Historical June 1982 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Katherine Gladney Wells, prominent St. Louis patron of the arts and an acknowledged composer in her own right, was awarded an honorary doctorate of musical arts from the Saint Louis Conservatory of Music at their graduation on May 17.
Mrs. Wells delivered the commencement address.
An abiding commitment to high artistic standards, plus her own performance and compositional abilities, have drawn “Katch” Wells into close association with CASA and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.
Her compositions have been performed by the Symphony, under the direction of Music Director Leonard Slatkin, and by CASA ensembles.
Her performed works include choral anthems, a variety of art songs and three orchestral suites.
The latter works are “Frankie and Johnnie,” commissioned as a score for a ballet, which has been performed in London; “The Mississippi,” a musical odyssey of life on the river, and “Variations on a Day in June.” Another commissioned piece was “The CASA Waltz,” in a style reminiscent of Johann Strauss, composed as a piano solo for a CASA Viennese Ball benefit and later orchestrated for strings.
The honorary degree recipient is also a published poet, the winner of poetry awards, and is the author of Symphony and Song: The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the First Hundred Years, published in the symphony’s centennial year, 1980.
A 1969 Globe-Democrat Woman of Achievement for creative achievement, she received the John Burroughs School Alumnus of the Year Award in 1972.
Originally published in The Paper, June 1982.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1982_06.pdf, printed page(s) 8; PDF page(s) 8.
