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.)
Eastman School of Music grads get Grammy nominations
(WXXI News 12/01/2017)
Several graduates of the Eastman School of Music have received nominations in the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences 60th GRAMMY Awards which will be announced in January.
-In the category, Best Instrumental Composition, it features two Eastman alums as part of the JACK Quartet; Christopher Otto and John Pickford Richards for Alkaline (Le Boeuf Brothers & JACK Quartet)
-For Best Engineered Album non-classical: Bob Ludwig for, Is This The Life We Really Want?
-Best Classical Compendium, Eastman alum Nicole (Cabell), soprano, is featured in Mademoiselle, Premiere Audience.(Also reported by WROC-TV Online)
Cleveland Pops Orchestra Announces New Year’s Eve Celebration
(Broadway World 11/29/2017)
The two-hour concert … consists of an exciting and wildly popular evening of Rock-and-Roll classics performed by singing sensation Connor Bogart O’Brien.
A native of Northeast Ohio, Connor decided to leave the violin behind to study vocal performance/opera at the prestigious Eastman School of Music in New York (U. S. News and World Report ranked #1 Music Conservatory in America 2010-2012) under the direction of Dr. Robert McIver. During his time at Eastman, he also auditioned for, and was subsequently accepted into the nationally ranked male a cappella group The University of Rochester Yellowjackets, (as seen on NBC’s “The Sing Off”) as a featured soloist. After recording several award winning albums with the group, a love of singing without instruments took hold and in subsequent years led to executive producing future Yellowjacket albums and being a national finalist for the world famous vocal band Rockapella in their search for a new second tenor.
(The Hindu 11/30/2017)
Creator of Melharmony and several ragas and an enthusiastic collaborator — music is a way of life for Sangita Kalanidhi designate, Chitravina N. Ravikiran. …
Ravikiran collaborated with noted western composer and music theorist, Robert Morris (Eastman School of Music, NY) and the two developed and expounded the Academic rigour of Melharmony from the standpoints of Eastern harmony and Western melody. “Melharmony is a system that takes into cognizance the rules and aesthetics of both melody and harmony-centred systems (like traditional Indian/Chinese and Classical Western/Jazz). It showcases the similarities between diverse systems while embracing the distinctions too.” …
Kirstin Chavez returns to Las Cruces with one-woman “Carmen” performance
(KRWG 12/1/2017)
Chavez, a native of Albuquerque who grew up in Malaysia, is an alumna of New Mexico State University and the Eastman School of Music, and has strong ties to Las Cruces. “It means so much to me to being doing it with the Las Cruces Symphony, my ‘home’ orchestra,” she said. In this interview, she …
WSU School of Music Director talks life, career
(The Daily Evergreen 12/1/2017)
WSU School of Music Director Greg Yasinitsky reflects on some of the best moments in his career so far …, Yasinitsky went to the Eastman School of Music to earn his doctorate in musical arts. He returned to WSU and became the director of the School of Music in 2011.
New Des Moines Art Center exhibition celebrates Dada and Surrealism
(CityView 12/01/2017)
In this talk, Assistant Curator Jared Ledesma will discuss both Dada and Surrealism and the works that comprise the exhibition. … The piano score will be performed by Sophia S. Ahmad, and runs approximately 35 minutes.
Ms. Ahmad holds a Master of Music in Piano Performance and Literature and an Arts Leadership Certificate from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. In 2010, she became a fellow at the National Endowment for the Arts’ Arts Journalism Institute in Classical Music and Opera at Columbia University.
Kid-friendly opera “The Magic Flute,” features Lockport’s Karen D’Angelo
(Niagara Gazette 12/01/2017)
This durable opera company features local performers, several of whom are children in this production. One principal singer, playing a role she’s long dreamed of, is Lockport soprano Karen D’Angelo.
D’Angelo’s career has had a few interesting flurries as well. A graduate of Lockport High School and SUNY Fredonia, she studied opera in Italy and taught voice in the Lockport School District. … She is now back in the game, studying at Rochester’s Eastman School of Music and performing in local productions, with a renewed passion and a perspective valuable for arts practitioners.
Tom Snow, Mike Sakash to offer holiday home concert Dec. 2
(Conway Daily Sun 11/30/2017)
Sakash holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts in saxophone performance, African American/jazz studies and music education, as well as a master’s degree in jazz studies and contemporary media from the Eastman School of Music. He has studied saxophone with Lynn Klock and Raymond Ricker, improvisation with Yusef Lateef and jazz composition and arranging with Fred Sturm. …
Geneseo Symphony Orchestra concert illustrates individual, collaborative talent
(Lamron 11/30/2017)
The third and final soloist was soprano Keely Flutterer, who is doing doctoral work at the Eastman School of Music. Her voice smoothly hit the higher notes, shocking the audience with its beauty. Pre-accounting major freshman Qing Li expressed how much she loved the concert. “This is my first time …
Kevin Bazzana: UVic celebrates musical alumni with reunion weekend
(Times Colonist 11/29/2017)
Through the Orion Series in Fine Arts, two bachelor of music graduates from the class of 2001, violinist Kerry DuWors and pianist Stephen Runge, will offer an intriguing program devoted to works composed exactly a century ago, in 1917 (Phillip T. Young Recital Hall, free admission).
Both musicians grew up in Saskatchewan and now have wide-ranging concert careers. DuWors won the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition in 2003, and since that year has taught at Brandon University, in Manitoba, though she is also pursuing a doctorate at the Eastman School of Music, …
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