achieving them was a unique learning experience for each of us. Sharing stories while eating at the cafeteria, making trips to the River Campus to use the exercise facilities, taking long walks in the freezing temperatures to get a favorite food fix, watching friends perform music and being inspired to reach for more, helping out lost visitors during audition weekends, and laughing until you cry about the nerdiest music jokes are all cherished memories from my time at Eastman.

How did campus life and any co-curricular involvement (clubs, organizations, teams, etc.) impact your personal and professional growth?

Part of my daily routine was to travel from the Eastman campus to the River Campus to use the University exercise facilities. While there, I was able to engage with students studying different fields and participate in other activities such as festivals and gatherings. This experience allowed me to get out of my own head, gain more perspective, and begin to hone my networking skills. As a performer, producer, educator, and member of the entertainment community in Los Angeles, these are extremely useful if not essential skills.

Did the University offer any resources or initiatives that helped you transition smoothly into the workforce?

While I did not reach out to or receive direct help from the University administration when I began establishing a performing career in Los Angeles, it was through my fellow Eastman alumni that I was able to secure my first opportunities. Currently, I am benefiting from the University by volunteering and staying involved.

How did your experience at the University of Rochester influence your life?

Teachers at Eastman are some of the best around. I learned so much from a music and career perspective from them however, what has had the most influence on my life is what I learned from my peers. Through discussions and daily interactions with my Eastman peers, I learned not only “how to learn” but how I learn best. I was able to witness firsthand the daily dedication and discipline needed to succeed in the entertainment industry. These are traits that are now a part of my daily life and that I employ throughout my endeavors.

What sparked your initial interest in volunteering with the University? What role(s) have you held?

Connecting with local leaders in the community initially fueled my interest in volunteering with the University. I have been able to meet so many incredible people who are making notable contributions. I have been able to get involved in rewarding experiences that are a direct result of volunteering with the University and being a member of the University of Rochester Network Leader Council.

What advice do you have for fellow alumni and friends who may be interested in taking a more active role in our alumni and friends’ community?

This alumni and friends community is so welcoming so don’t be afraid to get involved, take initiative, and share your ideas. Let your passion for giving and connecting shine through!

What’s the most rewarding part of staying connected with your alma mater?Ìę

There are several aspects of staying connected that I find rewarding. Being able to give back through different University-sponsored events by helping others make connections, building and expanding this strong community, and supporting other alumni to reach their goals has been a truly rewarding experience that also fills me with a sense of pride to be an alumnus of the University of Rochester.

Artist and musician Dave Chisholm ’13E (DMA) presents a graphic novel on jazz legend Miles Davis.

Dave Chisholm ’13E (DMA) became fascinated with Miles Davis as a child listening to his parents’ jazz records. At 11, he started playing the trumpet, and in college and at the , he studied Davis and other jazz greats.

Now the jazz trumpeter, composer, and visual artist has realized a dream: crafting a graphic novel about the legendary musician, with participation from Davis’s own family members. In collaboration with Z2 Comics and the Miles Davis estate, Chisholm has published Miles Davis and the Search for Sound, a brilliantly colored, 150-plus-page exploration of Davis’s storied life and career, told through the jazz icon’s own words.

Chisholm and Z2 had previously collaborated on several jazz-themed books, including Chasin’ the Bird, a graphic novel about Charlie Parker, which piqued the interest of Davis’s son, Erin. As Erin Davis writes in the foreword to Chisholm’s latest book, “I was completely drawn in by Dave’s approach to Bird’s story.”

Erin Davis was connected with Z2 to explore the idea of a similar book about his father. When the project got under way, Chisholm spent several months researching and scripting the story, and nine or so months more creating the artwork. Erin Davis and Miles’s nephew, Vincent, provided Chisholm some additional insights along the way, with Vincent sharing recollections of visits to see “Uncle Miles” in New York City.

The title of the book alludes to Davis’s lifelong quest for sound. Raised in East St. Louis, Illinois, he made visits to see extended family in rural Arkansas. There, he was captivated by the sounds of blues, gospel, and honky-tonk coming from the homes he walked by. Those early experiences sparked Davis’s relentless innovation in the pursuit of “that” sound, Chisholm explains.

