Eastman News Highlights January 27, 2014

Here are some select clippings from the past week showing the variety of hits/mentions identifying musicians and scholars as Eastman School of Music alumni, faculty or students. Note: Some links may have expired.)

Kent Knappenberger, Inaugural Winner of the Grammys’ Music Educator Award, Talks ABBA and New Violins (Q&A)
(Billboard © 01/24/2014)

Kent Knappenberger, a music teacher at the Westfield Academy and Central School in Westfield, New York, was honored with the Grammys’ first-ever Educator Award, presented by the Recording Academy and the Grammy Foundation.

Holding a Bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Fredonia and a master’s degree in music education from Eastman School of Music, Knappenberger has been getting the A-list treatment this week, jetting to Los Angeles to attend the 56th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony Sunday night and to spotlight the need for music education support across the country. (Also reported by WXXI and Jamestown Post Journal)

Eastman grads win Grammys
(Rochester Democrat & Chronicle © 01/27/2014)

Maria Schneider, an Eastman School of Music graduate who previously won a Grammy for “Cerulean Skies” and another for best large jazz ensemble recording, won this year’s best contemporary classical competition award for “Winter Morning Walks.”

Martha Cluver, a 2003 graduate who studied viola, and Eric Dudley, who received his bachelor’s in composition in 2001, are members of the vocal group Roomful of Teeth, which won for best chamber music/small ensemble performance.

Bob Ludwig, who could still win as part of the album and record of the year as master engineer, was also part of the team for the Rolling Stones’ “Charlie Is My Darling.” (Also reported by 13WHAM-TV)

Eastman School excited for Fleming’s anthem

(WHAM TV 01/26/2014)

Four grammys, a national medal of art from the president, and now opera star Renée Fleming will sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. Fleming has hometown roots in Rochester, and is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. 13WHAM sat down with the musical director of the Eastman Opera Theater, Benton Hess, who coached Fleming when she began her musical career in New York City. He said she was a star since day one. (Also reported by WHEC TV and Democrat & Chronicle)

Chamber-music concert is gonna rock
(Houston Chronicle © 01/24/2014)

Call it “crossover,” “fusion” or “alt-classical” – Aperio will celebrate this approach to composing in a concert dubbed “Indie-A-Go-Go.” The Saturday program of chamber music showcases American composers whose classical music is bursting with allusions to rock-music icons.

For instance, D.J. Sparr’s “The Glam Seduction,” scored for flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion, is based on a guitar riff by Eddie Van Halen. Sparr is a classically trained composer, with degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to prove it. (Currently, he’s the composer-in-residence with the California Symphony in the San Francisco Bay area.) But he also plays rock guitar.

The New York Times says, Sparr’s music “suits the boundary-erasing spirit of today’s new-music world.”

Christopher Wilke’s lute saga continues
(Rochester Democrat & Chronicle © 01/23/2014)

“It’s an incredible problem for all of us musicians who are faced with traveling with instruments,” said James VanDemark, double bassist for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and professor at the Eastman School of Music.

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, regulations were put in place by the Transportation Security Agency that increased the number of times a musical instrument is exposed to rough handling, including opening the cases and inspecting the contents, VanDemark said. Yet wide discretion in interpreting those regulations seems to have been left in the hands of the airlines. (Also reported by USA Today, Tuscon Citizen)

There Really Is a Conference Where Nerds Study Videogame Music
(Wired News © 01/18/2014)

Aside from satisfying their own intellectual curiosity, ludomusicologists hope their scholarship brings more widespread renown to the field’s pioneering composers, none of whom enjoy the recognition of such movie-music titans as John Williams or Hans Zimmer. Several of the Youngstown attendees would love to see longtime Nintendo composer Kenji Kondo became a household name — not for his catchy Super Mario Bros. theme song, but rather for his endlessly inventive work on the Legend of Zelda series. Nick Exler, a graduate student in music theory at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music, is one of many young ludomusicologists to be deeply influenced by Kondo’s work on 1998’s Ocarina of Time, which includes the topic of his Youngstown presentation, “Zelda’s Lullaby.”

Classic Feature: “Comala” A Destination With Meaning

(City newspaper 01/22/2014)

On January 24, Zohn-Muldoon’s work, titled “Comala,” finally comes to Rochester, in a production including Eastman BroadBand, Alia Musica, and PUSH Physical Theatre. The performance will mark the end of a short tour at various venues in the United States and Mexico, including at the Cervantino Festival in Guanajuato, Mexico. Zohn-Muldoon is an associate professor and chair of the composition department at the Eastman School of Music. (Also reported by Democrat & Chronicle)

At CCM this Sunday, new music ensemble Eastman BroadBand teams up with the Alia Musica ensemble of Pittsburgh to present Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon’s opera “Comala,” a work that earned him designation as a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2011. Zohn-Muldoon, now a composition professor at the Eastman School of Music, taught at CCM from 1997-2002, so it’s kind of a “homecoming.”

New Horizons is actually an international organization that started in 1991 at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., and has grown to 97 groups throughout the United States and Canada. Regional band camps are held annually throughout the country for several days and give the musicians a chance to share ideas, play together musically and socially and have a good time.

If you still have your flute or trumpet laying around the house, dust it off and give it a try. New Horizons is an inclusive and inviting group, and they warmly welcome any newcomers.

‘If Music Be the Food’ a musical fundraiser for Foodlink is in its fifth year.

The concert was held at the Third Presbyterian Church Sunday evening raised awareness and support for those who go hungry in the Rochester community.

It brought together the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Eastman School of Music Students, and local and international professional musicians.

The Society for Chamber Music chose well for its first concert of the new year. Eastman School of Music professor of guitar, frequent recitalist and recording artist, and all-around mensch Nicholas Goluses is the soloist for an intriguing program that includes one of Paganini’s tuneful trios for guitar and strings, as well as works from the 1990’s by David Diamond and Roberto Sierra. Nicholas Goluses performs with Society for Chamber Music Sunday, January 26, at 7:30 p.m. at the Memorial Gallery, 500 University Ave.