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.)
Big Idea: Music’s power to heal the brain
(Houston Chronicle 02/14/2015)
Idea person: J. Todd Frazier, composer and director of Houston Methodist Center for Performing Arts Medicine
Big idea: Music targeted to injured areas can help rehab the brain.
He studied composition at the prestigious Eastman School of Music, and later did doctorate-level studies at Juilliard. In Houston, he founded the American Festival for the Arts in Houston, a nonprofit that celebrates 20 years in 2015. Its mission is to provide young people with high-quality, community-based music education programs and performance opportunities.
Tune Change | Done with opera, but not the stage
(Hampton Pilot Online © 02/17/2015)
RENEE FLEMING is not everywoman. Onstage, she’s usually been one kind ? a distraught one, consumed by her love for a man.
Such roles have long been the norm in the world of opera, where Fleming has been a star for nearly three decades. But the 56-year-old artist, who came of age at the height of the feminist movement, melts into the roles mostly because the music, much of which goes back hundreds of years, is so beautiful.
Her talent was shaped early on by her parents, both high school vocal music teachers. Fleming studied at the State University of New York at Potsdam, Eastman School of Music and the American Opera Center at Juilliard. After performing at Virginia Opera and elsewhere, she made her New York City Opera debut in 1989 as Mimi in “La Bohème.” Since then, she has continued to challenge herself artistically, taking home three Grammys along the way.
Rachelle Gerodias charts news paths to 2015
(Malaya Business Insight 02/17/2015)
OPERA singer Rachelle Gerodias has led a most interestingly decorated career, but 2015 promises to bring her the greatest adventure yet in her personal life.
She is indeed one of the privileged few who have truly made a life and a living from her art. Her first training in music was choir singing at church, where she grew strong roots not just in singing but also in her faith. She was later educated at the UST Conservatory of Music and at the famed Eastman School of Music in New York. Since then, Rachelle has distinguished herself as one of the country’s most sought-after opera singers, working with the who’s who in the field around the world, including legendary opera singer Mirella Freni.
Sad News: Chopin Semi-Finalist Dies
(Slipped Disc [Blog] 02/16/2015)
We have received news of the death of Anne Koscielny, who won a major Chopin contest in New York and received a medal of honour at the Warsaw competition. She had a far-flung performing career in chamber music, working with the Guarneri and Emerson quartets, among others. She was professor of music at The Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford; also at the University of Maryland at College Park and the Eastman School of Music.
(following was in comment section) Winner of many awards and prizes, including first prize in the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition in New York City, and first prize in the National Guild of Piano Teachers Recording Competition, she received the Bachelor of Music (with Distinction) from the Eastman School of Music where she studied with Cécile Staub Genhart. She then received a full scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music, where she earned her Master of Music studying with Robert Goldsand. She has also studied with Frank Mannheimer and she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for study in Vienna.
Behind the name: How local musicians got their monikers
(Rapid City Journal © 02/15/2015)
Country, rock ‘n’ roll, punk or big band, Rapid City and the Black Hills have musicians that cover all genres of music. But some of those bands have the most peculiar names.
Name: Rapid City Senior Class New Horizons Band. Genre: Light classical, show music and pops
The story: We’re part of about 300 such organizations worldwide, started about 20 years ago by a professor at the Eastman School of Music. What it is is senior citizens that played earlier in their life or always wanted to but didn’t have a chance to play a band instrument. We have everybody from beginners to professional players in the group. Everyone can play. Our main purpose is to get together and play for fun, though we do do some concerts.
Pat Martino with Pat Bianchi, Carmen Intorre at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago 2/26-3/1
(Jazz Police blog 02/22/2015)
Grammy-nominated jazz guitarist Pat Martino and his trio, featuring Hammond B3 organ master Pat Bianchi and drummer Carmen Intorre, will appear at the Jazz Showcase on Thursday, February 16th through Sunday, March 1st.
Pat Bianchi, from Rochester, NY, took up piano and organ at age seven and had his first pro gigs at age 11. He studied classical piano at the Eastman School of Music and jazz piano at the Berklee College of Music.
