Eastman School of Music

Katharine entered the University of Rochester in 1955 with an academic scholarship. She did complete her 1st two years of academic studies successfully. In 1957 she entered the University's Eastman School of Music, where she studied flute with Joseph Mariano and began to study composition. Katharine comments "There were no women involved composition at all. [I got] rather discouraged, being the only woman in my classes, not being paid attention to and so forth." Katharine graduated From Eastman School of Music in 1959 with a Bachelor of Music in Music Theory and a Performers Certificate in Flute.

Manhattan, NY

Katherine focused on performing (freelance flutist) and teaching early through her 59 years living in Manhattan. While famous for her compositions and performances, some of her other accomplishments include educator, published writer, entrepreneur, and conductor. In the summer of 1960, Katherine attended the Yale Summer Session, where she studied flute, theory, and composition. The following summer, she continued her studies with flutist William Kincaid in Philadelphia. Katherine was uncertain, yet may have been Kincaid's last student.

Recognition

In 1969, she began teaching music theory, singing, and dictation at the Manhattan School of Music. This continued for 15 years until 1984. During this time, she continued her graduate studies at Manhattan, receiving her Master of Music in Music Theory in 1974.

After eight years of marriage, Katherine divorced her first husband. She stayed in New York City to raise her son and build her career. Katherine had her first publication of a composition, Three Carols for choir and flute, published by Carl Fischer Music Company.

Katherine was very involved with women's arts organizations and has worked to bring the works of women composers to the public's notice. In 1977, she began work with the Women's Inter-Art Center in New York. Here she organized Festivals I, II, and III of Women's Music, which presented music by fifty-five historical and contemporary women composers.

The early '90s were especially rewarding for Katherine, demonstrating her exceptional versatility. In '93 and '94, Canyon Echos and Lyric Trio won the NFA's annual Newly Published Music Competition. Having attended the Conductors Institute in South Carolina, She becomes active as a conductor leading performances of her work and others in Wisconsin, West Virginia, and New York, and Pennsylvania.

In January 1994, Katherine conducted the premiere of her Night Skies, a 25-minute work for a large orchestra, with the Harrisburg Symphony. Later that same year, Katherine was honored with the Academy Award in Music by the Academy of Arts and Letters.

In the fall of 1995, she traveled to Bratislava for the recording of her Night Skies and Eleni: A Greek Tragedy, then returning to watch her composition, Dances and Variations being featured in the 1996 Emmy-winning PBS documentary titled New Music. Director Deborah Novak traced the commissioning, rehearsal, and premiere of the work at the Kennedy Center. Later that year, Katherine was the Composer-in-Residence for the Fourth Festival of Women Composers at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

As a flutist, Katherine has given concerto performances at Lincoln Center and performed with leading ballet and opera companies in New York's major halls. She has played numerous recitals, both live and on radio and television.

Katherine was a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, the International Alliance for Women in Music, the National Flu Association, the Conductor's Guild, and Member Laureate - Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity.

Her retirement from performance in 2012 gave Kathrine great freedom to work on her poetry, once again demonstrating versatility in her profession. Katherine became a published author in 2015, with her poetry book This Way About being published as an Editor's Choice.

Lifetime Achievement

Katherine was the recipient of the National Flute Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. According to the NFA, ten of Katherine's pieces received Newly Published Music competition nominations.

Katherine Lacy Hoover passed away in 2018 and is survived by her husband, Richard Goodwin, son, Norman Daniel Schwab and three grandchildren.

Katherine's Reflections

She owed much of her success to her mentor, William Kincaid. Working under his guidance for two years, he taught her more about music than any other composer at a time in history when it was taboo for women to write music.

Papagena Press which survives with her family has released over 70 titles by Katherine, one title by John Davison and documents more than another 30 of Katherine's works.

In terms of support, she received a grant from the Alice M. Ditson Fund, numerous grants from Meet the Composer; Commissions by the New Jersey Chamber Music Society, the Women's Philharmonic, the Episcopal Diocese of New York, the Huntingdon Trio, and Duologue, among others; and is a recipient of a myriad of awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

Katherine's output includes many works for the flute; however, she also wrote for specific performers on other instruments. Two examples are Stitch-te Naku for Cello and Orchestra, for cellist Sharon Robinson and her Clarinet Concerto, and for virtuoso jazz clarinetist Eddie Daniels.

Katherine's compositions have been performed in Orchestras, including the Harrisburg, Reno, Richmond, and St. Joseph Symphonies, chamber groups such as the New Jersy Chamber Music Society, the Dorian and Sylvan Quintets, and Montclaire Quartets and the Verdehr, Huntingdon, and Eroica Trios, Pianists Mirian Conti, Joseph Kalichstein, Christopher Taylor, and Anne Marie McDermott, and flutists Julius Baker, Carol Wincenc, and Jeffrey Kahner, and Metropolitan Opera bass John Cheek have performed her music.

Publishers of her chamber repertoire include Arabesque, Leonarda, CRI, Grenadilla, and Opus One.

As a player, theorist, teacher, and conductor, Katherine studied hundreds of scores; these scores were her primary composition instruction. Katherine was once asked how she composed; Did she ever experiment with her music using an instrument? Her answer was she would compose a whole piece in her imagination.