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.)
Opera Obsessive Gets a New View of the Met
(The Wall Street Journal 03/09/2016)
When Theo Hoffman began guitar lessons at the age of 7, the Beatles and David Bowie were more to his taste than Berlioz and Bizet.
Fifteen years later, the baritone and native New Yorker is representing his hometown on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House in one of opera’s most prestigious vocal competitions this Sunday.
He studied for a year at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in upstate New York, then completed his bachelors of music degree at Juilliard. In 2013 he made his professional debut at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, through its young-artist program. He has also sung with the New York Festival of Song and Atlanta Opera.
Freeing the pipe organ from the usual grind
(The Washington Post 03/11/2016)
“Ninety-nine point nine percent of organists make their living at a church job, with some teaching and the occasional concert,” says David Higgs, who chairs one of the country’s biggest pipe organ departments at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., with some 35 students.
ORGANISTS OF EASTMAN Set for Music at Saint Paul’s, April 10
(Broadway World 03/09/2016)
Rarely does a discerning lover of the pipe organ have the opportunity to hear three full-scale organ concerti in a single program. …, graduate students from the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester will present a program of works by three composers, spanning almost 200 years.
In the words of Caroline Robinson, one of the soloists in this concert, “This organ serves as a teacher … when you are bringing different repertoire to it, you are challenged to make it sound as authentic as possible, but also to show off the colors of the instrument.”
The three young soloists are students at one of the leading conservatories for organ performance in the nation, the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where students undergo rigorous training for a wide variety of careers as performers, teachers, and church musicians. All three study under David Higgs, and have received between them an impressive array of awards and prizes. Caroline Robinson is familiar to local pipe organ aficionados, from her days as an undergraduate at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, and is well acquainted with the instrument at Saint Paul’s after three years spent as the parish’s inaugural Organ Scholar. Adam Detzner earned his B.A. in Music from Stanford University, and spent a year as Organ Scholar at Trinity Church, Copley Square in Boston. Brian Glikes has also held several positions as a church musician, and earned a Master of Music degree from Emory University in Atlanta. He expects to receive his doctorate from Eastman in 2017.
Miller Theatre to Present Two World Premieres in Hannah Lash Composer Portrait
(Broadway World 03/07/2016)
Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts continues its Composer Portraits series with Hannah Lash, featuring JACK Quartet, loadbang, and pianist Lisa Moore,
The members of the quartet met while attending the Eastman School of Music and studied closely with the Arditti Quartet, Kronos Quartet, Muir String Quartet, and members of the Ensemble Intercontemporain under the direction of Pierre Boulez at the Lucerne Festival Academy.
(The Stylus 03/08/2016)
Staebel was given encouragement to continue writing compositions his senior year as an undergraduate at the Eastman School of Music.
“I really love playing every time I play,” Staebel said. “A really important [concert] to me was when I was an undergrad at Eastman. I had written a whole bunch of music and I was afraid to share it with anybody, cause I thought they would judge it harshly and I didn’t know if it was any good. So the last day of my senior year I played a concert of all that music and people really liked it. It meant a lot to me, but it meant a lot to the people too and that’s what kind of encouraged me to keep writing music.”
AES Toronto Section Unveils March and April Meetings
(Broadcaster 03/07/2016)
Audio Recording at the Eastman School of Music
Rochester’s Eastman School of Music is distinguished as being one of the premier music conservatories in the world. Since it was established in 1921, their commitment to excellence has seen generations of graduates go on to achieve renown in the fields of Classical Music and Jazz.
What is not as well-known is the huge impact the School has had on the field of audio production resulting from their early adoption of recording technology for instructional and archival purposes.
Apart from amassing the largest archive of recorded music in the world, the School hosted a series of “Recording Institutes” from 1968 to 1986, in what could be considered the original Recording School.
Here, a generation of audio professionals, including such iconic names as Bob Ludwig, Phil Ramone and Mick Guzauski, were able to explore the state of the art in audio technology and practice. Several members of the Toronto AES Section participated as students in these workshops and some, most notably Neil Muncy, served as instructors.
Audio Recording at the Eastman School of Music
(Broadcaster Magazine 03/08/2016)
On Saturday April 23, 2016, the AES will hold a special day event at the Eastman School of Music, featuring:
A tour of the school’s three concert/recital halls and their inter-connection to a sophisticated recording control facility.
A retrospective of the famed Summer Recording Institute, with former students and teachers sharing their memories and impressions.
Rochester’s Eastman School of Music is distinguished as being one of the premier music conservatories in the world. Since it was established in 1921, their commitment to excellence has seen generations of graduates go on to achieve renown in the fields of Classical Music and Jazz.
MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY to Open Next Month at the Lyric Stage
(Broadway World 03/10/2016)
Directed by A. Nora Long, the production also features music director …. Assassins (Eastman School of Music), and New Moon, HMS Pinafore(The … Shelley Barish (Scenic Design) … She returns to the Lyric Stage after designing Becky’s New Car and Dear Elizabeth. … Other design credits include: …, Assassins (Eastman School of Music),
Concert hosts diocesan natives
(The Catholic Globe 03/10/2016)
The Sioux City Symphony Orchestra (SCSO) will present A Musical … Also joining Eric on the stage is Stephanie March, a 2007 graduate of Bishop Heelan High School … and then went on to earn an undergraduate degree at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.,
(City Newspaper 03/09/2016)
The eight members of Riyaaz Qawwali — a Texas-based ensemble — hail from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, but have found a common ground in qawwali. The musical genre, a tradition that stretches back more than 700 years, is a form of Sufi devotional music, and focuses on meditation and dedication through beautiful sound. The group, whose members are trained in Eastern and Western classical music and are of various religious backgrounds, has been performing qawwali around the country for the last eight years.
