Here are some select recent clippings 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.)
(theartsdesk.com 01/20/2015)
The mixed grilled school of programme-making is not for the JACK Quartet. Contemporary, contemporary, and contemporary: that was the bill of fare last night at this challenging recital offered by the young American group, graduates of the Eastman School of Music, who derive their capitalised title from the initial letters of the members’ first names. Like the Arditti String Quartet, one of their mentors, you’d never find them playing Schubert. Even someone as gutsy and game-changing as Beethoven appears to be well off the menu.
Classical CDs, celebrating American piano music
(Dallas Morning News 01/16/2015)
American Piano Sonatas: Hanson, Floyd, Schirmer; Scott Watkins (Dolphinium)
Watkins offers an enterprising triptych of formally traditional but stylistically varied sonatas spanning seven decades. He plays authoritatively and expressively and is admirably recorded.
Howard Hanson (1896-1981) was an innovative educator who essentially created and for four decades headed the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. An able conductor and pianist, he was also a forceful advocate for new American music, at least of the less confrontational kind.
Rising Young Saxophonist Alexa Tarantino Headlines at Baby Grand Jazz Series
(WNPR 01/21/2015)
Alexa Tarantino, a gifted, 22-year-old alto saxophonist who grew up in West Hartford, has plenty to celebrate as she performs in a duo concert with the Polish-born piano virtuoso Dariusz Terefenko at 3:00 pm on Sunday, January 25, at the Hartford Public Library’s free Baby Grand Jazz Series.
Among the causes for celebration, the versatile multi-instrumentalist/composer has recently graduated from Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where she earned degrees in jazz saxophone performance and education, as well as a certificate in arts leadership. Besides the joy of graduation, the emerging saxophonist has a new CD out with Terefenko called Crossing Paths that they’ll be promoting in March on a two-week tour of workshops, clinics, and performances in some of Poland’s premier conservatories. Later this summer, the mini-Poland tour will be followed up with the duo’s appearances in Brazil. (Also reported by Hartford Courant)
Art Notes, Jan. 18: Organist featured at Furman music conference
(Hendersonville Times News © 01/18/2015)
Furman University will present a concert with Eastman School of Music organist David Higgs at 8 p.m. Thursday in Daniel Memorial Chapel on campus, 3300 Poinsett Highway, Greenville, S.C.
One of Americas leading concert organists, Higgs is chair of the organ department at the Eastman School of Music. He performs extensively throughout the United States and abroad, and has inaugurated many important new instruments, including those installed at St. Stephens Cathedral, Vienna; the Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas; St. Albans Cathedral, England; St. Canices Cathedral, Kilkenny, Ireland; and the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York City. (Also reported by Greenville News )
Chagrin Falls library gets into the swing of things with jazz by Paul Ferguson Trio
(Cleveland.com Plain Dealer 01/19/2015)
What was billed as Paul Ferguson and his Brass Choir, turned out to be a more mellow afternoon of jazz classics at the Chagrin Falls Branch library Jan. 18. It suited the audience just fine.
Ferguson is also a jazz arranger and composer, as well as the director of Jazz Studies at Case Western Reserve University. A graduate of the University of Akron and the Eastman School of Music, he has traveled with the Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller bands as lead trombonist and arranger and currently fills those functions with the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra
Award-winning pianist to perform at CCU
(WBTW News 13 01/20/2015)
Award-winning pianist Daria Rabotkina will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 26, in the Edwards Recital Hall at Coastal Carolina University. Rabotkina has released two solo CDs featuring Beethoven’s “Diabelli Variations” and Tchaikovsky’s “Grand Sonata.” She has performed with the Montreal Symphony, Moscow State Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony and more. She also partners with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to give recitals for patients to elevate their spirits. Rabotkina was born in Kazan, Russia, into a musical family. She earned a doctorate degree from the Eastman School of Music and won the 2007 Concert Artists Guild International Competition.
Arce, Danner receive TTU Caplenor Award
(Cookeville Herald Citizen 01/17/2015)
After teaching thousands of students and writing nearly 100 compositions, music professor Greg Danner also this year received Tennessee Tech University’s top faculty award.
Danner holds a bachelor’s degree in music from Southeast Missouri State University, a master’s in music theory from the Eastman School of Music and a doctorate in music theory and composition from Washington University
(Brainerd Dispatch 01/21/2015)
The Lake Areas Music Festival presents presents violinist Jonathan Magness, pianist Mary Jo Gothmann and festival director Scott Lykins on cello for an intimate program of chamber music masterpieces at 7 p.m. Monday at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Nisswa.
Lykins is a native of the Brainerd lakes area, beginning his cello studies in the public school orchestra program. He attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, for both his undergraduate and master’s degrees, and performs regularly with numerous chamber and orchestral ensembles around the region. He founded the Lakes Area Music Festival in 2009 and currently serves as the organization’s artistic and executive director.
‘Aria Da Capo’ to play at Writer and Books
(Canandaigua Daily Messenger © 01/15/2015)
Originally produced in 1920, Hall and her team of local actors, designers and musicians are reviving this still-relevant and beautifully funny piece and bringing it to the audiences of Rochester. The production features live original music composed by Eastman School of Music graduate Cristina Dinella and performed by local musicians Katarina Schwarz and John Himes. Flower City Vaudeville will open every performance.