Symphony on the Blue Danube: A Classical Music Cruise

Study Leaders

John Stewart
John Stewart, Senior Preceptor in Music at Harvard University, Emeritus, is a composer and music theorist. He earned degrees from the New England Conservatory and Harvard University, where he studied with composers Earl Kim, Leon Kirchner, and Lukas Foss, among others. A composer of chamber, vocal, and orchestral music, Dr. Stewart taught at the New England Conservatory for many years before joining the faculty of Harvard University, where he taught courses in harmony, counterpoint, composition and musicianship for over 25 years—until his retirement in 2008. While at Harvard, he received both the Harvard Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Prize (1994) and the Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Award (2008). He was named a "Favorite Professor" of Harvard College class of 2009 (the sixth such designation in nine years). In addition to his Harvard activities, Stewart was the Founder and Director of the “Young Musicians’ Program” at Oregon’s Ernest Bloch Festival. As a member of the Composer’s Symposium at the Festival, he received numerous premieres of his music (1998-2006). Recent premieres of his music have included choral works at the University of Mississippi and a Piano Trio at the University of Miami.

Dwight Young
Dwight Young has been actively involved in historic preservation for over 30 years. He joined the staff of the National Trust in 1977, and moved to Trust headquarters in Washington, D.C. in 1992. He is the author of Alternatives to Sprawl and Saving America’s Treasures, as well as Dear First Lady: Letters to the White House and Dear Mr. President: Letters to the Oval Office from the files of the National Archives. He is best known as author of the “Back Page” feature in Preservation magazine. In 2003, the National Trust published a collection of these essays titled Road Trips through History. Dwight has enriched countless study tours to historic destinations all over the world through his love and knowledge of architecture and unique places.

Ezra Laderman
Ezra Laderman, Professor of Composition at the Yale School of Music, is a graduate of both Brooklyn College and Columbia University, and he was professor of music for many years at the State College of New York at Binghamton. He held the position of composer-in-residence at Yale prior to becoming dean of the Yale School of Music from 1989 to 1995. Professor Laderman has received many honors and awards, including three separate Guggenheim fellowships and the Rome Prize. Orchestras, ensemble groups, and soloists throughout the world have commissioned him to write for them. Recent commissions have come from the Pittsburgh Symphony, David Shifrin, Aldo Parisot, and the New York City Opera. Professor Laderman has been president of the American Music Center, director of the music program of the National Endowment for the Arts, president of the National Music Council, and chairman of the board of the American Composers Orchestra. He recently stepped down as president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.