Here are some select clippings from the past week showing the variety of hits/mentions identifying musicians and scholars as Eastman School of Music alumni, faculty or students. Note: Some links may have expired.)
Let’s Make a Deal: The Beatles, Ed Sullivan, and the British Invasion
(Musicology Now © 02/03/2014)
by John Covach
New York promoter Sid Bernstein called himself “the man who brought the Beatles to America.”<1> Bernstein’s oft-told story of how he came to book the Beatles for two performances in Carnegie Hall on February 12, 1964, however, has been questioned by at least one expert. The chief point of contention regarding Bernstein’s account is that he booked the Beatles before Ed Sullivan approached them to appear on his Sunday-night variety show. The Beatles appeared on Sullivan’s show three weeks in a row; the first broadcast on February 9—fifty years ago this Sunday—is regarded as historic, drawing more than 70 million viewers and launching the British invasion.
John Covach is Director of the Institute for Popular Music at the University of Rochester, where he is also the Mercer Brugler Distinguished Teaching Professor and Professor of Theory at the Eastman School of Music. (Also reported by Fox News, PBS, Forbes, Yahoo! Music, Japan Times, MPNnow)
Memorial Chapel Filled with Organ Notes as David Higgs Performs
(Redlands City News 01/20/2014)
As part of the ongoing organ recital series hosted at the University of Redlands, music lovers filled the Memorial Chapel Sunday evening, Jan. 12, for David Higgs’s performance. Higgs, a world-renowned organist, played intricate pieces composed by preeminent organists from the 19th century. A New York native, Higgs has taught and performed internationally, including at the International Organ Festivals and Competitions in Germany, Denmark, Italy, Ireland and England. He is currently chair of the organ department at the Eastman School of Music.
Teacher wins Grammy for Glee-like success
(World Magazine © 02/05/2014)
Those current and former students convinced The GRAMMY Foundation and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to select Knappenberger last month from more than 30,000 nominated teachers to win its inaugural Music Educator Award.
Drawing on his Master’s degree from Rochester’s Eastman School of Music, he often writes his own musical arrangements, using the money saved to slowly build up needed equipment. Westfield now boasts handbells, steel drums, and a battery of folk instruments, along with other instruments.
Chicago brass quintet playing in Rochester on Tuesday
(Rochester Democrat & Chronicle © 02/10/2014)
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet will play works at 8 p.m. Tuesday as part of Eastman School of Music’s Kilbourn Concert Series at Kilbourn Hall, 26 Gibbs St.
Other concerts of note this week:
The Ying Quartet gives a free 11 a.m. Saturday concert with the Eastman Percussion Ensemble as part of the Morning Chamber Music series at Eastman School of Music’s Hatch Recital Hall, 433 E. Main St.