Department News

Celebrating Neal Zaslaw in his 70th Year | Thu Nov 05, 2009

On June 28, Neal Zaslaw turned seventy. To celebrate his birthday our department organized what turned out to be a wonderful symposium on May 10, 2009. Guests came from Europe and the U.S. to honor our distinguished friend, including long-time colleagues as well as some of his former graduate students: Emily Dolan (University of Pennsylvania), Geoffrey Burgess (Eastman School of Music), Ulrich Leisinger (Mozarteum, Salzbug), Rebecca Plack (Davies, California), Frances Brittan (Case Western Reserve University), and Cliff Eisen (King's College, London University). Following the presentations, whose topics ranged from "The Really Terrible Orchestra and Similar Twentieth Century Creatures" to "A new portrait of Mozart?," there was a performance of Beethoven's Trio in G Major, op. 1, no. 2, by former students Andrew Willis (fortepiano), Elizabeth Field (violin), and Stephanie Vial (cello). We also surprised Neal with the presentation of a Festschrift written in his honor and published by Steglein. Then this past October 30, the Cornell Concert Series presented the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg and dedicated the concert to our esteemed colleague.