{"id":17099,"date":"2021-11-22T01:41:49","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T06:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/?p=10578"},"modified":"2025-12-01T10:03:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T15:03:01","slug":"nov22-nov28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/2021\/11\/nov22-nov28\/","title":{"rendered":"November 22nd-28th:The Eastman Philharmonia & Jazz Ensemble"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1727901354790{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”]Published on Nov 22, 2021<\/em><\/p>\n

Back to This Week at Eastman<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1632153252687{background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1727901367010{padding-top: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”1961: The Eastman Philharmonia on tour” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1637338089874{border-top-width: 0px !important;border-right-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 1px !important;border-left-width: 0px !important;border-left-color: #dddddd !important;border-left-style: solid !important;border-right-color: #dddddd !important;border-right-style: solid !important;border-top-color: #dddddd !important;border-top-style: solid !important;border-bottom-color: #dddddd !important;border-bottom-style: solid !important;border-radius: 1px !important;}”][vc_row_inner equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”top” gap=”10″][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1727902193473{padding-top: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”10896″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_outline” onclick=”link_image” css=””][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1727902203201{padding-top: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_images_carousel images=”10893,10890,10887″ img_size=”medium” css=”.vc_custom_1727901283689{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;margin-left: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1637586568232{margin-top: -15px !important;margin-left: 5px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”]<\/p>\n