Later in life, after Davis suffered a debilitating stroke that left his right hand temporarily paralyzed, his doctor handed him a pencil, encouraging him to draw as a form of therapy to regain hand strength. “The pencil gave him another voice,” says Chisholm.

In his foreword, Erin Davis tells how Miles’s capacity for expressing himself through his artwork grew. “He went deep into sketching with pencils, pens, and light markers, eventually filling up dozens (maybe hundreds) of sketchbooks,” he writes. “To me, his fine-line work really has its own identity that speaks to the viewer like his trumpet and his music speak to the listener.”

Chisholm has a similar, innate grasp of the connection between visual and sound art. He adapted his artistic style to mirror the diverse phases of Davis’s music, as chronicled in the narrative.

For the text, Chisholm drew from a wealth of published interviews and Davis’s autobiography. Davis’s unapologetic and candid self-portrayal inspired Chisholm to use the icon’s own words, allowing readers to delve into Davis’s intricate character. “Davis was such a complicated person, gifted musically but with his share of personal challenges,” Chisholm says.

If Davis could have read the book, Chisholm would like to think he would have appreciated seeing his candor reflected. And what does Chisholm hope readers take away? “If readers put down this novel and then want to learn more about Miles Davis and jazz music, I’d be happy.”

Chris Foley ’94E (DMA) and Tyler Ramos ’22E (DMA) share their experience as Eastman alumni, mentorship partners, and music collaborators

In the world of music education and performance, two alumni from the , and not only excel as musicians, performers, and educators but also as mentorship partners.

Foley, a Canadian residing just outside of Toronto, is an eight-time mentor with , and Ramos, from Honolulu, Hawai’i, has benefited from the program twice as a mentee. In October 2022, the two were matched through The Meliora Collective. The two then began their mentor-mentee relationship, one that included something unexpected: Foley performing the Canadian premiere of one of Ramos’s original arrangements.

“Our mentorship program provides enriching opportunities for all participants to learn, expand their networks, and gain new perspectives,” says Michelle Cavalcanti, senior associate director of Career and Professional Affinity Programs at the University. “Remarkable connections, like the one between Chris and Tyler, often form in the program. We invite everyone to discover more and sign up as either a mentor or mentee—each of us has something to offer and much to gain by participating.”

The backstory

Following the official conclusion of the three-month mentorship program, Foley and Ramos remained in contact. It was during one of their conversations that Ramos shared a new composition: an arrangement of . This piece, a fusion of Queen Liliʻuokalani’s 1878 Hawaiian folk song and the classical style of Franz Liszt, deeply impressed Foley—he knew he had to play the piece. A few months later, Foley brought this composition to life during a performance at an Ontario Registered Music Teachers Association recital.

“Playing my mentee’s work at a concert was never in the mentorship handbook, but it was a lot of fun, and the audience loved it,” says Foley. He adds that both he and Ramos hope to collaborate again in the future.

The Eastman difference

Participating in this mentorship program has allowed Foley to give back to the community that has given him so much. He stresses the value of Eastman’s expansive global alumni network, saying, “After completing my doctorate, some of my initial opportunities came through fellow Eastman graduates—they literally helped me get my career started.”

Foley emphasizes that true mentorship goes beyond developing task lists, reviewing professional documents, and providing job-hunting tips. “Understanding a person’s aspirations, cultural background, and educational experience is essential,” he says. “From that foundation, we can engage in genuine, meaningful conversations that can facilitate personal and professional growth.”

In addition to being a mentor, Foley has also benefited from being a mentee. —professor emerita of piano accompanying and chamber music at Eastman and one of Foley’s early teachers—was a particularly influential one. Decades after meeting her, Barr still offers guidance to Foley, which, he notes, is important for those mid-career like him.

“Jean is the greatest mentor I’ve ever had,” he says. “She gave me advice that I pass on to mentees today: make long-term connections and find people you absolutely trust. They will help you throughout your career and guide you when you go through challenging professional experiences.”

For Ramos, his first time as a mentee with the program connected him with Eastman alumnus , a bassoonist and faculty member at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance. Vacchi, helped Ramos realize that his professional path could encompass more than “just” being one type of musician. “The program, through both Steve and Chris, has broadened my perspective,” he says. “I’ve learned that my career doesn’t have to be narrowly defined—that it can be as diverse and encompassing as the range of instruments I play.”

