The editor-in-chief of the prestigious Journal of the American Musicological Society, Joe Auner ’81, once aspired to fame as a rock’n’roll keyboard player. This ambition led him to CC—the opportunity to study music composition and theory, and access to “the biggest synthesizer I had ever seen” —and CC turned his path toward the serious study of music.
Edith Lowe ’80, on the other hand, came to CC with 12 years of piano lessons, but expected to major in French until her path turned to music too. “I started studying piano with Susan Grace in the fall of my freshman year. Sue inspired me to practice and perform, and eventually I decided to be a music major.”

Joe Auner says, “CC’s music department is so strong, full of active and committed musicians, scholars and composers.” And his intellectual history, classics, and literature courses provided the depth necessary for him to examine music historically and theoretically.

Auner keeps up with music technology, and recently published an article about the use of electronics by the rock group Radiohead in the Journal of the Royal Musical Association as well as a book, “A Schoenberg Reader: Documents of a Life” (2003), about “trying
to understand this composer in the context of the 20th century.”

Now settled at the State University of New York-Stony Brook, Auner teaches music technology and music history to undergrad and graduate students while he pursues research and publishing. Edith directs the Stony Brook University Pre-college and Community Music Program and performs regularly as a soloist, chamber musician, and accompanist. The Auners have two children, also musicians.

– Mary Ellen Davis ’73



Profiles
Ruth Kolarik
Margaret Fuller Simpson '93
Carl Kielcheski MA '67
Ricki Spector Booker '90
Joe '81 and Edith Lowe Auner '80
Andrew Mudge '97
Miguel Romero '00
All-CC Grad Band National Eye