Eastman Showcase 2004
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“Seascapes” for Sibley
Alumni Weekend 2004 will have added excitement this year, with the premiere of a new work by a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer who is also an Eastman alumnus. Four Seascapes for Chorus and Orchestra by Dominick Argento (PhD ’58) will be performed October 16 in the renovated Eastman Theatre, by the Eastman-Rochester Chorus and Eastman Philharmonia, led by Professor of Conducting William Weinert. This will be a free concert that also includes Neil Varon conducting Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.
Argento’s work – a commission from Eastman’s Institute for American Music - commemorates the 100th anniversary of Sibley Library (being celebrated at the same time in October), but it also reflects his memories of exploring Sibley Library as a student – not just for musical scores, but also for literature. The suggestion for the piece, in fact, came to Argento from Ruth Watanabe, who was Head Librarian of Sibley while the composer was a student.
Argento’s taste for literature remained with him; many of his operas and vocal works are settings of Thoreau, Virginia Woolf, Chekhov, and other great writers. The texts of Four Seascapes are by four Americans: Herman Melville, Thornton Wilder, Henry James, and Mark Twain.