Riyaaz Qawwali will perform on Wednesday, March 16, at Kilbourn Hall at Eastman School of Music,
Lakes Area Music Festival announces 2016 season lineup
(Brainerd Daily Dispatch 03/09/2016)
The Lakes Area Music Festival was established during the summer of 2009 when founding director Scott Lykins returned to his hometown of Brainerd with four colleagues from the Eastman School of Music (Rochester, N.Y.).
Foothills Piano Festival to Feature Dr. Kevin Chance on March 18
(JSU News 03/09/2016)
He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Eastman School of Music and serves on the faculty of the University of Alabama.
Award-winning harpist returns to All Saints Church to perform at lunchtime
(Penarth Times 03/10/2016)
Kathryn Rees-Peake currently performs with orchestras and at events throughout England and Wales.
Kathryn is a graduate of The Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester where she studied both harp and piano. She continued her studies at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York where she studied with Professor Kathleen Bride graduating with a Masters degree in Harp Performance and Literature.
During her time at Eastman she was the recipient of a Fellowship and a Teaching Assistantship at the University and received a St David’s Society of New York prize for her performing.
Percussion group presents Wild Sound at arts center
(The Sheboygan Press 03/09/2016)
Members of Third Coast Percussion included Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin and David Skidmore, accredited musicians who hold degrees in music performance from Northwestern University, the Yale School of Music, the Eastman School of Music, the New England Conservatory and Rutgers University.
Bowdoin music festival hires new executive director
(Portland Press Herald 03/02/2016)
A musician, music educator and longtime arts administrator from Tennessee is the new executive director of the Bowdoin International Music Festival in Brunswick. Katherine Lehman, who has directed the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in Tennessee for the past six years, will begin her new job in Brunswick on April 15.
Rol Fessenden, chairman of the Bowdoin festival’s board of trustees, said Lehman’s experience managing a summer festival distinguished her candidacy. Among other things, he cited her leadership, organizational skills and understanding of “the musical soul of the festival” as her top qualities.
She met with David and Philip Ying, who took over artistic direction of the festival from founder Lewis Kaplan last year, at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in New York, where they teach and where Lehman studied. The three established an easy rapport, and Lehman said she was impressed with the Yings’ approach to music and music education.
Eastman School of Music to host Steve Reich for ensemble concert
(Fairport-E.Rochester Post 03/11/2016)
Eastman School of Music will host composer Steve Reich for a Musica Nova ensemble concert at 8 p.m. March 30 at Kilbourn Hall, 26 Gibbs St., Rochester.
Brad Lubman, associate professor of conducting and ensembles, will lead the student group in the program featuring some of Reich’s recent works. The concert opens with “Clapping Music,” featuring Reich and Lubman.
Deaf, betrayed, traumatized: Musician Jon Seiger’s story
(Democrat and Chronicle 03/11/2016)
Local musicians who perform with Seiger, like drummer John Beck, who played in the RPO for 43 years and taught percussion at Eastman school for …
The next wave: A new generation is changing Rochester.
(Democrat and Chronicle 03/11/2016)
Rochester’s reputation to outsiders is that it is cold but not cool. Ned Corman, a pretty cool cat if you know him, says we need to change that perception.
Corman, a retired music teacher and professional musician who graduated from the Eastman School of Music in 1959, has an expansive view of the arts in Rochester. He points out that few areas have a classical and two jazz radio stations, 15 community orchestras, music festivals the caliber of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, and the worldwide prowess of Eastman.
Say so long to the Bach Parley founder and keyboardist
Tallahassee.com 03/10/2016)
On March 3, Tallahassee’s classical music scene lost a major player with the death of harpsichordist Karyl Louwenaar Lueck. She was 76. … She earned her doctorate degree at the prestigious Eastman School of Music in upstate New York.
Cabin Fever Jazz Festival returns to Dearborn
(Press and Guide 03/13/2016)
The music festival brings the outdoors in, featuring jazz stars from across the country ,including chart-topping trumpet and flugelhorn player Rick Braun, who was named Billboard’s No. 1 smooth jazz songs artist of 2015
Braun, who plays with Zonjic at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, attended the Eastman School of Music and served as a session and touring musician before …
Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra tribute to Judy Garland
(Asian American Press 03/11/2016)
Led by Maestro Phil Snedecor, this night of unforgettable music with the HSO features Garland’s most beloved songs, …
Snedecor attended the Eastman School of Music, where he received the prestigious Performers Certificate and was a member of the premiere brass quintet, the Canterbury Brass. While earning his degrees in trumpet performance and literature, he also studied arranging and composition with Professor Rayburn Wright, formerly arranger for Radio City Music Hall. (Also reported by Broadway World)
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