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.)
Retirees return to practicing, playing the music of their youth
(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 01/30/2017)
The New Horizons International Music Association, a nonprofit program aimed primarily at adults older than 50 who want to play in a group, has 10,000 participants in 232 bands and orchestras around the country. And there are 44 more ensembles in the planning stages, said Roy Ernst, who founded the organization in 1991.
“We’ve had steady growth,” said Mr. Ernst, a professor emeritus at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. “There are people contacting us all the time.”
Anne Bryant Talks About Her Love of Music
(Seibertron.com 02/02/17)
Some fans may not know who Anne Bryant is, however, they should. Bryant is the composer of original Transformers theme song. Just about every Transformers fan knows every word to the original theme song. There have been a few imitations of the theme over the years, including the Transformers Cybertron opening, but none of them have been able to replace the original.
I was fortunate to attend the High School of Music & Art [NYC] where I had the opportunity to write for the Jazz Band nearly every day. And then I did my undergrad studies at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where I studied with Manny Albam and Rayburn Wright, the best contemporary composition-arranging teachers around. And in the third or fourth year there, Manny hooked me up with Gerry Mulligan, for whom I did orchestrations. So, by the time I was 21, I was connected and ready to work in the music business as a young professional.
Weekend picks: Catch the bull by the horns at Sears Centre
(Chicago Daily Herald 02/03/2017)
Classical concert organist Nathan Laube performs on the Casavant pipe organ in a concert in the Arnold T. Olson Chapel at Trinity International University, 2065 Half Day Road, Deerfield. One of Laube’s CDs recently received a Grammy Award for best classical compendium. Laube is the assistant professor of organ at The Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.
Cedarville prof’s life serves the music (and vice versa)
(Dayton Daily News 01/03/2017)
In fact, Pagnard said that he knew by the seventh grade that he would be doing something with the trumpet his whole life. “When I was in the fifth grade my mother took me to the beginner band meeting where my future band director told my mother he needed trombone players and sent a school owned trombone home with me. When my father arrived home from work he said, ‘Oh no you don’t; you are going to play the trumpet.’ The rest is history,” said Pagnard. Pagnard eventually went on to get a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Bowling Green State University, a Master of Music in Performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., and completed course work for the Doctor of Musical Arts at the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.
Nick Finzer’s Thoughtful ‘Hear and Now’ Also Honors Duke Ellington
(Something Else Else! 02/02/2017)
Trombonist Nick Finzer continues building on his family legacy with the forthcoming Hear and Now, a project highlighted by his tribute to musical hero Duke Ellington. Finzer, the son of internationally known flautist Sherry Finzer, also discusses the impetus for this new studio project, his sweeping new tour and the importance of jazz education
I’m about to embark on the biggest solo tour that I’ve attempted yet. I’m visiting not only jazz venues around the country, but also high schools and colleges along the way. I love to share the music and connect with students in what I hope is a meaningful way. The educational side is really important to me, because I know how important it was for me to see professional jazz musicians coming through Rochester, N.Y., where I grew up. The tour is going to start where it all started for me in Rochester, at the Eastman School of Music, and I’m very excited to go back and connect with the current students there as I haven’t been back since I finished my degree in 2009.
Lakota graduate, current student partner on Autism Advocacy Project
(Journal-News 01/31/2017)
Lakota West graduate Megan Moore and her nonprofit Lynx Project are partnering with a current Lakota student to raise awareness for autism.
Moore co-directs Lynx Project with Caitleen Kahn. The other members are tenor Steven Humes and pianist Florence Mak. The four met while pursuing post-graduate studies at Eastman School of Music and formed Lynx Project out of a “shared desire to revitalize the genre of art song, communicate intimately with audiences and to strengthen community ties through the power of the arts,” she said.
Littleton Indian Hill Music School to “Discovery Lecture”
(01/27/2017)
Indian Hill Music School will present their next “Discovery Lecture,” featuring Dr. Samuel Mehr, who will present on the history and human impact of music at 7 p.m. Feb. 7 at 36 King St., Littleton. Mehr, Harvard University teaching fellow, will explore the origins of music through a variety of evolutionary theories as well as share data from his team’s current research projects. . . . Mehr holds a Doctorate and Master of Education in human development and education from Harvard University and received his Bachelor of Music in music education from Eastman School.
The El Paso Brass To Perform At Hill College
(The Reporter 02/01/2017)
Dr. Jim Shearer, a Yamaha Per-forming Artist and regents professor of music at New Mexico State University holds a D.M.A. in performance and literature from the Eastman School of Music. As a performer, Dr. Shearer has toured the United States, Europe and the Far East with various ensembles, including the Eastman Wind Ensemble, often being featured as a soloist. Being equally adept in many musical settings, he has recorded with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Creole Dixieland Jazz Band, blues artist Eric Bibb, bluegrass musician Steve Smith and Memphis Beale Street legend Charlie Wood.
Cleveland Jazz Orchestra in concert Feb. 14
(New Philadelphia Times Reporter 02/02/2017)
For 31 years, the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra has been Northeast Ohio’s premier jazz voice. Led by Paul Ferguson, the CJO promotes jazz in its historical and contemporary forms through concerts with gifted jazz musicians, arrangers, composers and educators in northeast Ohio.
Ferguson has been director of Jazz Studies at Case Western Reserve University since 1988. A graduate of the University of Akron and the Eastman School of Music, he has traveled with the Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller bands as lead trombonist and arranger and currently fills those functions with the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra.
Organist Elliot to perform at First Presbyterian
(Index Journal 02/05/2017)
Mormon Tabernacle Principal Organist, Richard Elliott will perform music composed by Bach, Mozart, Vierne, Franck, Purvis, Cundick, Gershwin, Wagner and Elliott at a concert 4 p.m. Feb. 26 at First Presbyterian Church, 108 W. Cambridge St. Elliott studied at the Peabody Conservatory and the Catholic University of America. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and his master’s and doctoral degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.
‘If Music Be the Food’ recital to benefit food pantry
(Dunn County Herald 02/03/2017)
The performance will take place at St. John Lutheran Church in Dickinson on Sunday, Feb. 12, at 3 p.m.
If Music Be the Food – Dickinson”, is a satellite of the benefit series started by Carol Rodland, a faculty member at Eastman School of Music. The original series began in 2009 in Rochester, New York, and, in addition to Dickinson, there are now satellite series in Tampa, Tucson, New York, and New Jersey.