UMass Amherst honored its deep roots in the performing and fine arts today at a ceremony celebrating the renaming of the Fine Arts Center building and its main stage.
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Video tribute honors late UMass professor Tillis
CONTRIBUTED/EDWARD COHEN
By SCOTT MERZBACH
AMHERST When Dr. Frederick C. Tillis turned 90 in February 2020, his birthday and long tenure as music professor at the University of Massachusetts and years as Fine Arts Center director were celebrated during a live performance.
Less than a month after the third annual Bezanson Legacy Concert, the COVID-19 pandemic would curtail similar in-person events, and Tillis, director emeritus of the Fine Arts Center, would die unexpectedly on May 3, 2020.
In the year since his death, Tillis’ importance, both at UMass and beyond, continues to be marked, with a virtual tribute recently premiering on the department of music and dance’s YouTube channel prior to the broadcast of its annual Jazz Showcase last week, and the acquisition by the Library of Congress of a performance of his composition “Song for Sister Haikkado” by Michael Tilson Thomas’ New World Symphony.
May 6, 2021
Natalie Lewis performs in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.”
Natalie Lewis ’21, a voice student in the UMass Amherst department of music and dance, has recently been awarded a Kovner Fellowship to attend The Juilliard School in New York City. Lewis, who graduates from UMass with a bachelor’s in voice performance later this month, will utilize the award to pursue her master of music in vocal arts.
Established in 2014, the Kovner Fellowship Program provides full tuition and living expenses for the recipients’ entire course of study the only scholarship program at Juilliard to do so. The Fellowship Committee selects the top undergraduate and graduate musicians from around the world based primarily on their artistic merit; other factors include “a successful academic history, a personal capacity for intellectual curiosity, commitment to the value of art in society, and potential for leadership in the field.” The Fellowship also includes professional enrichment exp
Video tribute honors late UMass professor Tillis
Fred Tillis playing the saxophone, one of his many talents. CONTRIBUTED/EDWARD COHEN
Fred Tillis applauding at his 90th birthday concert celebration in February 2020. ELIZABETH SOLAKA/COURTESY UMASS MUSIC AND DANCE DEPARTMENT
Published: 5/3/2021 12:06:53 PM
AMHERST When Dr. Frederick C. Tillis turned 90 in February 2020, his birthday and long tenure as music professor at the University of Massachusetts and years as Fine Arts Center director were celebrated during a live performance.
Less than a month after the third annual Bezanson Legacy Concert, the COVID-19 pandemic would curtail similar in-person events, and Tillis, director emeritus of the Fine Arts Center, would die unexpectedly on May 3, 2020.