Rosemary Clarke

Rosemary Clarke, musician, composer, concert pianist and organist, teacher, and choir director, received a bachelor of music degree, cum laude, from Stetson University in Deland, Florida, in June 1940, at the age of 19. At the time of her graduation, she was the youngest student ever to graduate from the School of Music. She studied piano with Joseph Allard at the Zechwer-Hahn Conservatory of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she received a master of music degree with a major in piano and composition, and the diploma in organ. Clarke also studied with Max Landow at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York, where she earned her Ph.D. degree with a major in composition in 1950. She was one of the youngest to receive a doctorate degree at the University of Rochester. She also studied with Dr. Edwin Hughes in New York City before and after her Town Hall debut.

After a year’s teaching of children in Philadelphia, in the fall of 1942, Clarke joined the faculty at Stetson University’s School of Music, where she taught for seven years. In fall of 1949, she founded the Rosemary Clarke Conservatory of Music in Deland. In 1957, she moved to Dubuque, Iowa, to teach at the University of Dubuque. She then taught at the University of Wisconsin at Platteville from 1962 unfit her retirement in 1984.

Clarke was an organist at the Community Methodist Church in Daytona Beach, Florida; the St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Deland; and the St. Thomas Anglican Church in Dubuque. She was widely known as a concert artist of piano and organ having appeared both in the North and South as a solo performer and guest artist with various orchestras. She also composed extensively for various media. Clarke was listed in Who’s Who in the South and Southwest and Who’s Who in American Women. She was a member of the Florida Composers’ League and Florida State Music Teachers’ Organization, having held offices in both organizations.

Rosemary passed away in 2005. This scholarship was created to allow Rosemary’s love for music to live on for generations to come.