Members of the Eastman Philharmonia preparing to board their plane at Rochester on November 24th<\/sup>, 1961. Two separate DC-6 aircraft carried the orchestra members to New York City\u2019s Idlewild Airport.\u00a0 Photos by Joe Jansen, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner content_placement=”top”][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text css=””]Sixty years ago this week, on November 24th<\/sup>, 1961, the members of the Eastman Philharmonia departed from Rochester to begin a landmark tour that has become legendary in the history and culture of the Eastman School of Music. The Philharmonia\u2019s departure followed months of preparation that had begun the previous summer when the U.S. State Department had designated the Philharmonia to undertake a three-month tour under the auspices of the President\u2019s Special International Program for Cultural Presentations. The Eastman Philharmonia would be the first student orchestra in the history of that program to perform an extended tour during the regular concert season. Another Eastman ensemble had previously received support under that same program when the Eastman String Quartet undertook a tour of cities in Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa in the spring of 1960. (It should be noted that another ensemble from an American university received similar support from the U.S. State Department in the winter of 1961-62, when the University of Michigan Symphonic Band undertook a European tour that included performances in the USSR.)[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner content_placement=”top”][vc_column_inner width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1764001313530{padding-top: 20px !important;}”]This week\u2019s entry in \u201cThis Week at Eastman\u201d marks the launch of what will be a regular feature for the coming three months, when we will track the Eastman Philharmonia\u2019s movements on their momentous tour. Archival documents from the Eastman School of Music Archives and from several personal collections will enable us to glimpse the orchestra members\u2019 activities along the way. The tour, which began in Lisbon and ended in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), represented the most extensive performing engagement undertaken by any Eastman School ensemble up to that time. Between their departure from Rochester on November 24th, 1961 and their return on February 25th, 1962, the members of the Eastman Philharmonia gave 49 concerts in 34 cities in 16 countries.\u00a0 The itinerary \u2013 which included points in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East \u2013 is displayed here, represented by the last copy to be printed and circulated before the time of departure. Throughout the tour, the 87 members of the Philharmonia served as de facto ambassadors, both for the U.S.A. and for music. Their responsibility was underscored by the geo-political realities of the day, when the United States and the Soviet Union stood head-to-head in an armed stand-off, when the countries of Eastern Europe lay largely inaccessible behind the Iron Curtain, and when the Berlin Wall, erected only earlier that same year, had already become a potent symbol of the Cold War.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1727902091411{padding-top: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”][vc_images_carousel images=”10878,10881″ img_size=”350×500″ css=”.vc_custom_1727967024212{margin-left: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=””]\u00a0Itinerary<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner content_placement=”top”][vc_column_inner width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text css=””]For Howard Hanson, the tour represented a professional and personal triumph. He had founded the Eastman Philharmonia in the 1958-59 academic year primarily so as to promote the Eastman School\u2019s most outstanding orchestral players. Just as the Eastman Wind Ensemble had done since its debut in 1953, the Eastman Philharmonia quickly scored several high-publicity successes. In 1958-59 and 1959-60, the Philharmonia performed out of town in Buffalo and in Atlantic City, and made several broadcasts by local radio and television, in addition to its regularly scheduled concerts. In April, 1961, the orchestra performed in Washington, D.C. at the Second Inter-American Festival of Music, where it was the only all-student orchestra invited to participate at that gathering among such other participating orchestras as the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.), the Orquesta Nationale of Mexico, and the CBC Orchestra (Toronto). The 1961-62 tour not be the last success that Hanson would celebrate with the Philharmonia, for in the fall of 1962 he would conduct the Philharmonia at Carnegie Hall, and in the spring of 1964 at the New York World\u2019s Fair.\u00a0 Nevertheless, the tour was a special milestone, and at the conclusion of the tour, Hanson would pose for a dedicated photograph with each and every member of the orchestra.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1727902091411{padding-top: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”10884″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” style=”vc_box_outline” onclick=”link_image” css=””][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner content_placement=”top”][vc_column_inner width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text css=””]Preparations for so large an undertaking as this \u2013 the logistics of transporting 87 orchestral players and their instruments and personal effects overseas and through 16 countries \u2013 were a considerable challenge.\u00a0 Orchestra members received an itemized \u201cSuggested Wardrobe\u201d list that ran to six pages in length, providing guidelines on what to wear in all circumstances of weather and terrain. Another consideration was the reality that the U.S.A. had mandatory Selective Service registration at this time, by which all men of draft age were required to register; as a result, each of the young men in the orchestra \u2013 who could potentially be called up in the event of conscription \u2013 had to apply for a waiver for the duration of the tour. Still further, because the Philharmonia would be spending a considerable proportion of the tour in Eastern Bloc countries, the orchestra members and their chaperones received copies of \u201cAmericans Abroad\u201d, a U.S. Government publication that briefed U.S. citizens and nationals on protocols and customs in other countries, and also offered specific recommendations as to how to respond to \u201ctough question\u201d posed by foreign nationals. Nor were the human aspects all that were to be considered. One memorandum archived in Frederick Fennell\u2019s office files described the last-minute need for custom trunks to be manufactured for the orchestra\u2019s use owing to the specific size requirements imposed by cargo hold doors on European aircraft, which were smaller than those on North American aircraft.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1727902091411{padding-top: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”][vc_images_carousel images=”10917,10921,10922″ img_size=”350×500″ css=”.vc_custom_1727902219854{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-left: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 20px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=””]Printed program for the first concert on the tour.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner content_placement=”top”][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text css=””]On November 24th, the day after Thanksgiving, the orchestra members flew from Rochester to New York City in two separate DC-6 aircraft.\u00a0 At New York\u2019s Idlewild Airport they had time to rest and to receive briefings before their overseas flight.\u00a0 Rather later at night than scheduled (for there turned out to be an unexpected delay), the orchestra members boarded their chartered Iberian Airlines jet for the flight to Lisbon, Portugal.\u00a0 On arrival in Lisbon on November 25th<\/sup>, the Philharmonia members were photographed on the tarmac as they descended the stairs from their plane with a tremendous manifest enthusiasm. (Readers, how many of you remember those days of walking across the tarmac to board a plane?\u00a0 Or walking down the stairs from the door of the plane and walking across the tarmac to the terminal?)\u00a0 That same day Hanson participated in a press conference before the local media. On November 26th, under the auspices of the Sociedade de Concertos Lisboa, the Eastman Philharmonia gave the first concert of the tour, with Hanson conducting. (With respect to the conductor, such was to be the norm throughout the tour. Although Frederick Fennell had been tasked with accompanying Hanson as associate conductor, Mr. Fennell was never invited to conduct a concert save one event in Russia when Hanson had taken ill.)\u00a0 The following day the orchestra travelled to Madrid, where they performed the tour\u2019s second concert on November 28th. Madrid would be the first stop in Spain, to be followed by concerts in Sevilla, Valencia, and Barcelona.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”top” gap=”10″][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1727902123600{padding-top: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_images_carousel images=”10899,10902,10905″ img_size=”medium” css=”.vc_custom_1727901609320{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;margin-left: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1727902131230{margin-left: 5px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”]<\/p>\n

