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 Drummers Journal Winter 2016/17)
We chat about Steve’s early career. He graduated from Eastman School of Music at the time when the Vietnam War draft was at its most voracious. The draft was supposed to be a randomised lottery requiring citizens to enlist in the armed forces. For a supposedly randomised process, it was an odd statistical anomaly that kids from rich, white families were drafted far less than those from lower socio-economic classes. During the Vietnam War, on average, 11 American soldiers died per day for 19 years. Steve graduated
college in early 1968. This was the bloodiest year of the war, with 16,000 US casualties alone. Your chances of being killed as a US soldier were 181 to one. Those are not good odds.
“Was the prospect of being drafted not absolutely terrifying?” “Yeah. I did get drafted. As soon as I graduated from Eastman I got my draft papers.”
Sidney Friedman, The Musical Mentalist, Blows Them Away Again!
(WGN TV 02/24/2017)
One of Sidney Friedman’s influences in developing his mental gifts was a native American of the Arapaho tribe who he met at a young age in Estes Park, Colorado. Another influence was and is Ludwig von Beethoven. No, he didn’t meet him, ha, but through Beethoven’s music Sidney finds truth, wisdom and inspiration. Sidney was educated with a Bachelor degree in music composition and piano at the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, and he did post-graduate work in Stockholm, Sweden on a grant from the Frank Huntington Beebe Fund. He has won numerous awards and honors for his music
Music hall announces 2017 inductees
(Rochester Business Journal 02/22/2017)
Joe Beard, Uncle Roger and Samuel Adler are among 2017 inductees to the Rochester Music Hall of Fame announced Wednesday. The ceremony will be held at 7 p.m. April 30 in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre.
Receiving honors this year are:
- Samuel Adler: The celebrated classical composer was a professor of composition at Eastman School of Music from 1966 to 1995. His more than 400 published compositions have been performed around the world.
- Lewis Soloff: The Grammy-winning trumpeter studied at Eastman School of Music and was part of Blood Sweat and Tears for five albums. (Also reported by Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester City Newspaper, News 10NBC , 13 WHAM TV)
American Classical Orchestra Presents Symphonic Symposium, 3/13
(Broadway World 02/21/2017)
On Monday, March 13, 2017 from 8:00-9:30pm at St. Michael’s Church Sanctuary, Amsterdam Avenue between W 99th and W 100th Street. Conductor Thomas Crawford will lead The Making of the Beethoven 9th Symphony, a symphonic symposium on classical music’s most iconic masterpiece, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. . . . Mr. Crawford holds a Bachelor of Music in composition and organ performance from Eastman School of Music, where he studied choral and orchestral conducting under Samuel Adler.
Classical “The Secret of the Muses”
(Rochester City Newspaper 02/22/2017)
A good early music rule of thumb is if it’s a concert with Paul O’Dette, just drop everything and go. This world-renowned lutenist lives in Rochester (he teaches at the Eastman School of Music), but is celebrated around the world. He does not perform all that often here, so his recital this weekend, sponsored by Pegasus Early Music, will be a treat.
‘Extraordinary’ string trio to perform Feb. 22 at TTU
(Crossville Chronicle 02/20/2017)
The Mirus Trio will perform Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m. in Tennessee Tech’s Wattenbarger Auditorium in Cookeville. The string trio was founded in 2007 and consists of Eastman School of Music alumni cellist Hyungi Kim, cellist Jayoung Kim and pianist Namhee Lim.
Akiko Kobayashi and Eric Siepkes Return to Rogers Memorial Library to Perform Rarely Heard Works
(27east.com East Hampton Press & Southampton Press 02/21/2017)
Violinist Akiko Kobayashi and pianist Eric Siepkes will make a return visit to Rogers Memorial Library this Sunday, February 26, to perform rarely heard and underappreciated works by composer-pianists Edvard Grieg, Clara Schumann and Igor Stravinsky. Ms. Kobayashi, who holds a master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music, and Mr. Siepkes, who studied at Eastman School of Music, have played at the library in Southampton Village several times before, both as soloists and as a duo, to much acclaim.
Theater review: Screen Plays’ ‘The Cat’s Meow’
(City newspaper 02/20/2017)
Director Lindsay Warren Baker, an opera instructor and dramatic coach at Eastman School of Music who has many regional and national credits to her name, is firmly at the helm of “The Cat’s Meow” and guides her cast of 14 to create a piece that never feels too dry.
Eastman School of Music to celebrate women’s suffrage
(Gates-Chili Post 02/21/2017)
University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music and Susan B. Anthony Center for Women’s Leadership will collaborate on “Women’s Voices” at 3 p.m. March 5 in Kilbourn Hall, 26 Gibbs St., Rochester, as part of a yearlong celebration of the centennial of women’s suffrage in New York state. The concert will feature the premiere of composers Lori Laitman’s and Jennifer Mitchell’s new works with performances by the Eastman Women’s Chorus; Eastman students; and faculty members including pianists Tony Caramia and Sylvie Beaudette, mezzo soprano Kathryn Cowdrick, soprano Teresa Ringholtz and violinist Rebeca Boyd. (Also reported by the Fairport-East Rochester Post)
(Rochester City Newspaper 02/22/2017)
Of particular interest on the program are an obscure 1867 cello sonata by Henri Duparc and the world premiere of Eastman School of Music alumnus Daniel Pesca’s newly written Piano Trio.
Pittsford man to bike 4,000 miles for Parkinson’s
(Rochester Democrat & Chronicle 02/20/2017)
Barbaccia credits his late grandfather, Andrew J. Barbaccia Sr., and his uncle, Mark Williams, as motivators for the trip. His uncle is an accomplished pianist who formerly worked at the Eastman School of Music’s Sibley Music Library and as the director of Music at Trinity Lutheran Church in Brooklyn.It is difficult for him to play now because of tremors and concentration issues.