Like Foley, Ramos appreciates being part of Eastman’s strong alumni community and has found value in being both a mentee and informally mentoring others. For instance, he has provided advice to undergraduate students, encouraging them to build strong friendships and find supportive allies in the competitive music world. “Giving back and supporting others doesn’t ever diminish one’s own success,” he adds. “It brings out the best in everyone.”

Cavalcanti underscores the mutual benefits of mentorship. “Our mentees get to connect with alumni whose career paths aren’t strictly linear, helping them envision career opportunities they may never have considered,” she says. “Our mentors benefit, too—refining their leadership and communication skills, forging new connections, and helping people reach their career goals.”

Are reports of the marching band’s last hurrah greatly exaggerated?

I was both surprised and very pleased to see the photo of Yellowjacket marching band members in the Fall 2022 issue of Rochester Review and both interested and sad to learn of the probable year of the band’s demise. I had been wondering for decades about when the band stopped functioning. Can you tell me why the band was discontinued?

—Harrington (Kit) Crissey Jr. ’66

Letters from alumni of the 1970s to Review also dispute the end date of the marching band proposed in the Fall 2022 issue, echoing a 1974 Campus Times letter from Michael Horowitz ’77: “Perhaps few people realize it, but the UR Marching Band is alive and well.” And so it would be—for about another decade.

The end of the band can probably be attributed to several factors, including competition from other activities and funding. Considered a student group providing a service to the University, the band could not receive Students’ Association funding and relied on an academic department—or in this case, two departments: music and athletics. In the September 20, 1982, Campus-Times, Sharmila Mathur ’85 reported that athletics became the band’s sole sponsor in spring 1981 but lacked a budget line to support it. With practice time in Fauver Stadium scarce, there was less stepping on the field and more pepping in the stands, and the baton was passed to the Varsity Pep Band, which continued to “create spirit in the fans by displaying spirit” as noted in the 1985 Interpres.

The origins of the University’s marching band—or perhaps the marching University Band—are no clearer than its coda.

In the Winter 1984 issue of Review, Frederick Fennell ’37E ’39E (MM), ’88 (Honorary) recounted his role in starting the band. “It was on a September afternoon just fifty years ago last fall when I, a pea-green Eastman School freshman . . . hiked over to the new River Campus to found the University of Rochester Marching Band.”

While hesitating to suggest Fennell was beating his own drum, there is considerable evidence that an organization known as the University Band, which performed and marched at football games, predated his Rochester arrival by some 25 years.

“Our University band should be the rallying point for our improved cheering and for the rendering of our really good college songs,” announced the November 18, 1908, Campus newspaper. In the years that follow, information about the band appears sporadically; each successive article announces a new band almost as though there had been no previous group.

Thus the October 1926 issue of Rochester Review trumpeted the news to alumni: “A praiseworthy addition to student life is a new University band, which made its initial appearance of the season at the Clarkson game, strikingly garbed in yellow jersies (sic), blue sailor trousers, and blue toques with yellow tassels . . . The band was organized by [Eastman School of Music professor] Sherman A. Clute . . . with the co-operation of Matthew D. Lawless, ’09 . . . and Eugene Loewenthal, ’28, student manager.”

The next Review issue pointed out that “quite aside from the rendition of music . . . [the band] is providing a definite tie-up between the college and the Eastman School of Music. Only about one-third of the band members are students of the college; the remaining two-thirds are from the School of Music.”

Home games were played at University Field, in the area where East High School is currently located—bounded by Culver Road, East Main Street, Ohio Street, and Atlantic Avenue. When the River Campus opened in the fall of 1930, the band, directed by Theodore Fitch, Class of 1922, joined the football team in the new Varsity Stadium. (The stadium was named for Edwin Fauver in 1951 and is now part of the Brian F. Prince Athletic Complex.)

Fennell took over the marching band in early 1934, and by all accounts (not just his own), the ensemble was a rousing success even after he passed on the baton about a decade later. In the off-season, he converted the group into a true University Band. Fennell directed its first concert in Strong Auditorium, won Eastman director Howard Hanson’s approval, and embarked on one of the University’s most illustrious careers.

