On Monday, May 6 at 7:30 p.m. in Kodak Hall, the Eastman Wind Ensemble, under its director Mark Davis Scatterday, will present its final concert of the academic year. The concert features two Eastman alumni as soloists: Chien-Kwan Lin, currently Associate Professor of Saxophone at Eastman; and flutist Jessica Sindell, assistant principal flutist of the Cleveland Orchestra.
The program includes Prokofiev’s March, Op. 99; Joel Love’s Solace, with Chien-Kwan Lin as soloist; Jeff Tyzik’s Three Latin Dances, receiving its world premiere on the May 6 concert; Kent Kennan’s Night Soliloquy, with Jessica Sindell as soloist; and David Maslanka’s Symphony No. 7.
Several of these works and composers have close associations with the Eastman Wind Ensemble. Jeff Tyzik ‘73E, ‘77E (MM) has written frequently for the EWE, which recently released Images, a recording of several Tyzik works, on the Summit label. The Night Soliloquy by Kent Kennan ‘34E, ‘36E (MAS) (1913-2003) is his most popular work and a standard of the flute repertoire. The symphonies and other wind ensemble works by the late American composer David Maslanka (1943-2017) are frequently performed by the EWE.
The following evening, Tuesday, May 7, the EWE travels to Cleveland to perform its Kodak Hall program in Cleveland’s Severance Hall (the home of the Cleveland Orchestra).
The Eastman Wind Ensemble is America’s leading wind ensemble. Founded by Frederick Fennell in 1952, the ensemble became the pioneering force in the symphonic wind band movement in the United States and abroad. The ensemble has released more than 40 recordings; done major tours of the United States, Japan and the Far East, most recently a six-city, 12-day tour in Europe; and has been invited to perform at many festivals and music conferences. The ensemble’s latest CD, Sierra Live: Music by Roberto Sierra, earned praise from Fanfare magazine for performing the works “at the highest possible artistic level,” noting that the “skill with which these pieces are presented is all the more remarkable given that these are all live performances.”
As only the fourth director of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Mark Davis Scatterday joined a prestigious line of conductors in the past sixty-plus years of the famed ensemble: Frederick Fennell, A. Clyde Roller, and Donald Hunsberger. He has led the EWE on tour to Japan, Taiwan, and China, and conducted the ensemble in highly acclaimed performances at Carnegie Hall, Canadian National Musicfest, and the Midwest Clinic. He has recorded five CDs with the EWE, Eastman Virtuosi, and Eastman Musica Nova, and led the Eastman Harmonie on a highly acclaimed tour of Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic in the summer of 2016.
One of America’s most innovative and sought-after pops conductors, Jeff Tyzik began his association with the Eastman Wind Ensemble (EWE) under the direction of Donald Hunsberger at the Eastman School of Music in 1970. Tyzik considers his time in the EWE as one of the most important influences in his 40-year career in music. Through his association with the EWE’s current director Mark Scatterday, Tyzik has composed several new works for the ensemble and has enjoyed producing EWE recordings. Jeff Tyzik is currently the Principal Pops Conductor with the Detroit, Dallas, Oregon, and Florida Orchestras, and has held the Principal Pops Conductor position with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) for the past twenty-five seasons.
Chien-Kwan Lin has appeared as soloist and guest artist with the United States Navy Band, the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra, the New World Symphony, and the Portland (ME) Symphony, as well as the philharmonic and chamber orchestras of Boston, Rochester, Sichuan, and Thailand. He holds degrees from the New England Conservatory (BM, MM) and Eastman (Performer’s Certificate, DMA). Mr. Lin is currently Associate Professor of Saxophone at the Eastman School of Music, where members of his studio have been frequent competition prizewinners. He is the founder and director of the Eastman Saxophone Project (ESP), and received the 2012-2013 Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Jessica Sindell joined The Cleveland Orchestra in 2018 as assistant principal flutist, after serving as the solo piccolo player of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and principal flutist of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Sindell has been principal flute with the San Diego Mainly Mozart Festival and the Colorado Music Festival, and guest principal flute with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. She has performed with the Lake Tahoe Music Festival Orchestra since 2012, and frequently performs and records at Montana’s Tippet Rise Arts Center. Jessica Sindell received her Bachelor’s degree (‘11E) in flute performance from Eastman ’11E, studying under Bonita Boyd. She received consecutive fellowships to participate in the Aspen Music Festival and School during the summers of 2011 through 2013, and at the Music Academy of the West in 2014.
About Eastman School of Music:
The Eastman School of Music was founded in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman (1854-1932), founder of Eastman Kodak Company. It was the first professional school of the University of Rochester. Mr. Eastman’s dream was that his school would provide a broad education in the liberal arts as well as superb musical training. The current dean is Jamal Rossi, appointed in 2014.
About 900 students are enrolled in Eastman’s Collegiate Division—about 550 undergraduate and 350 graduate students. Students come from almost every state, and approximately 20 percent are from other countries. They are guided by more than 95 full-time faculty members. Six alumni and three faculty members have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music, and numerous alumni and faculty have received Grammy Awards. Each year, Eastman’s students, faculty members, and guest artists present more than 900 concerts to the Rochester community.
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