10 Rochester connections to Saturday Night Live
(Rochester Democrat & Chronicle © 02/19/2015)
In the 40 years Saturday Night Live has been on the air, a number of Rochesterians and people with connections to the community have contributed in one way or another. Here are 10 of them.
4. At least two Rochester musicians have played on the show. Steve Gadd was born in Irondequoit in 1945, attended the Eastman School of Music and became a highly sought-after studio drummer, playing with Steely Dan, Simon and Garfunkel, Eric Clapton and James Taylor, among others.
Conway artists to be featured in Little Rock Feb. 26
(Log Cabin Democrat 02/11/2015)
Getzov has selected a program of classical favorites that express dark, romantic moments, such as the cruelty of a lover’s impending execution in “March to the Scaffold,” or the fiendish tease and torture of love in the dance episodes from “On the Town.” A glimpse of the underworld is given by marimba soloist Blake Tyson premiering his own composition, “The Shadow of Anubis.” The program concludes brightly with the incredibly romantic third movement of Hanson’s second symphony.
Blake Tyson holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Eastman School of Music. While at Eastman, he was also awarded the prestigious Performer’s Certificate.
Concert pianist to entertain
(Hillsdale Daily News © 02/18/2015)
The Hillsdale First United Methodist Church will present concert pianist Cameron Wilkens in a program of sacred and classical music Sunday.
In 2011, Cameron received an master of arts degree in music theory pedagogy from the Eastman School of Music, regularly listed as the “number one ranked music school” in the country by “US News & World Report.”
In 2014, she received an MM in piano performance from the Eastman School of Music under the tutelage of Natalya Antonova. In 2013, she was inducted into Eastman’s chapter of Pi Kappa Lambda, an honorary for music scholarship and leadership; she was the first master’s student nominated for induction in over a decade. She continues piano studies with Natalya Antonova and Vladimir Feltsman and will begin her doctorate in piano performance in 2016.
Fifth annual Fredonia Intercollegiate Choral Festival this weekend
(Dunkirk Observer © 02/17/2015)
The State University of New York at Fredonia School of Music is pleased to announce the Fifth Annual Fredonia Intercollegiate Choral Festival on Friday and Saturday in Rosch Recital Hall. On Friday at noon, guest clinician Dr. William Weinert, director of Choral Studies at the Eastman School of Music, will give a conducting master class with the Fredonia Chamber Choir as the clinic choir and top Fredonia students as the conductors.
The Festival Concert will take place on Saturday at 4 p.m. and will include the Fredonia Women’s Choir, the Fredonia College Choir and the Fredonia Chamber Choir, along with the guest ensemble, the Eastman Chorale. This two-hour choral event features creative programming and excellent singing all in the exquisite acoustic of Rosch Recital Hall. The event will include multi media audience participation moderated by Fredonia Alumnae Nicki Peets during intermission and at the end of the concert.
Charlotte Symphony Orchestra features Cuban virtuoso
(Florida Weekly © 02/19/2015)
Classical guitarist Gerardo Perez Capdevila will perform in the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra’s concert “Appassionato” Sunday, Feb. 22, at the Charlotte Performing Arts Center in Punta Gorda.
The program opens with another rarely heard musical gem by American composer Howard Hanson. Mr. Hanson was a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer whose inspiration came from his boyhood home in Wahoo, Neb. “My music springs from the soil of the American Midwest,” Mr. Hanson said. “It is music of the plains, rather than of the city.”
In 1924 as a young aspiring conductor, composer and educator, Mr. Hanson met George Eastman, inventor of the Kodak camera. Mr. Eastman had just endowed the University of Rochester to establish a school of music. His goal was for it to be the best music school in the nation. He offered the directorship to Mr. Hanson, who brought the Eastman School of Music to great prominence during his 40-year tenure.
Wall of Fame Inductees Announced
(Moose Lake Star Gazette 02/19/2015)
Moose Lake Community School’s Wall of Fame will be inducting Janice Larson Razaq and the Triple Crown winners in the 2015 class.
After graduating from Moose Lake High School in 1962, Razaq attended the Eastman School of Music for her Bachelor of Music degree. Next, she received a Fulbright grant for three years, taking her to London where she studied at the Royal Academy of Music and performed at Wigmore Hall. She was an award winner at the Canals International Competition in Barcelona, Spain.