Fennell’s reminiscence may resonate with that of other marching band alumni: “Whatever has happened to me in the fifty years since then, no matter where, when, or with whom, all dates from that beautiful early-autumn afternoon with my own first group. And I don’t intend, ever, to forget it.”

Ask the Archivist features a question for Melissa Mead, the John M. and Barbara Keil University Archivist and Rochester Collections Librarian.

A year-long teaching post at the Eastman School of Music provided Martha Graham with “a new adventure of seeking” that would prove pivotal to her place as a pioneering dancer and choreographer, according to a new biography.

As a scholar and author, Neil Baldwin ’69 willingly expresses an affinity for the currents of American culture that lead to reinvention—older currents being reconfigured and recast in new ways.

If through lines can be found in his life’s work as poet, critic, and biographer, that might be one. The former founding executive director of the National Book Foundation and now a professor emeritus at Montclair State University, Baldwin has written highly regarded books about poet and physician William Carlos Williams, visual artist Man Ray, inventor Thomas Edison, and auto magnate Henry Ford, among others.

A new biography of modern American dance icon Martha Graham—the first in more than 30 years—seemed a logical addition to that pantheon.

“I felt like [Graham] had been left out of the narrative that I’ve been creating for my whole life about American art,” Baldwin says. “I thought, ‘Wait a second . . . what about dance? I did art. I did literature. I did technology.’”

“At a rather late point in my career, I suddenly am hit over the head with this physical nature of modernism, movement- wise, and how she used her body to create a new aesthetic,” he says. “Again, the key note is new, to make it new, as Ezra Pound says, to carve space and to create shapes with the body that no one’s ever done before—Graham was the pioneer of physicality.”

After more than a decade of research and dozens of interviews with Graham dancers— former and current—Baldwin published Martha Graham, When Dance Became Modern: A Life in 2022.

Listed in many year-end round-ups as one of the best books of the year, the biography recounts Graham’s creative life, from growing up in Pittsburgh to her status as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.

Among the many institutions where Graham left a lasting mark was the Eastman School of Music. From the fall of 1925 to the spring 1926, Graham participated in an innovative, but short-lived, program of “dance and dramatic action” at Eastman.

“She was hired with the express reassurance that she was going to do something different than just conventional ballet at Eastman. And she welcomed that,” Baldwin says. “In terms of the theme of the book, “When Dance Became Modern,” that’s really important because the roots of her modern mode can definitely be traced to that year.”

What brought Graham to Eastman?

At that point, she was starting to develop her own choreographic style of movement. And when she was hired by Rouben Mamoulian who was the head of a newly established school of dance and dramatic action under George Eastman, she was told that she could use the class to experiment in developing her individual technique, which is what she was really itching to do at that point.

She had paid her dues in vaudeville and as a showgirl. She had traveled back and forth across the country and performed in all these little towns from east to west and north to south with Ted Shawn and Ruth St. Denis and their dance company.

Did she have a plan in mind as she joined the faculty?

When she left the Greenwich Village Follies and moved beyond vaudeville, she said she wanted to create her own dances in her own body and that was crucial to the Eastman residency. Intrinsic to the origin of modern dance, is there was no formal, pre-existing repertory. There’s no, “Oh, let’s do Swan Lake.” Everybody has the pattern and the narrative and the staging of Swan Lake to follow, whereas Graham was concocting dances from simple, pedestrian movements like walking, running, skipping, and leaping and drawing upon her students’ inner energy to make new movement patterns come to life.

Is it fair to say the roots of the Martha Graham Dance Company can be traced to her time at Eastman?

Three Eastman students—Evelyn Sabin, Betty Macdonald, and Thelma Biracree—were the nucleus of what became her company. Looking back upon that nascent period, which was less than a year, she was teaching in New York City at John Murray Anderson’s school and then she would take the train up to Eastman and teach her classes and she went back and forth like that from New York to Rochester. She featured Eastman students in her New York City premiere in April 1926.

Did you work with Eastman as you were recounting Graham’s time in Rochester?

