Distinguished English conductor and composer Sir Eugene Goossens (1893-1962) served as the first permanent conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1923 until 1931. During these years, he served on the Eastman faculty, helping to start and shape its conducting, orchestra, and opera programs. Known as a master interpreter of the Romantic and Impressionist repertoire, he also composed prolifically. His compositional and interpretive skill for opera, ballet, symphonic, and chamber music took him around the world, with posts as conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Covent Garden Opera and Ballet, and in Australia as director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the New South Wales Conservatorium. In 1951, he published his memoirs, Overture and Beginners: A Musical Autobiography, and he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1955.
Eastman School of Music
