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.)
The National Symphony Orchestra is going to jam live to House of Cards
(Politico 07/13/2016)
The National Symphony Orchestra will be at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to play a House of Cards-themed symphony with a video montage of scenes from the show’s first four seasons.
The show, slated to last around 80 minutes, will feature orchestral music arranged by Jeff Beal, who wrote the series’ score.
“I don’t want it to feel like a clip show. It’s more of a multimedia creation,” Beal said. “Hopefully, it invites you to fill in the story and experience it in a different way.”
The idea to set the exploits of Frank and Claire Underwood in a concert hall had interested Beal since the spring of 2014, when he first arranged that shorter version of this performance while in a residency at the Eastman School of Music, his alma mater. (It was that same performance that caught Blackburn’s eye.)
(Associated Musicians of Greater New York July 2016)
Ron Carter is among the most original, prolific, and influential bassists in jazz.
Carter earned his undergraduate degree in music from Eastman and a master’s from the Manhattan School of Music. He has also received two honorary doctorates and was the 2002 recipient of the prestigious Hutchinson Award from Eastman. Most recently, he was honored by the French minister of culture with France’s premier cultural award – the medallion and title of Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters.
Classical meets rock in rare Sonic Cluster Concert
(Democrat & Chronicle 07/15/2016)
Throw out everything that comes to mind when you hear “classical piano faculty recital.” That’s what classical musician Olga Krayterman Shupyatskaya did. With three degrees from the Eastman School of Music, including a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance and literature, Shupyatskaya is more accustomed to giving conventional recitals: “I prepare my program by myself in the practice room, and I go onstage and I deliver it — and that’s it.”
But when the Eastman Community Music School teacher was given the opportunity to curate her faculty recital as part of the Summer@Eastman program, she wanted to do something different. The result is “Sonic Cluster: Crossing Boundaries,” to be performed at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Eastman School’s Ray Wright Room.
National parks celebrate 100 years of history
(Ben Bulletin 07/13/2016)
Last year, the National Park Service shattered its previous attendance record by 14 million, attracting more than 307 million visitors. This year, traffic is already up nearly 3 million in year-to-date comparisons. And while the service won’t project another record-breaking year, 2016 is shaping up to be perhaps its busiest summer, as judged by events created to celebrate its centennial year.
As part of nearly $2 million in grants to the park centennial from the National Endowment for the Arts, Music in the American Wild (musicintheamericanwild.com,) a collection of composers and musicians from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, will tour nationally, performing music inspired by the national parks. August dates include the San Juan Island National Historical Park, North Cascades National Park and Olympic National Park, all in Washington state.
Auburn wants $10 million to $20 million for Harriet Tubman Park
(Syracuse Post Standard 07/12/2016)
Auburn wants the state to help it cash in on the economic benefits of Harriet Tubman’s new found celebrity. Grassroots preservation efforts put Auburn in a position to create a national park to share Tubman’s story with the world, said Mayor Michael Quill.
Tuesday the city holds its first Harriet Tubman Freedom Music Festival featuring the Empire Film Music Ensemble and the Eastman School of Music playing gospel, blues and jazz. It will also feature the premier of “A Soundtrack for Harriet Tubman” composed by Sean McLeod.
Summer Symphonies
(Times Sentinel 07/13/2016)
Beginning at 7 p.m. Sunday evening, July 10, New Horizons Band played a variety of classics from the American songbook, “As Times Go By” in the Zionsville Lions Park, making it the second of five musical groups that will perform on Sunday evenings for the duration of the month. The band, directed by John Marshall, Al Spangler, Bob Wiker and Sam Rhinesmith, features musicians who picked up their instruments later in life. The ensemble was started by professor Roy Ernst at the Eastman School of Music in 1991, and sparked New Horizons bands, orchestras, and choirs that now exist throughout the U.S., Canada, Ireland, Great Britain and Australia.
Eastman alumni take music to national parks
(13WHAM TV 07/15/2016)
It’s an unlikely concert hall for this seven-piece ensemble.
“It’s in the low 50s and very damp in the caves so it’s kind of challenging conditions, but the sound in there was just totally incredible. It felt like playing in a beautiful concert hall,” said Emlyn Johnson, Director of Music in the American Wild.
That hall was actually Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, a national park.
Lakes Area Music Festival to visit six area communities
(Northland Press 07/12/2016)
In the first weekend, musicians from the Minnesota Orchestra will join Festival directors, Scott Lykins and John Taylor Ward, for serenades, songs, and Shostakovich’s eighth string quartet in Aitkin, July 16, 7 p.m. at the Butler Opera House; Brainerd, July 17, 2 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church; and Crosslake, July 17, 7 p.m. at Crosslake Lutheran Church
The Lakes Area Music Festival’s collaborative roster includes over 140 musicians from ensembles and conservatories such as the Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, Metropolitan Opera, Minnesota Opera, Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, Curtis Institute, and more. (Also reported by The Lake Country Echo)
Vlad Soloviev at the Bradford Centre for the Arts
(Bradford Times 07/12/2016)
The first proposed event will be “Beer and Bach” – a “lecture-recital” featuring pianist Vladimir Soloviev and flautist Catherine Willshire, discussing the meaning of Bach and Classical music in a community setting, with a cash bar.
Vladimir Soloviev completed his undergrad degree at Western University, where he twice won the Pattison Competition, and took 2nd place in the London Music Scholarship Foundation competition. He completed a Master’s degree at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, and has since moved back to Toronto, where he has made classical music his mission.
(Cape Coral Daily Breeze 07/15/2016)
The Wild Coffee Duo (Susie Kelly, cello, and Abbey Allison, piano) will present a “Sounds of Summer” concert, at 2 p.m., Saturday, July 23, in Koreshan State Park’s Art Hall, and at 3 p.m., Sunday, July 24, at the Sanibel Congregational United Church of Christ.
Kelly is a member of the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra and Southwest Florida Symphony, where she served as principal cellist for 7 years. She has performed with the New World Symphony, the Florida Orchestra and Sarasota Orchestra and in the northeast with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra (Ithaca, N.Y.), New Haven Symphony, and the Rochester Philharmonic. She has performed throughout the U.S. and abroad as a founding member of the Tarab Cello Ensemble, an octet dedicated to establishing a contemporary repertoire for multiple cellos and has appeared at festivals including Tanglewood, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival and June in Buffalo. A Lois Rogers scholar at the Eastman School of Music, she received a masters and bachelors degree with distinction in cello performance, and also holds a masters degree in chamber music from the University of South Florida.