Prix de Rome and Other Honors > Eastman Honors
Ulysses Kay is shown here being given the Alumni Achievement Award in 1972 from the University of Rochester, where he had received his M.A. in music composition from the Eastman School of Music in 1940.
In this letter to Walter Hendl, Kay writes about his ideas for a possible Eastman School of Music fiftieth anniversary commission. The work that would come from this proposal was "Facets," for woodwind quintet and piano.
It received its premier on October 19, 1971, performed by members of the Eastman School of Music Faculty, "Musica Nova," Walter Hendl, to whom Kay dedicated the work, conducting.
Walter Hendl's response approved Kay's proposal to write either a piece for solo baritone and soprano with chamber group, or a woodwind quintet with piano. This second possibility was to become Kay's "Facets."