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.)
5 must-see upcoming classic concerts
The Courier-Journal 08/18/2016
Continuing its practice of welcoming a composer each year its New Music Festival, this year U of L’s music school brings in Mexican-born Carlos Sánchez-Gutiérrez as its featured guest composer.
Festival director John Ritz said Sánchez-Gutiérrez’s “creative and exciting” compositional work was a factor in his selection by a committee of the school’s composition faculty and ensemble directors. His music has drawn on Mexican folk themes and incorporated unusual instruments, such as the traditional Japanese flute called a shakuhachi.
The festival includes a string of free concerts performed by students and faculty, featuring the works of Sanchez-Gutierrez and other contemporary artists. While several concerts are already scheduled, Ritz expects more to be added. Students also will have access to master classes and lectures with visiting artists during the week of the festival.
Sanchez-Gutierrez is professor of composition at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., where he also is co-director of the contemporary chamber ensemble Eastman BroadBand.
Rochester’s BOA Editions celebrates 40th birthday
(Democrat and Chronicle 08/20/2016)
‘Stay’ for Bellor at Bop Shop
Jennifer Bellor is an Eastman School of Music Ph.D. gone wild. She’s contemporary jazz, classical, rock and hip-hop, celebrating the release of her new CD, Stay, …
A composer and singer as well as a visiting lecturer at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, since 2014, the 33-year-old Bellor is a formidable name in modern composition. Works by the former faculty member at Nazareth College have been performed by the Washington National Opera, Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra, Eastman New Jazz Ensemble, Eastman Wind Ensemble, Eastman Saxophone Project, Nazareth College Wind Symphony. Midnight Swim, a 10-minute, big-band composition, won a DownBeat magazine award and was premiered in 2012 in Kilbourn Hall by the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble. Her 898 Hildegard, for orchestra and chorus, was commissioned and premiered by the Genesee Valley Orchestra earlier this summer.
Stay features a cast of musicians from Eastman and UNLV, …
RPO announces endowed chair position
(Rochester Business Journal 08/16/16)
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra on Monday announced the naming of a newly endowed chair position.
Violist Melissa Matson has been named principal viola position. The chair, which will be known as the William L. Gamble Chair will begin with the upcoming 2016-17 season and go through the 2031-32 season, officials said.
It honors the legacy and bequest of the late Gamble, an RPO patron who was also a member of the Golden Link Folk Singing Society and played in the Hoot’n Holler’n Hotshots Band.
Matson received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Eastman School of Music, where she is an associate professor. …
Violinist DuWors plans homecoming recital
(Saskatoon StarPhoenix 08/17/2016)
Violinist Kerry DuWors returns to her hometown for a Gustin Series recital with pianist Futaba Niekawa. Known as duo526, …
DuWors, … and is completing her Doctorate in Violin Performance at Eastman School of Music.
Niekawa, visiting Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, has her doctorate from Eastman School of Music and has performed internationally
A Scrubs-Wearing Jazz Bassist Takes The Stage In Ditmas Park
(Ditmas Park Corner (blog) 08/19/2016)
Composer, bassist and vocalist Tim Kiah, who is playing a show at Qathra this Sunday with Roy Nathanson and Jesse Mills, has enjoyed an eclectic career as a musician.
After high school, Kiah enrolled in the University of Rochester, attracted by its Eastman School of Music. ”I came home from freshman year at …
Breaking news: American professor talks classical music with Ho Chi Minh City buffs
(Tuoitrenews 08/18/2016)
‘The Family of Western Classical String Instruments’ event on Wednesday brought music lovers together in Ho Chi Minh City for an introduction to Western classical music with American violist Juliet White-Smith.
Juliet White-Smith earned her doctor of musical arts degree from the Eastman School of Music and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician …
A Musician’s Way: A career dedicated to the form
(ithaca.com 08/17/2016)
By the time Johnny Russo was 12 years old he knew he was going to be a musician. …
But I lucked out, and I got a scholarship to one of the best professional music schools in the country. I headed up to the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music, only 50 miles away.
While at the Eastman Russo had the honor of playing “Firebird Suite” under the baton of 20th century icon composer Igor Stravinsky…
Lyric Stage Announces Cast, Creative Team for COMPANY
(Broadway World 08/15/2016)
Stephen Sondheim (Music and Lyrics) wrote the music and lyrics for … performance from the University of Illinois and the Eastman School of Music, …
Teresa Winner Blume (Jenny) returns to the Lyric Stage having previously performed in Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, and The Mikado. …Teresa earned degrees in classical vocal performance from the University of Illinois and the Eastman School of Music, …
# # #