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.)
Brad Lubman: Cutting a Playlist Four Ways
(WNYC 93.9 (New York) © 04/09/2014)
Composer and conductor Brad Lubman has worked with a who’s-who list of ensembles, from the Los Angeles Philharmonic to the Chicago Symphony to Steve Reich and Musicians. The music director of the new ensemble Signal, Lubman also teaches at the Eastman School of Music and is on faculty at the Bang on a Can Summer Institute. He also recently appeared at Knoxville, Tennessee’s , where he performed Clapping Music with Steve Reich and led Signal in performances of Radio Rewrite and Music for 18 Musicians.
Brad Lubman writes the following about his playlist:
In choosing these pieces, I wanted to create a mix of music that fits into the following categories:
1. Music that has been very important to me as a composer.
2. Music that is perhaps less familiar to some listeners but that I would like to share.
3. Music which is intriguing, haunting, or has a special individuality or resonance.
4. A few disparate things thrown in for a bit of contrast along the way.
Links artist: Excellence found
(WHEC TV NBC 10 Rochester © 04/11/2014)
They say practice makes perfect. That’s certainly paying off for a sophomore violin student at the Eastman School of Music. Carmen Johnson-Pajaro has been playing since the age of five. She’s sharing her talent in recital this Sunday as the winner of the 28th annual Young, Gifted and Black: A Search for Excellence award.
Betty Fitzgerald is a classical musician who doesn’t take “no” for an answer
(Creative Exchange Springboard for the Arts 04/02/2014)
Betsy Fitzgerald knows that the world of the classically trained musician doesn’t always intersect with the world of arts advocacy and community engagement. In fact, at the time she attended the prestigious Eastman School of Music, those worlds didn’t connect at all.
“In the mid-’90s musicians could not just sit on stage separated from the audience anymore. We could no longer be behind a glass wall. For a long time [orchestra musicians] were elitists who could not relate to general public, but as patrons aged we needed to find a connection to a new audience,” Fitzgerald explains. “Eastman was a forerunner in the concept of how to teach artists to be more well-rounded, how they can help their community but also help themselves.”
Kneebody: Wednesday, April 9
(Portland Willamette Week © 04/09/2014)
Since a diverse group of teenage CalArts and Eastman School of Music students coalesced as Kneebody in Los Angeles in 2001, the instrumental ensemble has built the kind of growing young audience most jazzers would envy. The way it incorporates rock and pop influences into its singular, organic sound certainly helps with that.
Bales Artist Series to welcome organ department chair for recital
(Lawrence Journal World © 04/06/2014)
David Higgs will perform an organ recital on Kansas University’s campus Friday as part of the Bales Artist Series. Higgs is the chair of the organ department for the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. He performs extensively throughout the United States.
CLASSICAL | Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
(Rochester City Newspaper © 04/09/2014)
What’s the best way to get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice! It’s a truism that musicians know far too well, and in the case of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, it’s a journey you’re invited to join. The RPO will present two performances of Howard Hanson’s lyrical opera “Merry Mount” on April 10 and 12 at the Eastman Theater, as part of the organization’s preparation for its performance at Carnegie Hall’s “Spring for Music” event. The RPO will be joined by the Eastman-Rochester Chorus and the Bach Children’s Chorus.
Review: RPO delivers brilliant take on Carnegie Hall show
(Democrat & Chronicle 04/12/2014)
2014 is, in fact, an ideal year to bring Merry Mount into the spotlight: It is the 80th anniversary of the opera’s stage premiere at the Metropolitan Opera. And it has been 90 years since Hanson began his indispensable tenure as director of the Eastman School of Music.
Lessons in the parlor
(Ketchum Idaho Mountain Express © 04/09/2014)
Johnandrew Slominski: An international award-winning pianist, teacher and scholar, Slominski’s work in historical performance practice, analysis and performance, pedagogy and improvisation is receiving increasing recognition. By 21, Slominski earned three degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., including a Master of Music in Performance and Literature, a Master of Arts in Pedagogy of Music Theory, and a Bachelor of Music in Performance; his first professorship followed two years later. Slominski is a frequent solo performer, collaborative pianist, master-class clinician and lecturer. Praised for his virtuosity, innovative programming and broad repertoire, he performs throughout the United States and abroad.
Slominski teaches during the summer months at the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival at the University of South Florida, and serves as an assistant professor of music theory at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester.
Performances by Slee Sinfonietta, Wincenc highlight concert schedule
(UB Reporter 04/03/2014)
The annual Eastman Organists’ Day featuring some of the most talented students from the renowned organ studio at the Eastman School of Music will take place at 7:30 p.m. April 11 in Lippes Concert Hall. Performing this year on UB’s Fisk organ are Thomas Gaynor, Bryan Holten, Abigail Rockwood, and Ivan Sarajishvili.
Sneak peeks at performances to come
(Democrat & Chronicle 04/07/2014)
Eastman School of Music professor Bill Dobbins will perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Hatch Recital Hall, 433 E. Main St., as part of the Faculty Artist Series. He will be playing the music of Dave Brubeck, so it should be a preview to his Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival performance on June 21 in the same venue.
SKARTS Creative Conversations to host Skaneateles Festival co-artistic directors
(Auburn Citizen © 04/08/2014)
Award-wining musicians Elinor Freer and David Ying, currently serving their last year as co-artistic directors of the Skaneateles Festival, will be the featured speakers in the next Creative Conversations, presented by the Skaneateles Area Arts Council.
Ying, cellist in the Grammy Award-winning Ying Quartet, has also won recognition as an individual artist, including prizes in the Naumburg Cello Competition and the Washington International Competition. He earned degrees from the Juilliard School and the Eastman School of Music, where he is on the cello and chamber music faculty.
Freer, a pianist, has built a versatile career as a soloist and chamber musician, performing across the United States and Europe. She, too, is on the faculty of the Eastman School of Music.