Here are some select recent clippings 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.)
“Seascapes” — Janice Weber, piano
(Audiophile Audition 05/15/2015)
Seascapes is a nicely thought out ‘theme’ collection of music inspired by the sea. There is certainly a rich musical heritage to draw upon, and pianist Janice Weber has not gone for the cliche, but unearthed some seldom heard works that are worthy of an extended listen.
A summa cum laude graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Miss Weber has performed at the White House, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, National Gallery of Art, and Boston’s Symphony Hall.
LA Phil chamber players start Next on Grand in here and now
(Los Angeles Times 05/20/2015)
The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Next on Grand festival, which began Tuesday night in Walt Disney Concert Hall, is meant to be a monthlong inquiry into the contemporary American scene, including the intersection of orchestral music with dance, theater, architecture and pop culture. Los Angeles Opera, the Music Center’s dance program and the new music collective wild Up are collaborating.
Principal trumpet Thomas Hooten and associate principal James Wilt opened the concert with Verne Reynolds’ “Calls and Echoes,” a slight yet virtuosic duo by a horn player who taught at Eastman School of Music and died in 2011 (the chamber concert did not, as the rest of the festival will, rely exclusively on living composers). But the performance was astonishing. The call and response could be a brilliant fraction-of-a-second give-and-take or patiently long calls, with one player moving offstage.
The Last Five Years takes an unconventional approach to the love story
(Charleston City Paper 05/20/2015)
An examination of young love’s evolution and eventual dissolution, playwright Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years portrays the rise and fall of protagonists Cathy and Jamie during their tumultuous journey as a couple. The play follows an unconventional structure — Jamie’s story unfolds on a linear timeline, while Cathy’s perspective is told backwards. The two characters meet only once, at their wedding, in the middle of the show.
Brown graduated from the Eastman School of Music, and he’d already won a Tony Award — for Best Original Music Score for the show Parade in 1999 — by the time he wrote The Last Five Years. (Brown also won two Tony Awards, for Best Original Score and Best Orchestration in 2014 for The Bridges of Madison County).
Brockport teacher to receive RPO’s Outstanding Music Educator award
(Democrat & Chronicle 05/20/2015)
A Brockport teacher is among five area music educators selected by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) for the 27th annual RPO Musicians’ Awards for Outstanding Music Educators. The 2015 awards winners are: Shawn Halquist (Outstanding High School Band Director, Brockport Central School District), Kim Fink (Outstanding String Director, Greece Central School District); Jennifer Lewis (Special Award recognizing tremendous commitment to music education in our area, Victor Central School District), Debbie Parker (Outstanding Elementary Band Director, Brighton Central School District), and Lisa Rosenbrough (Outstanding General Music Specialist, Rush-Henrietta Central School District).
Shawn is an active trumpet performer in the Rochester area and is a member of the Eastman Community School Music Educators’ Wind Band, the Great Lakes Wind Ensemble, and the Brockport Big Band. He is in demand as an arranger for marching ensembles and has been an adjudicator for all types of music festivals and marching shows across the country.
Seattle organist to perform in Astoria
(Coast Weekend 05/20/2015)
Experience the sounds of the mighty Estey Opus 1429 pipe organ at the Clatsop Community College Performing Arts Center. The gifted digits of internationally acclaimed organist Douglas Cleveland will cast a spell over audiences at a concert of classical music at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 30.
This musician began his life in music on piano, but at age 10 he became fascinated with the organ. “I loved all the sounds it made… like an orchestra,” he recalled. He later earned a Bachelor of Arts in music from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. From there, he went on to earn a master’s degree in music from Indiana University. From 2009 through 2011, Cleveland spent the summers at Oxford University studying sacred music for the organ.
Wynton Marsalis, Bela Fleck in Eastman Presents series
(Democrat & Chronicle 05/24/2015)
After drawing more than 8,000 people to a diverse collection of shows, from Jason Alexander to the Vienna Boys Choir, Eastman Presents has announced a 2015-’16 season at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre that includes jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, soprano Kathleen Battle and the extraordinary banjo of Bela Fleck. Subscription packages for next year’s Eastman Presents as well as the Eastman-Ranlet and Kilbourn Concert Series are on sale at eastmantheatre.org. (also reported by Rochester Business Journal)
Tel Hai Concert features keystone Brass Quintet on June 16
(Boyertown Berk Montgomery Newspapers 05/21/2015))
The Keystone Brass Quintet was founded in the fall of 1976 and presented its first public concert in the spring of 1977 on the campus of York College. More than 300 performances and 35 years later, three of the five founding members remain with the ensemble. The cohesive nature of the ensemble’s playing and richness of their sound is due in large part to the high level of musicianship of the unchanging personnel.
Several members of the group arrange and compose for the quintet’s extensive repertoire. This talented group of musicians includes: Doug Winemiller and Peter Johnston on trumpet, Stephen Burg on French horn, Michael Dietz on trombone, and James Biddle on the tuba. Dietz, a graduate of the Eastman School of Music had been principal trombone with York and Harrisburg Symphonies and is an active recitalist in the region.
La Bonne Chanson concert to help celebrate 40 years for the Arts Council for Wyoming County
(The Daily News 05/21/2015)
Four ladies, one evening of fantastic music. The members of La Bonne Chanson share classical training and a love of performing. Especially the Romantic pieces, such as what they’ll play Saturday for the Arts Council of Wyoming County’s annual chamber concert. The evening will include Gabriel Fauré’s “First Piano Quartet”, along with Edward Elgar’s “Salut D’Amour.”
La Bonne Chanson is comprised of Boianova and viola player Tania Maxwell Clements, along with Adrienne and her sister, cellist Lisa Caravan.
The Caravan sisters are originally from the Syracuse region, and attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, as undergraduates with Boianova.
Organ Concert in West Barnstable
(CapeNews.net 05/21/2015)
The music board of West Parish of Barnstable is sponsoring a concert by organist Julian Petrallia on Sunday, May 31, at 3 PM. Julian, a Chatham resident and senior at Nauset Regional High School, plans to attend the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, this fall to major in organ studies. His program will feature works of Bach, Mendelssohn, Rachmaninoff, Elgar and others.
Concert Review: Frank Glazer Memorial Concert at Bates College Chapel
(Portland Press Herald © 05/17/2015)
Frank Glazer (1915-2015) would have approved. His memorial service, May 9 at Bates Colleges Peter J. Gomes Chapel, said in music what could not be conveyed in words. In a letter to his mother, Clara, in 1936, he thanked his parents for allowing him to pursue a career in music, saying that he could not express his gratitude in words, but I will when I play for you.
Glazer became artist in residence at Bates in 1980, when he retired from the Eastman School of Music, and taught a generation of students, in addition to pursuing a distinguished concert career, One of his projects, while in his 90s, was to perform the entire cycle of the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in chronological order, in a single year. He was planning his 100th anniversary concert at the time of his death in January.