Emanuel L. Rubin, 73, of Amherst, professor of Music and Judaic Studies, died Oct. 4, 2008 at a local (Amherst, MA) rehabilitation center.
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pa., he did his undergraduate work at Carnegie-Mellon University, received his master’s degree in music composition from Brandeis University, and received his doctorate in musicology from the University of Pittsburgh.
He started his career in 1965 at Bowling Green University. In 1968, he went to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he was the chairman of the music department from 1969-74 and 1977-81. In 1974-75, he took a leave to design the music department at the University of Haifa in Israel. As a result of his work, he was invited to spend a semester in 1997 at the Israel Institute of Technology as a visiting professor and conductor.
In 1981, he was named director of the school of music at Ball State University, where he also served as acting dean of the college of fine arts from 1983-84.
In 1986, he was appointed head of the Department of Music and Dance and professor of Music and Judaic Studies. He led the Music and Dance Department until the following year.
In 2001, he was a visiting professor of music at Ben-Gurion University in Israel.
An accomplished musician, he was French horn player with the Pittsburgh, Toledo and Haifa symphonies and performed nationally and internationally as a soloist and a chamber player. He also composed a number of instrumental and vocal works. He also performed on the viola da gamba and was the founder of Music Intima, a faculty Baroque ensemble at Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
He conducted with the Muncie Symphony and the University of Pittsburgh men’s glee club as well as university, professional, amateur and community musical groups.
He was a member of the American Musicological Society and the American Music Society and was active in their New England chapters.