Eastman’s centennial continues throughout fall 2022, including several exciting concerts by the acclaimed Eastman Wind Ensemble (EWE), under its director Mark Davis Scatterday. On Wednesday, September 21 at 7:30 p.m. in Kodak Hall, Rochester Mayor Malik Evans will perform alongside the EWE as guest narrator for Joseph Schwantner’s New Morning for the World: Daybreak of Freedom. In addition, Metropolitan Opera soprano and Eastman alumni Kathryn Lewek (‘06E, ‘08MME) will be featured as a soloist in Schwantner’s Sparrows and Andre Previn’s Vocalise.
“It is an honor to be a guest narrator for the world-renowned Eastman Wind Ensemble,” said Mayor Evans. “I appreciate the focus that conductor Mark Scatterday is placing on civil rights and racial equity by having the Ensemble perform New Morning for the World: Daybreak of Freedom, which features the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I look forward to participating in this exciting event and encourage everyone to attend any of the numerous Eastman Centennial events planned for this fall and winter.”
“This is a significantly important collaboration, not only between the City and the Eastman School of Music, but for the continued important role that music and human rights have together in our society as a whole,” shares Mark Scatterday, conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble. “The text for Mayor Malik Evan’s narration with the Eastman Wind Ensemble based on powerful quotes of the late, great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I know, growing up in the 1960’s, how much MLK made a difference in the direction that our country would eventually, and should continually, take in fighting for racial equality and human dignity.”
Throughout the fall, the EWE will have several world premieres on their fall lineup, including participation in an exciting Prism concert during the school’s “Meliora”/alumni weekend, and Eastman Professor of Composition, Robert Morris’ (‘65BM) world premiere of sound, trees, meadows. That unique outdoor concert at Durant-Eastman Park on September 18 features music performed in multiple locations during the hour-long piece, inviting the audience into a special concert that, according to Morris, “makes sound that fits with the environment in a peaceful interaction with nature.”
The Eastman Wind Ensemble will also be presenting the following concerts in the Fall Season:
- Friday, September 30 at 8:00 p.m. Eastman Wind Ensemble and Chorale present the PRISM concert, “Centennial Rhapsody” in Kodak Hall
- Program includes EWE, Eastman Chorale and other ensembles, as well as Eastman Professor, Marina Lomazov ‘93E, ‘00E (DMA), featured on piano in Rhapsody in Blue.
- Wednesday, October 19 at 7:30 p.m. Eastman Wind Ensemble in Kodak Hall
- Program includes Kenneth Amis’ Driven!, a world premiere by Ivan Trevino (’06BM, ’10MM), and Sydney Hodkinson’s Meliora!
- Featuring guest conductor Brad Hogarth (‘10BM) and solo percussion by Ivan Trevino and Professor of Percussion Michael Burritt (‘84BM, ‘86MM)
- Wednesday, November 9 at 7:30 p.m. Eastman Wind Ensemble in Kodak Hall
- Program includes Bernard Rands’ Ceremonial, Dana Wilson’s Concerto for Jazz Piano and Wind Ensemble, Florent Schmitt’s Dionysiaques, op. 62, no. 1, and Alec Wilder’s Serenade for Winds
- Featuring piano soloist Nick Weiser
- Monday, December 12 at 7:30 p.m. Eastman Wind Ensemble and Wind Orchestra in Kodak Hall
- Program includes Gilda Lyons’ la flor más linda, Percy Aldridge Grainger’s Lincolnshire Posy, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck’s Variations on “Mein junges Leben hat ein End”, Arnold Schoenberg’s Theme and Variations, op. 43a, Joel Puckett’s that secret from the river, and Joseph Schwantner’s …and the mountains rising nowhere
The three-semester-long Eastman Centennial celebration began in Fall 2021 and continues throughout 2022. Highlights include acclaimed guest artists performing alongside Eastman’s ensembles; national academic and music conferences; alumni events throughout the country; a documentary being produced in partnership with WXXI, and more.
For up-to-date information on the Eastman Centennial, including feature stories, future events, videos, testimonials, ways to engage, and more, please visit our Centennial website at https://www.esm.rochester.edu/100.
Media only: Jessica Kaufman, Director of Communications,
(585)278-4743, jkaufman@esm.rochester.edu
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About The Eastman Wind Ensemble
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.”
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.
More than 900 students are enrolled in the Collegiate Division of the Eastman School of Music—about 500 undergraduates and 400 graduate students. They come from almost every state, and approximately 23 percent are from other countries. They are taught by a faculty comprised of more than 130 highly regarded performers, composers, conductors, scholars, and educators. They are Pulitzer Prize winners, Grammy winners, Emmy winners, Guggenheim fellows, ASCAP Award recipients, published authors, recording artists, and acclaimed musicians who have performed in the world’s greatest concert halls. Each year, Eastman’s students, faculty members, and guest artists present more than 900 concerts to the Rochester community. Additionally, more than 1,700 members of the Rochester community, from young children through senior citizens, are enrolled in the Eastman Community Music School.
About the University of Rochester:
The University of Rochester is one of the nation’s leading private research universities, one of only 62-member institutions in the Association of American Universities. Located in Rochester, N.Y., the University gives undergraduates exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty through its unique cluster-based curriculum. Its College, School of Arts and Sciences, and Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are complemented by the Eastman School of Music, Simon School of Business, Warner School of Education, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, School of Nursing, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, and the Memorial Art Gallery.