Tonight at 8 p.m., the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra — comprised of first-year and sophomore musicians — gives it first concert of 2016. Neil Varon conducts, and the guest artist is Professor of Voice Jan Opalach — not singing, but reading Ogden Nash’s verses for Saint-Saens’s Carnival of the Animals. Popular works by Wagner and…
The Eastman Wind Orchestra performs Pulitzer Prize-winner Steven Stucky’s Threnos this Wednesday in Kodak Hall. By Eric Laprade The Eastman Wind Orchestra, under the direction of Professor Mark Davis Scatterday, will present its first concert of the spring semester on Wednesday, February 3, 2016 at 8 p.m. in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre. The program…
By Kevin Holzman On Friday, February 5, 2016 at 8 p.m. in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, The Eastman Wind Ensemble, conducted by Kevin Holzman, presents A Celebration of the Symphony. Far from an outdated genre, the symphony continues to thrill and inspire musicians and audiences across the world. The power of this genre is…
Bassoonist Peter Kolkay (MM ’00) returns to Eastman for this summer’s NewBassoon Workshop by Andrea Schuler, Summer@Eastman Program Coordinator No matter how many chamber music concerts you’ve attended, you’ve probably never heard anything quite like Dark in the Song. This “contemporary bassoon collective” of five top-notch American bassoonists has essentially created its own repertoire since…
By John Fatuzzo This weekend, Thursday, January 28 to Sunday, January 31, the Eastman Opera Theater will present a double-bill of Giacomo Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Umberto Giordano’s Mese Mariano. While the Puccini is a well-known work and the Giordano is rarely performed, both of the one-act operas present stories of maternal love and loss;…
The musicians of Table Top Opera performed their adaptation of Debussy’s opera Pelleas et Melisande during Eastman’s “Prismatic Debussy” festival in 2013. By John Fatuzzo Table Top Opera, a chamber ensemble of Eastman faculty members, students, alumni, and friends, will be performing their multi-media work, Echoes of ’64, on the Eastman Virtuosi concert this Saturday,…
Summer@Eastman director Sylvie Beaudette asked Michael Alan Anderson, Associate Professor of Musicology at the Eastman School of Music, a few questions about himself and his brand-new Summer institute: Singing Gregorian Chant and Renaissance Polyphony. How was your interest and love for early music–especially vocal music–ignited? I believe it was ignited as an undergraduate, first hearing…
By Myles Boothroyd It’s that time of year when the Eastman concert schedule winds down and students begin making long-overdue journeys back home. Yet amid the holiday hubbub, the organs in Christ Church will sound through the season and bring in the new year. The “Tuesday Pipes” series continues in the coming weeks, as it…
By John Fatuzzo This month, the Eastman School of Music has been a temporary home for the 200-year old double bass once owned by Serge Koussevitzky (1874-1951), famed Russian double bass virtuoso and longtime music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924-1949. Last month, Madeleine Crouch, the Director of the International Society of Bassists,…
We will be regularly publishing blog posts introducing readers to different aspects of the Summer@Eastman program. Today we have an interview with Gaelen McCormick, director of the Eastman@Keuka program, by the Summer@Eastman Arts Leadership Program intern, Emily Helenbrook. By Emily Helenbrook At the age of 16, Gaelen McCormick found her life’s calling. As many adolescent…