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.)
Arrangers Workshop was city’s first jazz showcase
(Rochester Democrat & Chronicle © 06/24/2015)
Before the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival brought some of jazz’s biggest names to the East End, they came for the annual Arrangers’ Workshop at the Eastman School of Music.
The Arrangers’ Workshop solved the problem. A band of mostly Eastman students was on call to play the composers’ music as they wrote it. Wright and the other faculty provided instant feedback.
Have You Ignored Your Classical Music Teacher Recently? The Making of a Modern Classical Prodigy
(Vulture 06/26/2015)
Meanwhile, on the Upper West Side, Face the Music was taking shape via Jenny Undercofler’s own process of trial and error.
During the early 2000s, after she had finished her Ph.D. at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, Undercofler taught an ear-training program at Juilliard’s pre-college. It brought many of New York’s most advanced young musicians together in a single room — an experience she found thrilling but also frustrating. The kids were so excited for their time together, meeting just once a week wasn’t nearly enough. So when the Special Music School offered her a job directing its music program in 2004, she seized the a chance to broaden her impact.
Two WWII veterans visit monuments in their honor
(Miami Community Newspapers Kendall Gazette 06/26/2015)
Active in their 90’s, two Kendall residents joined 63 other World War II and Korean War veterans for a first-time visit to World War II memorials in the nation’s capital on May 30. “The most fantastic moment of my lifetime,” recalled Paul Herzog, 90, one of two residents of The Palace Suites of Kendall along with Sylvia Weinstein, 95.
A Palace resident for nine years, Ms. Weinstein, a graduate of the Eastman School of Music of Rochester, NY, continues singing today, even as she once appeared as a soloist with the U.S. Marine Corps Band in WWII days when off duty.
Arts Pick: June 28 – July 4
(Austin Statesman 06/27/2015)
July 9, it’s Break of Reality, a New York-based self-described “cello rock band” founded by Austinite Ivan Trevino when he was at the Eastman School of Music. Blurring the lines between classical, rock, folk and pop, the group’s repertoire ranges from Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead to J.S. Bach. Their cover of the “Game of Thrones” theme has garnered more than 7.5 million YouTube views
Richard Steinbach to give performance Saturday
(Journal Advocate 06/23/2015)
Coming right after a sold-out performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City on June 12, Sterling native Richard Steinbach will present his Carnegie Hall “Fusion” piano program in Sterling on Saturday, June 27at 7 p.m. at the Sterling Middle School. This concert will be a benefit for the Ivan E. Rundus Foundation.
Currently a Professor of Music at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa, Dr. Steinbach holds degrees in piano performance from the University of Colorado, the Eastman School of Music, and the Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Iowa.
Church Organ to get concert and overall
(Flagstaff Arizona Daily Sun © 06/21/2015)
By mid-century, the old system had deteriorated. Epiphany’s Rector recruited Dr. John Stilley, a newcomer to Flagstaff and a dentist with a flair for the instrument, to restore it.
Stilley had studied organ under the notable Harold Gleason at the Eastman School of Music, the instructor who served as the personal organist for the prestigious conservatory’s founder. His knowledge of the instrument brought him to a stored pipe organ in Williams, salvaged from a defunct Episcopal church in Jerome. He collected pipes from the world over, piecing together the instrument that consumed his free time.
The Magic of Mozart Comes Back to Town
(Buffalo Artvoice © 06/25/2015)
The Nickel City Opera (NCO) is returning for its seventh season to its home in the historic Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda for two performances of its new production of Mozart’s Operatic supreme masterpiece The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro) on Friday June 26 at 7:30pm and Sunday June 28 at 2:30pm. Eastman School of Music soprano Jena Abati, who offered a memorably poignant interpretation of Musetta in the NCO’s La Bohème returns for this production as Barbarina.
Lakes Area Music Festival returns to Aitkin
(Brainerd Dispatch 06/24/2015)
The Opera House in the historic Butler building will play host to the Lakes Area Music Festival July 12 in Aitkin.
Celebrating its seventh season this year, the Lakes Area Music Festival (LAMF) was established in 2009 when co-founding artistic and executive director Scott Lykins returned to his hometown of Brainerd with four colleagues from the Eastman School of Music. Performances have ranged from chamber music to symphonic orchestra to semi-staged opera, performed by a stellar collaborative roster including over 80 musicians from such ensembles and conservatories such as the Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, Metropolitan Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, Curtis Institute and more.
Review of Robert Freeman, The Crisis of Classical Music in America: Lessons from the Life in the Education of Musicians (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014)
(Music Theory Online © 06/22/2015)
John Covach
. . . a lot has changed since the time I graduated from college in 1957, in the world generally and in the field of music. And the speed of change appears to be accelerating. (1)
[1] Robert Freeman is probably best known among post-secondary music faculty as the former director of the Eastman School of Music; he came to Rochester from a musicology post at MIT in 1972, served for more than two decades at Eastman, and left in 1996 to take up positions as dean at the New England Conservatory and then later at the University of Texas at Austin. While Freeman had very little administrative experience when he began the top job at Eastman, he soon became a leading figure in collegiate music administration, in part because of his vision and innovation as director, and in part owing to the prestige and standing of the school he led. Indeed, many today would consider Freeman to be among the country’s most authoritative and experienced senior figures in performing-arts leadership—the dean of music-school deans.
John Covach
Department of Music
The University of Rochester
(BoothBay Register 06/23/2015)
Musician and composer Grace Lewis-McLaren will lead a service entitled “Songs and Stories” at the Midcoast Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Damariscotta on Sunday, June 28.
A graduate of the Eastman School of Music and Pacific Graduate Institute, Lewis-McLaren is an independent music professional and organist based in the Lewiston-Auburn area. She is the author of some hymns in the Unitarian Universalist hymn book and her own book of service music, “Songs of Grace.”
Michael Callahan named to supervise fine and performing arts
(Central Jersey.com 06/24/2015)
Michael F. Callahan was unanimously approved at Monday’s Board of Education meeting as the district supervisor for visual and performing arts/family & consumer science.
Callahan studied vocal performance and music education at the Eastman School of Music, where he earned a bachelor of music in music education. He also holds a master of arts in educational administration from Caldwell College.
Jazz Festival: Spevak’s picks for June 23
(Rochester Democrat & Chronicle © 06/22/2015)
New Horizons Vintage Jazz Band, 8:30 p.m., City of Rochester Jazz Street Stage. An idea born in 1991 at the Eastman School of Music, the New Horizons concept has spread to more than 100 programs in the U.S. and Canada. Seniors, some with no musical experience, getting together to play music in many formats, including big band, chamber ensembles and string orchestras. This show’s free.