In Memoriam

Frederick Fennell
1914-2004

Frederick Fennell, founder of the Eastman Wind Ensemble and professor emeritus at the Eastman School of Music, died at his home in Florida after a brief illness. He was 90 years old.

Born July 2, 1914, in Cleveland, Ohio, Fennell attended Eastman as a percussion major, receiving his bachelor’s degree in 1937. He then joined the Eastman School’s conducting faculty after receiving his master’s degree in 1939. He also studied conducting at the Interlochen National Music Camp and the Salzburg Mozarteum.

Fennell conducted the Eastman Opera Theatre and the Eastman Chamber Orchestra, but will always be remembered as the creator of the Eastman Wind Ensemble. In 1952, encouraged by Director Howard Hanson, Fennell developed a model for wind band performance with one player to each part, a "chamber music" approach that proved there was much more to band music than Sousa marches. Fennell and the Ensemble recorded 22 albums for Mercury Records, many of them still available on CDs. In 1977, Stereo Review selected the Fennell/EWE recording of Percy Grainger's "Lincolnshire Posy" as one of the "Fifty Best Recordings of the Centenary of the Phonograph."

After he left Eastman in 1962, Fennell was associate music director of the Minneapolis Symphony, then conductor-in-residence at the University of Miami and principal guest conductor of the Interlochen Arts Academy and Dallas Wind Symphony. He was appointed conductor of the Kosei Wind Orchestra in 1984.

Photo: Fred Fennell taking a bow after conducting Eastman Wind Ensemble in a concert for Alumni Weekend, October 2004 at Eastman Theatre. Photo by Kurt Brownell, courtesy of Eastman School of Music