Ross Lee Finney Audio and Video Cassettes

Ross Lee Finney was an American composer. He was born in Wells, Minnesota, on December 23, 1906. He attended Carleton College and the University of Minnesota. In the early 1930s, Finney studied with Nadia Boulanger, Edward Burlingame Hill, Alban Berg, and Roger Sessions. In 1928 he started teaching at Smith College, where he founded the Smith College Archives. He was also a conductor of the Northampton Chamber Orchestra. In 1937 Finney won the Pulitzer Scholarship Award for First String Quartet, and the same year a Guggenheim Fellowship funded his European travel. Finney served in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II and received a Purple Heart and a Certificate of Merit. After the war, Finney continued with his music career, and in 1948 he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan. In 1963 his Second Symphony represented the United States at the Rostrum of International Composers at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. In 1965 he founded the University of Michigan Electronic Music Studio, and in 1967 composed the music for the sesquicentennial celebration of the University of Michigan. He retired in 1974. He received many honors, including membership in the National Institute of Arts and Letters, honorary membership in Phi Beta Kappa, and an honorary doctorate from Carleton College. His work comprises scores for string quartets, symphonies, chamber works, and songs. Ross Lee Finney died on February 4, 1997, in Carmel, California. He was 90 years old.