Discipline: Music Composition

Eldon Basney

Discipline: Music Composition
Region: Houghton, NY
MacDowell Fellowships: 1968
Eldon Basney (1913-2002) was an American composer, violinist, pianist, and educator from Michigan. Basney began performing as a violinist in his early years, and went on to study at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore under Gustav Strube and Frank Gittleson. After completing his study at Peabody, Basney moved to Detriot, where he studied with Joan Van Hulsteyn and Stanislaw Schapiro, and became the conductor of the Baltimore String Symphony and the Kankakee Civic Orchestra & Chorus. He then taught piano, music theory, and composition at the Houghton College until his death.

Studios

Phi Beta

Eldon Basney worked in the Phi Beta studio.

Funded by the Phi Beta Fraternity, a national professional fraternity of music and speech founded in 1912, Phi Beta Studio was built between 1929–1931 of granite quarried on the MacDowell grounds. The small studio is a simple in design, but displays a pleasing combination of materials with its granite walls and colorful slate roofing. Inside is…

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