The Eastman School’s historian, Vince Lenti, and his books, for example, For the Enrichment of the Community: George Eastman and the Founding of the Eastman School of Music (Meliora Press, 2004), were very helpful. The head of special collections at the Sibley Music Library, David Peter Coppen, was also extremely helpful. Paul Horgan’s memoir of Mamoulian was a gem, as were some old Rochester Democrat and Chronicle clippings files I discovered in the Reading Room of the Library of Congress. I would say that the story of Graham’s time at Rochester is more known among the Eastman community than the larger University community.Ìę

How do you think your time as a student at Rochester set you on your path as a writer and scholar?

It was my freshman or sophomore year, when the Outside Speakers Committee brought the charismatic cultural critic Susan Sontag to campus. I don’t think she was even 30 years old. She had just published what would become her most enduring classic, Against Interpretation. I remember all of us students sitting on the floor in a circle around her. That was my first really vivid inspiration about how you could write about the alchemy of societal mores and art and performance and visual art. I still return to Against Interpretation every few years.

During my freshman year, I took a course called American Intellectual History with the brilliant, resonant-voiced, impassioned professor Loren Baritz in the history department. The startling keyword for me was “intellectual”—the core of his thesis in his book City on a Hill. That was a major cataclysmic epiphany for 18-year-old me.

Through a deep dive into an iconic album, Warren Zanes ’02 (PhD) explores a lost virtue in recorded music.

I’ve written songs almost my entire life. I became part of a roots-rock band, the Del Fuegos, in the early 1980s, when I was 17. I went to college after I left the group and continued to write songs. I was writing songs in Rochester, when I was a student in the visual and cultural studies program. Those actually became my first solo album, Memory Girls.

I’ve been working on a book, just out, about the making of a single album in 1982: Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska. Some records stay with you, and Nebraska has been that for me. It’s mysterious. It’s imperfect and unfinished. And to come out with a record like that when you’ve just been in the top 10 of the popular music charts was unthinkable. I wanted to know why he did it. And answering that question was going to take me years—until I sat down with him and got to ask. And I don’t think he has an answer fully in the can.

The imperfections in the music were significant, and I say this knowing plenty of imperfect records had come before. But that was mostly music that lived out on the margins. This was imperfect music right in the hot center of the marketplace.

One of the things that makes this record a touchstone is that around 1982 recorded music was stepping into the digital era. It was the same year Time magazine’s person of the year was the personal computer. And for music makers, the digital era was when the possibility of making perfect music became more accessible with every passing year.

When people started recording music digitally, they started looking at music as waveforms. Engineers who used to close their eyes and listen were now opening their eyes and looking. And they would see, for instance, where a vocal is off pitch. Or when the drummer starts to speed up.

The problem—and I’m going to label it a problem—is that it became harder to resist fixing the imperfections. I’m not talking about EDM [electronic dance music], which lives on the grid, but music made by human beings playing instruments in a room.

Bruce made Nebraska sitting on his bed and turning songs into recordings on a little cassette. He didn’t mean for them to go anywhere. They were meant to be a reference so he could go rerecord them. Then he said, “I don’t know what happened, but I can’t make this better. I have to put it out like this.”

Musicians did often prefer their demos to the final product. The magic of a demo was that you just focused on the song and getting to know it. There was an absence of scrutiny. In the studio, there’d be an engineer, a producer, a band—everybody looking at you.

I tell people, in addition to Nebraska, go listen to the Beach Boys’ “Wild Honey.” The Beach Boys are known for these gorgeous harmonies, and in “Wild Honey” there’s so much joy and abandon in that vocal. If that were recorded today, the engineer would really work it over.

But sometimes the best, most emotionally resonant music, isn’t perfect. It changes speed. The pitch wavers. And there’s an intimacy to that.

An Eastman keyboardist aims to capture the passion and romance of classical music as it sounded in the late 18th century.

Kristian Bezuidenhout ’01E, ’04E (MM) watched Amadeus, the 1984 semibiographical movie about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, when he was 10.

The “super lonely” child, as Bezuidenhout describes himself at that age, was “completely bamboozled by how beautiful the music was” and became obsessed both with the film and Mozart’s compositions, which he felt gave him a way to escape his solitude.

“Those feelings you have as a kid with music like that just never go away,” he says from his home in London.

