It is with sadness that the College shares news of the death of Professor Emerita Mary Jane “MJ” Corry, a harpsichordist who taught for more than two decades in the Department of Music, on May 15. She was 97.
Corry, originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, joined the SUNY New Paltz faculty in 1967 and retired in 1993. She was a regular performer in Department of Music Concert Series events and remained engaged with the campus community after retirement, establishing a Scholarship for Excellence in Writing at New Paltz to recognize and honor music majors who demonstrate competency and excellence. She also bequeathed a harpsichord, a clavichord and much of her Baroque and Early Music library to New Paltz’s Collegium Musicum Ensemble.
Corry held a Bachelor of Music from Oberlin College, a Master of Music from Northwestern University, and a Ph.D. from Stanford University. An avid musicologist, she was awarded a two-year grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to research and organize a newspaper database of “The Performing Arts in Colonial America.”
In her long career as a harpsichordist, Corry performed in chamber and symphonic ensembles such as BachFest, La Grande Écurie, the Lyric Trio, Kairos: A Consort of Singers, the Albany Symphony, the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic. She additionally served on the Board of Directors of the Ulster Chamber Music Society and Newburgh Chamber Music.
Corry is remembered as a humble, witty, kind person who loved traveling, performing, and tennis. She will be greatly missed by her former students, her musical colleagues, and her devoted friends and family.
A date for a memorial concert will be announced at a later time.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to the Professor Mary Jane Corry Scholarship for Excellence in Writing, SUNY New Paltz Foundation, 1 Hawk Drive, New Paltz, NY 12561-2443.
