By Jeremy Lopez
ALP Communications Intern
This Friday, November 8 at noon in the Miller Center Atrium, Eastman continues its free Lunchtime Concert Series with the inauguration of Eastman Collaborates! This new initiative promotes the collaboration between faculty and students, and offers a new level of experiential learning to both collaborative partners that reflects a growing desire among the Eastman community to work together more throughout the school.
This unique opportunity gives students the chance to experience firsthand what it means to work alongside a professional musician in a low-stress environment, and shows what Eastman is all about: learning through performance and teamwork. Series directors Irina Lupines and Priscilla Yuen feel that collaboration between students and faculty is vital to any artist’s training. Yuen states, “As collaborative piano faculty, we have the opportunity to perform with both faculty and students and be involved in several different studios. We wanted to encourage the same collaboration we get to enjoy through a student/faculty setting.”
She goes on to talk about how not only do students stand to learn, but the faculty members and audience do as well. “Students get to learn how to perform with a professional musician whose experience can teach much more through a performance than in a classroom. Faculty get to enjoy educating their students in a different setting than an individual lesson or studio class. The audience gets to appreciate a unique performance that is not the norm through Eastman’s regular busy concert schedule.”
The first installment of Eastman Collaborates will feature Professors Kathrine Ciesinski, Tony Caramia, Oleh Krysa, Mark Kellogg, and Bob Sneider performing, alongside their students, works by Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, Clara Schumann, and many more. Boxed lunches will be available to purchase from Max Rochester, or you may bring your own.