For Women’s History Month in March – and in observance of today’s International Women’s Day – we’ve chosen several women from the long list of outstanding women in Eastman history … representing the past, present, and future. (And remember that you can enjoy the work of many more women composers, performers, and scholars during Eastman’s Women in Music Festival this month, from March 21-25.)
Claron McFadden ’82E was the first recipient of Eastman’s William Warfield Scholarship, named after the famous American baritone who was also an Eastman graduate (in 1942). She attended Eastman’s Community Education Division, moving on to the collegiate division. After her graduation in 1982, Claron moved to the Netherlands and has developed a prominent career in Europe, particularly as an interpreter of early music and contemporary music. She has sung with the Netherlands Opera, Covent Garden, and Glyndebourne Opera, and won a Gramophone Award for her recording of Harrison Birtwistle’s Pulse Shadow. She’s also an accomplished jazz performer. In 2020 the Netherlands named Claron a Knight of the Order of Nassau Orange.
The noted percussionist and educator Ruth Cahn ‘68E taught at Eastman for many years in our collegiate and community education divisions, as well as directing our Summer Session program from 2000 to 2011. Her students perform in the Chicago, Atlanta, and San Francisco Opera orchestras. Ruth was also a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra for 35 years and the Chautauqua Symphony orchestra for 12 years. In 2013 Ruth received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the percussive Arts Society of America for demonstrating the highest ideals and professional integrity in percussion education and pedagogy.
The prolific Augusta Read Thomas, one of the most frequently commissioned and performed contemporary American composers, taught at Eastman from 1993 to 2001 and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2007. Her music has been championed by such internationally noted musicians as Pierre Boulez, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Daniel Barenboim, and performed by such groups as the Martha Graham Dance Company and the Santa Fe Opera. Her teaching career is equally distinguished. “Gusty” recently revisited Eastman to hear the premiere of her commissioned work, Dance Mobile, with Musica Nova; she received an Eastman Centennial Award.
Jean Barr is Professor Emerita of Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music at Eastman and taught here from 1988 to 2019. The first keyboard artist in the United States to be awarded a doctoral degree in accompanying, Professor Barr is a pioneer in her field of collaborative performance. Her many awards include Eastman’s Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching, the University’s Susan B. Anthony Lifetime Achievement Award, and the MTNA Achievement Award.
Erin Hannigan ‘96E (MM) is the Principal Oboe of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and was previously a member of the Rochester Philharmonic and guest principal oboist with many other orchestras. A co-founder of the nonprofit Artists for Animals and a leader in applying the arts to community outreach, Erin has earned the “Ford Award for Excellence in Community Service” and Eastman’s Distinguished Alumni Award.
Ruth Taiko Watanabe ‘52E, Eastman’s Sibley Music Librarian from 1947 to 1984, is considered one of the greatest twentieth-century librarians in her field. Brought to Eastman by Howard Hanson during World War II, she later recalled: “Dr. Hanson encouraged me to do anything I wanted … to bring the library into a position of leadership … There were such riches to be had, and it was simply delightful to spend the University’s money for such a magnificent cause.” The Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections at the Sibley Music Library is named for her.
Having just celebrated her 101st birthday in January 2022, Jeanette Korris ‘43E is one of our oldest living alumnae. A longtime music educator and violinist in the Buffalo area, she still plays – and performed on Zoom for her 100th birthday in 2021! In a recent Eastman Notes interview she said: “[Eastman] enabled me to do what I love for a career; it has been so rewarding to bring the joy of music to children.”
Doriot Anthony Dwyer, whose 100th birthday fell on March 6 and who died in 2020, was one of the first women to be awarded principal chair for a major American orchestra. (Susan B. Anthony was an ancestor on her father’s side of the family.) She was the principal flute for the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1952 until 1990 and an Adjunct Professor of Music at Boston University. She can be heard as an orchestral soloist and chamber musician on many recordings by the BSO and BSO Chamber Players. She performed the American premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Halil in 1981 and the world premiere of Walter Piston’s Flute Concerto in 1971.
Conductor Nicole Paiement ‘88E (DMA) has gained an international reputation as a conductor of contemporary music and opera. Her numerous recordings include many world premiere works. Founder and Artistic Director of San Francisco’s Opera Parallèle, Paiement was awarded American Composer’s Forum’s “Champion of New Music Award” for her outstanding contributions to contemporary music in 2016.
The mezzo-soprano Jan De Gaetani, who taught at Eastman from 1973 until her death in 1989, was considered one of America’s greatest recital singers and an outstanding teacher. Especially renowned for premiering, recording, and championing contemporary repertoire, she premiered the now-classic Ancient Voices of Children by the late George Crumb, and recorded numerous other works by Crumb.
Among current Eastman students – and future outstanding figures in music – we’re proud to include the female members of Eastman’s Black Student Union Executive Board: President Brianna Garcon; Vice president Jazmine Saunders; Vice President of Communications Kayla Sconiers, and Graduate Advisor Brittney Burgess. All are included in this recent photograph of the BSU membership. (In the center is a sculpture of William Warfield, dedicated in September 2021.)