Opus 90 for Gardner Read

	Melissa de Graaf, a graduate student in the Brandeis University music department, greets the maestro at his birthday party in January. Photograph by Michael B. Shavelson.

Musicians, educators, and artists from the Boston area gathered in January to celebrate the ninetieth birthday of Gardner Read, who came to CFA in 1948 as a composer in residence and professor of composition and taught at the University for thirty years. Events of this celebratory year include broadcasts, concerts, and a new CD: pianist and composer John McDonald, an associate professor at Tufts University, has recorded a large selection of Read’s piano music.

Read’s Opus 1, a series of mood pieces for silent movies, dates back to 1928. He won the American Composers Contest in 1937 with his Symphony No. 1 (beating out Aaron Copland), solidifying his reputation as a composer to follow. Over the next sixty years, his works were premiered by some of the world’s leading ensembles and soloists, including musicians at BU. Read’s music covers every genre, from intimate songs and chamber pieces to mighty oratorios and an opera. His textbooks on orchestration and notation are classics, and his latest, Orchestral Combinations: The Science and Art of Instrumental Tone Color, is due out this summer from Scarecrow Press. For more information on the CFA professor emeritus, see http://home.att.net/~gardnerread.

BU Dental Discount for Alumni

The services of School of Dental Medicine dentists are now available to alumni and their immediate families at a discount.

The BU Alumni Dental Benefit offers a 10 percent discount off the BU Dental Plan fees, “which are already well below the usual for comparable services by most local private practices,” say Stephen DuLong, SDM associate dean for clinical services.

For example, a new crown, which typically costs about $1,000 in the Boston area, is $675 under the BU Dental Plan. “BU alumni, however, will be charged only $607.50,” says Eyad Haidar, director of the BU Dental Health Center at 930 Commonwealth Avenue.

The discount applies only at the SDM Commonwealth Avenue facility. “Unfortunately, we can’t offer this discount to alumni who already have dental coverage because this might create discrepancies in our billing process with these insurance plans,” says Haidar.
The BU Dental Health Center provides a complete range of comprehensive dental care, such as X rays, cleanings, and fillings. More than 25 dental professionals there provide treatment and preventive care for more than 5,200 patients a year. “All dental specialties are also available on site,” says Haidar. “The center is a convenient one-stop facility for patients. They don’t have to be referred anywhere for such specialized treatment as orthodontics, periodontics, pediatric dentistry, oral surgery, root canals, and prosthodontics — crowns, bridges, dentures, and implants.”

The BU Dental Health Center was opened in 1990 to help make dental treatment convenient to people on the Charles River Campus, Haidar says, “and this discount is our way of reaching out to BU alumni.”

Alumni must present their alumni card at their first appointment. For more information, visit www.bu.edu/alumni/benefits/dental, or call 617-358-1015. To schedule appointments, please call 617-358-1015. — BF

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