In the spring of 2001, Suzanne Farrin auditioned for the Juilliard School’s prestigious composition program. The night after her audition, she says that Christopher Rouse, a faculty member at the time, tried to kiss her. “I sort of twirled out of his arms and ran away,” Farrin said. Farrin wanted to join Rouse’s doctoral studio before that night. She had traveled to New York before her audition to show him her music. She had read a book about counterpoint that Rouse suggested, hoping her efforts to build a pedagogical relationship with him would lead to a spot in one of...