David Hochstein's memory lives on in the school in front of you: the Hochstein School, an all-ages school of music and dance in Rochester. David Hochstein was a world-renowned violinist from Rochester who was killed in World War I's Battle of Argonne in October 1918. In response, community leaders including George Eastman and Emily Sibley Watson joined with other citizens to create a school in his honor.
Two benefit concerts in 1919 raised the seed money, and in 1920 the David Hochstein Music School Settlement was chartered by the State of New York. As part of the settlement movement, the school set out to teach students of all levels and socio-economic backgrounds, charging tuition on a sliding scale. Harold Gleason, head of the organ department at the Eastman School of Music and George Eastman's personal organist, became the founding director, forging a partnership with Eastman in which advanced Eastman students gained practical experience teaching here.
You can feel how deliberate this place was — a civic response to loss that became a living school. Harold Gleason, George Eastman's organist, became founding director, forging a partnership that brought Eastman students here to teach you.