Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and former Eastman School of Music faculty member Joseph Schwantner returns to Rochester to discuss his work with students and to attend rehearsals and performances of two of his works.
Schwantner, who taught at Eastman from 1970 until 2001, will be in residence at the school from Thursday, Dec. 6, through Monday, Dec. 10. He will present a composition symposium on Thursday and will be present as guest composer for two concerts.
On Friday, Dec. 7, at 8 p.m. in the Eastman Theatre, the Eastman Wind Ensemble, under the direction of conductor and professor Mark Scatterday, will present Schwantner’s 2005 work Recoil. The performance is part of a program with the Eastman-Rochester Chorus that also includes Bruckner’s Mass in E Minor.
On Monday, Dec. 10, at 8 p.m. in the Eastman Theatre, the Eastman Philharmonia will present Schwantner’s Angelfire, a work for violin and orchestra that was commissioned by the Hanson Institute for American Music at the Eastman School of Music. The soloist is violinist and Eastman professor Charles Castleman and the ensemble will be conducted by doctoral student Rueben Blundell. The program also includes works by Aaron Copland, Peter Sculthorpe, and Graeme Koehne.
Both concerts are free and open to the public.
Schwantner will also be attending dress rehearsals with the ensembles as they prepare for the performances of his music.
A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Schwantner has garnered many prizes and awards for his musical compositions, including two Grammy nominations, two Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards, and a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship. He received the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his work Aftertones of Infinity.
Besides Eastman, Schwantner also taught at Yale and Juilliard.
# # #