About Us

The American Elgar Foundation was established in 2005 by Lee Kaufman from discussions held with the International Elgar Festival, Worcestershire, UK. It is a not-for-profit corporation and has been approved by the I.R.S. for tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3). This means that all charitable contributions to The American Elgar Foundation are tax deductible.

Four directors serve on the board of the Foundation.

LEE KAUFMAN (managing director) ~ St. Louis, MO
Lee is a businessman who has always been a classical music fan. He teaches a classical music listening course in the St. Louis Community College system. He has been an Elgar admirer since high school and attended the first International Elgar Festival in 2004. Aside from the above, he is active in co-producing for musical theater.

HARVEY SCHNEIDER (director) ~ St. Louis, MO
Harvey is a Corporate Attorney and a musician. He plays both violin and viola having studied under Jerome Rosen. A member of the St. Louis Philhomonic Orchestra, he has also performed with chamber music groups in the area.

STEPHEN FISHER (director) ~ Baltimore, MD
Stephen has been active for the past four decades as an educator, interior designer, art collector and classical music enthusiast. For him, the heart-breaking beauty and nobility of the works of Elgar, place them along with those of Mahler and Strauss and are among the most moving and transcendent music of the Romantic period.

WILLIAM BOUGHTON (director) ~ Malvern, Worc., UK
William is currently music director of the New Haven Symphoney Orchestra.  Prior to this post, he established and directed the English Symphony Orchestra for twenty-five years in his native Great Brittain.  This followed a term as artistic and music director of the Jyvask Sinfonia in Finland.
  
Advisory Committe

The Foundation is fortunate to have a group of nationally recognized Elgar Scholars serving on our Advisory Committee

BYRON ADAMS, a musicologist and professor chairing the Music Department at University of California - Riverside. He is also a composer having had his works performed here and abroad. Dr. Adam's specialty is British music and he was awarded the very first Vaughan Williams Research Fellowship(1985). His knowledge on Elgar is well recognized and he will be in a leadership role at the 2007 Bard Conference which will spotlight Sir Edward Elgar.

JAMES HEPOKOSKI, a musicologist and professor in the music department at Yale University. He has been published most frequently on topics ranging from Sonata form to the synthesizing of music history, theory, and criticism. Dr. Hepokoski's interest in Elgar has recently inspired his publication on the Elgar string composition: Introduction and Allegro. Aside from his own publications, he is a frequent contributor to the programme notes of major east coast orchestras.

PATRICK McCRELESS, a musical theorist serves as chair of the Department of Music at Yale University. He has focused much of his work on the late nineteenth century and specializes in harmonies and chromaticism. Recently Dr. McCreless collaborated with James Hepokoski by examining and analyzing the harmonies in Elgar's Introduction and Allegro.

CHARLES McGUIRE, assistant professor of Musicology at The Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He has long has an interest in British music having received a Ralph Vaughan Williams fellowship in 1999. Dr. McGuire has always made Edward Elgar a specialty and has recently assembled a study on Elgar's Catholicism and lower middle class unbringing factoring into the influence and acceptance of his music. Charles will be a contributor to the Bard Conference on Elgar in '07.