Eastman News Highlights March 17, 2014

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.)

‘From the Top’ coming to Eastman Theatre

(Democrat & Chronicle 03/15/2014)

Currently the principal cellist of the Rochester Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, Jacobs-Perkins also teaches tuition-free music lessons as part of RocMusic, an initiative put together by the Eastman School of Music and the Rochester School District, among others.

Another musician set to appear on the program is soprano Emily Helenbrook, a 19-year-old Eastman student who first performed on From the Top in 2012 at Chautauqua Institution and returns to sing “Mein Herr Marquis” — also known as “The Laughing Song”— from the operetta Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss II. (Also reported by City, Batavia Daily News.)

Miller Theatre’s Composer Portraits Series Presents UNSUK CHIN Featuring Ensemble Signal Tonight
(Broadway World © 03/13/2014)

Brad Lubman, conductor/composer, is founding co-Artistic Director and Music Director of Ensemble Signal. He has gained widespread recognition during the past two decades for his versatility, commanding technique, and insightful interpretations. His guest conducting engagements include major orchestras such as the DSO Berlin, Netherlands Radio Kamer Filharmonie, WDR Symphony Cologne, Cracow Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Stuttgart Radio Symphony, Dresdner Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, New World Symphony, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has worked with some of the most important ensembles for contemporary music, including London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, Klangforum Wien, musikFabrik, Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, and Steve Reich and Musicians. Lubman’s own compositions have been performed in the USA and Europe and can be heard on his CD, insomniac, on Tzadik. Lubman is Associate Professor of Conducting and Ensembles at the Eastman School of Music, where he has directed the Musica Nova ensemble since joining the faculty in 1997, and on the faculty of the Bang-on-a-Can Summer Institute. He is represented by Karsten Witt Musik Management.

New app for singers and teachers

(WXXI 03/10/2014)

Students at a University of Rochester computer science class have developed a free app that’s designed to help their classmates who are learning how to sing at the Eastman School of Music. Professor of Voice at Eastman, Katherine Ciesinski, says vowel shaping is an important component in classical singing, and a new computer app is helping students learn how to sing their vowels. (Also posted on Musical America, Don 411.)

New Horizons Band seeks adult musicians, enthusiasts
(Canton Repository © 03/14/2014)

If you’ve ever imagined what it would be like to play in an orchestra, James Adkins can help make your wish come true.

Adkins said he was recruited to start a Stark County chapter in 2005 by Roy Ernst, a retired Eastman School of Music professor who founded New Horizons in 1991 in Rochester, N.Y. Adkins co-founded the band with Jim Stahl, owner of the Central Instrument Co. in Cuyahoga Falls.

Pianist Frank Glazer celebrates 99 years of music
(WCSH-TV NBC 6 Portland © 03/12/2014)

“I played in Israel, Japan, some of Greece,” said Glazer.

A success that eventually took him to the classroom to teach others. Glazer spent 25 years at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. From there he moved to Maine where he took a resident position at Bates College that was supposed to last five years, but turned into 34.

‘Freedom in the Air’ concert celebrates Civil Rights
(The Daily Item © 03/13/2014)

The Barry Long Quartet will use freedom songs and historic photography as source material for an interdisciplinary collaboration Wednesday, March 12, at 7:30 p.m. in the Campus Theatre in Lewisburg.

Trumpeter Barry Long’s “Freedom in the Air” project gives modern witness to the courageous work of Civil Rights activists: ordinary men and women who accomplished extraordinary change amidst unimaginable tumult. The inaugural Samuel Williams Professor of Music at Bucknell, Long directs the jazz ensemble and teaches coursework in jazz and music theory. He was the first to receive a doctoral degree in Jazz Studies from the Eastman School of Music and has performed with such artists as Kenny Wheeler, Bob Brookmeyer, John Clayton, Eliane Elias, Benny Carter, and Jim McNeely.

One with his violin: Geneva native excited about his chance to play at Carnegie Hall
(Finger Lakes Times © 03/09/2014)

When Geoffrey Herd picks up his violin to practice, he focuses on the technical — on finger placement, on how he moves the bow, on where it hits the string. When he performs, as he will later this month at Carnegie Hall, a different motivation takes over. “You just go after what lies behind the music,” he said.

Herd will perform with Cahill Smith, a pianist at Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. The duo will play at the Eastman Monday as a way of field testing their Carnegie Hall show.

Touring with US Army band a ‘dream come true’

(Lewiston Sentinel 03/10/2014)

When the United States Army Field Band performs Wednesday at Mifflin County High School, a dream will be fulfilled for Staff Sgt. Gina Sebastian. The flutist, who has served in the band since 2010, said she had recently finished studying flute performance at The Eastman School of Music when she saw there was a vacancy in the field band.

Background: Rochester Fringe Festival is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation that exists as a means to connect venues, performers, artists, educational institutions and the audience. It was pioneered by several of Rochester’s esteemed cultural institutions, including Geva Theatre Center, the George Eastman House and Garth Fagan Dance, as well as up-and-coming groups like PUSH Physical Theatre and Method Machine. The Board of Directors also includes representatives from the University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology, Boylan Code LLC, Center for Youth, the Eastman School of Music and Mengel, Metzger and Barr & Co. LLP.

Groups competing in the Ensemble Showcase were screened from a selection of unedited recordings made from representative live performances over the last year. Independent judges listened and scored the recordings. GCC’s selection as best large ensemble was alongside the Eastman School of Music, which was named best small ensemble (quartet/trio/duo). Eastman is a professional music conservatory within the University of Rochester (New York). Surveys consistently rank Eastman among the top college music programs in the United States. About 13 percent of applicants are admitted each year. Alumni include famed singer Renée Fleming.