Today, Bezuidenhout is a leading period-instrument keyboard player, best known for his fortepiano interpretations of the complete keyboard music of Mozart (Harmonia Mundi record label). Earlier this year, he released his 25th album—the last volume of the complete Beethoven Concertos (Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3) recorded with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra.

A regular guest with the world’s leading ensembles—and with conductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Philippe Herreweghe, Giovanni Antonini, and Daniel Harding—Bezuidenhout was named Most Exciting Young Musician for the 2005–06 season by the Dutch Federation of Music and Drama and earned a nomination in 2013 as Gramophone magazine’s Artist of the Year.

During the 2017–18 season he became an artistic director of the Freiburger Barockorchester and principal guest conductor with the English Concert.

Future projects include Bach Christmas Cantatas and Handel Dixit Dominus—both with the Freiburger Barockorchester— and the English Concert, featuring Purcell Odes and Handel Chandos.

In one music review, the New York Times wrote that Bezuidenhout’s performance of keyboard works by Mozart demonstrated the “dazzling variety of colors he can draw from his instrument.”

Bezuidenhout’s repertoire extends beyond Mozart to works by Baroque and Romantic composers, including Purcell, Handel, and Bach, to the music of Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Brahms. But Mozart has remained a main focus for the Australian/South African pianist—in part to interpret the prolific composer’s works in new ways.

“Every time I heard someone play his music, I was baffled by how terrified they sounded of doing the wrong thing,” he says. “I was determined to find a way to bring out more passion, relaxation, and romance. And I could do that on these old pianos in a way that I just never could on a Steinway.

“While there is a great deal to be learned from historical sources, an equally important aspect of my approach is based on ‘gut’ feelings; on the realization of sounds in my imagination,” he adds. “It is a highly postmodern exercise in a sense—deeply subjective and based on background and personal experience.”

Bezuidenhout says the Eastman School of Music was instrumental in allowing him to develop that trial-and-error approach as an advanced keyboard student.

He remembers “a constellation of important people” at Eastman who valued that process much more than a heavily structured curriculum.

“It was this free, open environment where there was so much experimentation,” he says. “They allowed me to be myself at a time when—at least hypothetically—other faculty might have tried to suppress these slightly fantastical tendencies.”

Those tendencies included bouncing between the fortepiano, harpsichord, flute, and chamber music.

For example, Rebecca Penneys, a professor emerita of piano and Bezuidenhout’s principal piano instructor, was “unbelievably open-minded.” Meantime, Paul O’Dette, a professor of lute, inspired him to use historical information to enliven and enrich music making. (Bezuidenhout became O’Dette’s assistant for several years). He also counts his work with Malcolm Bilson (fortepiano) and Arthur Hass (harpsichord) as deeply stimulating: “Both teachers instilled in me a newly found appreciation of the myriad possibilities offered by these instruments; they are both scrupulous stylists, too—remarkable.”

“We were renegades in a way,” he says of himself and his peers, “with the consent of our teachers.”

That preference for unconventionality paid off. The year Bezuidenhout received his bachelor’s degree, he recorded his first disc of Mozart, titled Sturm und Drang, and captured first prize at the prestigious Bruges Fortepiano Competition.

About 60 percent of Bezuidenhout’s typical music season is solo work, which he finds the most demanding. When recently preparing to perform the Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 for the first time, he spent between five and six hours a day for several weeks before he felt ready.

He also performs chamber music—the accompaniment of vocal repertoire is a particular source of joy—and collaborates with musicians such as tenor Mark Padmore, Carolyn Sampson, Anne Sofie von Otter, and Isabelle Faust.

“It’s a fantastic mix,” he says. “I could never get bored because there’s such constant variety in this field. I always wanted a career that would challenge me in many different directions.”

For another challenge, Bezuidenhout is thinking about buying a harpsichord so that he can delve into the instrument more deeply. He’s looking forward to several years of intense training and possible future recordings including the Bach Harpsichord Concertos (with single strings).

But it needs to be the right kind of training—the kind he received generously at Eastman at a time when he was trying to build a child’s dream into what would become a professional career.

“It was an entire atmosphere of collective acceptance and flexibility,” he says. “I had that in a complete sense from everyone I came across there.”