Central College alumna Lois Kuyper-Rushing, Class of 1977 graduate, has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to travel to Valenciennes, France, in the fall. Kuyper-Rushing will transcribe and edit manuscripts creating a critical edition of never-before-published vocal music by 20th-century French composer Eugène Bozza (1905–1991).
The Fulbright award will fund Kuyper-Rushing’s fourth research trip to Valenciennes, located in northeastern France near the Belgian border. This is the region where Bozza spent much of his post-World War II career, and where many of his manuscripts are housed at a local archive within Médiathèque Simone Veil de Valenciennes.
Living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Kuyper-Rushing currently serves as the associate dean of public and collection services at Louisiana State University Libraries. She is considered a foremost scholar of Bozza, a composer known mostly for his chamber music for wind instruments.
Kuyper-Rushing began her music career as an oboist in the Central College Community Orchestra and Symphonic Wind Ensemble and as a soprano in the A Cappella Choir at Central, majoring in music performance, both oboe and vocal, and minoring in French. She earned a master’s and PhD in music arts and a master’s in library science from LSU.
“My dad owned Kuyper’s Music House in Pella and provided band instruments for schools in Pella and the region,” Kuyper-Rushing says. “My mom taught piano and played the organ in church. We were always involved in music. Dad gave me an oboe for Christmas in fifth grade. He wanted something different and something special for me.”
“I was first drawn to Bozza because of how much music he wrote for woodwinds — flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon,” Kuyper-Rushing remembers. “I took oboe lessons from Raymond Martin, associate professor of music and conductor of the Central Orchestra. He had a big influence on me. He was interested in Bozza and what Bozza had composed.”
Kuyper-Rushing’s family ties run deep at Central. She is the daughter of Hospers Kuyper, Class of 1936 graduate, and Joyce Huibregtse Kuyper, Class of 1939 graduate. Her siblings include Quentin Kuyper, 1964 graduate, Ellen Kuyper, 1965 graduate, and Susan Kuyper, 1970 graduate. Her mother composed the “Hymn to Central Youth.”
Photo: Lois Kuyper-Rushing ’77 with Jean Leduc of Alphonse Leduc in Paris, 2011. Leduc was Eugène Bozza’s primary publisher.
