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.)
Renée Fleming’s Many Roles at Lyric Opera
(WTTW Chicago © 10/14/2015)
Soprano Renée Fleming has performed a number of unforgettable roles at Lyric Opera of Chicago. But perhaps her most lasting legacy will be her influence behind the scenes. Since 2010, Fleming has been Lyric Opera’s first–and, so far, only–creative consultant. She tells Chicago Tonight about nurturing up-and-coming talent, diversifying programming, and the status of an opera she’s curating.
The daughter of two music teachers, Renée Fleming’s singing career began with studying at the Eastman School of Music and the Julliard School. It was while attending the latter that she first began performing professionally.
Eastman School’s O’Dette, Schneider Grammy nominees
(Rochester Democrat & Chronicle 12/07/2015)
Two previous Grammy Awards winners with Eastman School of Music ties, Maria Schneider and Paul O’Dette, are back for more, along with a handful of other musicians with Eastman connections on the list of Grammy nominees announced Monday. (Also reported by WROC TV, Rochester Business Journal, WXXI , Irondequoit Post )
East End Arts Announces New Program: New Horizons Adult Music Program
(Long Island Exchange 12/02/2015)
East End Arts is pleased to announce that it will soon be presenting The New Horizons Band program, the first of its kind on the East End of Long Island. This program provides adults ages “50 or better” who have little or no instrumental experience with the opportunity to learn new skills and/or advance their skills and play concert band music in an ensemble of like-minded life-long learners. The New Horizons Band program was founded 25 years ago by Professor Roy Ernst, the Music Education Department Chair at Eastman School of Music, one of the top music schools in the United States. The New Horizons Bands program has grown to over 215 groups, more than 9,000 participants across the world on three continents, and sponsors numerous summer band camps in North America.
Rochester musicians make it a Charlies Brown Christmas
(Rochester Democrat & Chronicle 12/04/2015)
Two musicians — saxophonist Karl Stabnau and bassist Danny Ziemann — are heading up their own quartets to play the music and celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the beloved TV special.
Stabnau and his family have a tradition of watching A Charlie Brown Christmas every year. In 2008, Stabnau, an Eastman graduate, was playing with a group of his Eastman friends — his “core group”— when A Charlie Brown Christmas came up. After some discussion, the group said to themselves, “We could do this music.” (Editor’s note: Ziemann is also an Eastman School of Music graduate.)
Southern Tier Symphony to play Christmas show
(The Bradford Era 12/02/2015)
The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford will host the Southern Tier Symphony’s holiday performance at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Bromeley Family Theater.
The group will be under the direction of John Landis. A native of Chicago and raised in Cleveland, Landis studied piano, trumpet, timpani, theory and conducting there and at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Mich. Landis holds a bachelor of music degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., where he was a member of the Eastman Wind Ensemble and the Eastman Philharmonia, and often appeared as a conductor of light operas.
Eastman Community Music School celebrates holiday with Winterfest
(Penfield Post 12/02/2015)
The Eastman Community Music School will showcase student talents during Winterfest beginning at 9:20 a.m. Dec. 19. Concerts at this free festival will be performed all day in various halls around campus. Various musical styles and ensemble types will be featured.
Student organizes senior concert to showcase work
(Brattleboro Reformer © 12/07/2015)
The following faculty will perform: Allen Shawn, Bruce Williamson, Hui Cox, Michael Wimberly, Nathaniel Parke, and composition intern Keane Southard. Local musicians to play consist of viola player Ariel Rudiakov, and violinist Joana Genova and Melanie Dexter.
Dexter is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and Cornell University’s business school, and plays with the Berkshire and Vermont Symphony Orchestras.
What a wonderful world: Music builds bridges for 10-year-old Dixon trumpet prodigy
(Sauk Valley © 12/04/2015)
The Rockford Symphony Orchestra’s principal trumpet, Mark Baldin, took Maxwell on as a student about a year and a half ago. “He really took to Maxwell,” Carla said.
Maxwell DeForest’s world used to be a lonely place. A 10-year-old prodigy trumpeter from Dixon, his unique talents didn’t always lend to a lot of social interaction.
Shortly after beginning his work with Baldin, Maxwell was taken on by another teacher – and a very different one: Mark Ponzo, owner of a doctorate of musical arts degree from the esteemed Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He also holds a performer’s certificate.
United Church of Canandaigua to present ‘An Evening of Festive Organ Music and Carols’
(Canandaigua Daily Messenger © 12/08/2015)
The United Church of Canandaigua, 11 E. Gibson St., will present “An Evening of Festive Organ Music and Carols” at 7 p.m. Dec. 18.
The free program will feature “Joy to the World,” “Prelude in G Major” by Johann Sebastian Bach, “O, Holy Night,” “Go Tell It on the Mountain” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” performed by Eastman School of Music students Marko Pranic and Ivan Bosnar.
Pranic, an undergraduate music theory major at Rochester’s Eastman School of Music who studies organ with David Higgs, is the organist at St. John of Rochester Church in Fairport. Bosnar, an Eastman graduate student who studies organ performance with Nathan Laube and improvisation with Edoardo Bellotti, is an organist and music director at St. Boniface Church in Rochester.