Members of the Eastman Philharmonia boarding their chartered plane at Idlewild Airport to begin their three-month tour. \u00a0Photos by Louis Ouzer. <\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1727902141665{padding-top: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_images_carousel images=”10908,10911,10913,10914″ img_size=”medium” css=”.vc_custom_1727901726115{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;margin-left: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1727902149900{margin-left: 5px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”]<\/p>\n

Members of the Eastman Philharmonia, accompanied by their two conductors and chaperones, are here seen alighting from their jet on arrival at Lisbon.<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1636135593791{margin-top: 50px !important;}”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1727901738758{padding-top: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”1967: The Eastman Jazz Ensemble at Strong Auditorium” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1637342809984{border-right-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 1px !important;border-left-width: 0px !important;border-left-color: #dddddd !important;border-left-style: solid !important;border-right-color: #dddddd !important;border-right-style: solid !important;border-bottom-color: #dddddd !important;border-bottom-style: solid !important;border-radius: 1px !important;}”][vc_row_inner equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”top” gap=”10″][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1636134615517{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”10932″ img_size=”medium” onclick=”link_image” css=””][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1636134623874{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”10933″ img_size=”medium” onclick=”link_image” css=””][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text css=””]\u25ba Photos by Louis Ouzer: R318-4,\u00a0 R318-14, R319-2, R319-10, R319-16<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1727902438414{padding-top: 20px !important;}”][vc_column_inner width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text css=””]Fifty-four years ago this week, on November 28th<\/sup>, 1967,<\/u> the first documented public performance of the nascent Eastman Jazz Ensemble took place at Strong Auditorium on the River Campus. The conductor was Mr. Jack End, BM \u201940, who had served on the Eastman faculty in previous years and who had been re-appointed to Eastman in 1967 to direct the new EJE. Earlier that year, Notes from Eastman <\/em>(forerunner publication to Eastman Notes<\/em>) had indicated that the Eastman Jazz Ensemble had made its debut in April, 1967, but any such performance cannot be substantiated in the extant archival records.<\/p>\n

In contrast with the debut performance of other Eastman ensembles (including, but not limited to, the Eastman Wind Ensemble and the Eastman Philharmonia), there does not appear to have been any one single performance that was publicly promoted as the Eastman Jazz Ensemble\u2019s public debut.\u00a0 Instead, the EJE was rolled out in a series of performances that were given off-site or else were given on-site in the manner of guest appearances with other ensembles.\u00a0 The EJE had been active for well over a year by the time it gave its own first full-length program on Eastman premises.<\/p>\n

For the record, it should be noted that Jack End had been the conductor at the first public performance of jazz at Eastman in which Eastman students were the featured performers.\u00a0 That event on April 16th, 1946 was billed as a \u201cProgram of Concert Music in the Jazz Idiom\u201d under the auspices of the Eastman School\u2019s annual Festival of American Music. The featured performers were a student ensemble under Mr. End\u2019s direction. At that time Mr. End was on the Eastman faculty teaching theory, clarinet, and popular music arranging. The concert was introduced by some characteristically verbose comments by Howard Hanson which were printed\u00a0 ver batim in the local press the following day.\u00a0 \u201cThis Week at Eastman\u201d will offer more about this event next spring.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1727965990414{padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”10935″ img_size=”medium” onclick=”link_image” css=”.vc_custom_1727965982576{margin-bottom: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”10936″ img_size=”medium” onclick=”link_image” css=”.vc_custom_1727902254545{margin-top: 20px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1727902438414{padding-top: 20px !important;}”][vc_column_inner width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text css=””]In any event, the printed program for the Eastman Jazz Ensemble concert in November, 1967 noted that a Jazz Laboratory had been founded at the Eastman School in the spring of 1967, with two performing units now operating; the EJE was one of the two. \u00a0Over the course of 1967-68 and 1968-69, the EJE\u2019s roll-out proceeded thus:<\/p>\n