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.)
Pianist Zhang Zuo and Maestro Jun Markl to perform with Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra
(Asian American Press 03/05/2017)
Pianist Zhang Zuo (“Zee Zee”) and Maestro Jun Märkl join the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra (HSO) for a glorious afternoon of Beethoven and Schumann at the Blaisdell Concert Hall at 4 p.m., Sunday, March 19, 2017. . . . Having completed her piano studies with Dan Zhao Yi at the Shenzhen Arts School , Zee Zee was invited to continue her artistic development under the mentorship of Nelita True at the Eastman School of Music and Yoheved Kaplinsky and Robert McDonald at The Juilliard School, where she won the coveted Petschek Piano Award.
Prospect Heights retiree finds meaning in making music
(Chicago Daily Herald 03/01/2017)
George Blinick of Prospect Heights spent his career as a pharmacist in Chicago, both as a store owner and later in a hospital setting. Consequently, when he retired 21 years ago, he searched for a meaningful pursuit. He found it in learning to play a musical instrument, the baritone saxophone. What’s more, he not only reads music, but now he plays in an ensemble, the North Shore New Horizons Band. . . . The band is a chapter of the New Horizons International Music Association, a nonprofit program started in 1991 by Roy Ernst, a former music professor at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.
Rochester Organizations Team Up to Celebrate Women’s Suffrage Movement
(Time Warner Cable News 03/03/2017)
Several organizations are coming together this year to mark the women’s suffrage movement’s 100th anniversary in New York. On Sunday, the University of Rochester’s Susan B. Anthony Center and the Eastman School of Music teamed up to bring the public the “Women’s Voice’s” concert. Each piece, whether from the baroque period or more current eras, showed the variety of styles women have composed throughout the past century. These composers had to push past difficult barriers to have their voices heard. “It really showed the breath of what women composers can write,” concert organizer Sylvie Beaudette said. “It can be very angular and arrhythmic or it can be sweet and touching, same as any other composer really.”
Topeka religion roundup: Local churches offer meals on Saturday
(Topeka Capital-Journal 03/03/2017)
Organist Melody Steed and trumpet player Keith Benjamin will present a concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 5, at First Lutheran Church, 1234 S.W. Fairlawn. . . . Benjamin jointed the University of Missouri at Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance as professor of trumpet in 1989. He holds a doctor of musical arts degree and a performer’s certificate from the Eastman School of Music.
Classical: Franz Liszt symposium
(Rochester City Newspaper 03/01/2017)
Nineteenth century pianist Franz Liszt was arguably the first pop star. A rare composer who lived to see his widespread fame, Liszt inspired unparalleled fervor among his fans. The notoriety hasn’t abated, and now the Romantic era legend is the subject of a three-day conference, “Liszt and Virtuosity — An International Symposium.” Located at the University of Rochester and Eastman School of Music, the symposium runs Thursday through Saturday. Highlights include an all-Liszt program performed by Eastman students and a talk given by preeminent Liszt biographer Alan Walker
Acclaimed organist Frederick Hohman to perform March 5 at The University of Scranton
(The Abington Journal 02/28/2017)
Organ virtuoso, composer and audio-video producer/engineer Frederick Hohman, D.M.A., will once again bring his talents to The University of Scranton when he appears “In Recital” on Sunday, March 5.
Hohman earned a performer’s certificate, bachelor’s degree in music, master’s degree in music and a doctorate of musical arts, all in organ performance, at the Eastman School of Music. He is distinguished as the only student to have ever taken all available degrees at the Eastman School while remaining in the organ studio of the legendary David Craighead.
Classical: Women in Music concerts
(Rochester City Newspaper 03/01/2017)
In honor of a century of women’s voting rights in New York State, the Eastman School of Music will present “Women’s Voices,” a concert that reveres the past while looking to the future. A full lineup of performers includes pianists Sylvie Beaudette and Tony Caramia, vocalists Kathryn Cowdrick and Teresa Ringholz, violinist Rebecca Boyd, and the Eastman Women’s Chorus. A wonderful bonus is that the program boasts two world premieres by composers Lori Laitman and Jennifer Mitchell — “Are Women People?” and “The Red Silk Shawl,” respectively — both of which draw from the history of women’s suffrage and the legacy of Susan B. Anthony. . . . A second concert, “Celebrating Women in Music,” will be performed on Tuesday, March 7, at Hochstein Performance Hall. The all-piano program performed by Caramia, an Eastman School of Music professor, and his students exclusively features the works of female composers, including Amy Beach, Dana Suesse, and Libby Larsen as well as two world premieres. (Also reported by the Democrat & Chronicle)
Abbey concert puts spotlight on beloved works by Bach
(Gaston Gazette 02/28/2017)
“Reflecting BACH” created by cellist Christopher Hutton, focuses on J. S. Bach’s beloved Six Suites for Unaccompanied Violoncello and solo cello music written by later composers who were inspired by Bach. These composers include Max Reger and Benjamin Britten. Originally from Wellington, New Zealand, Hutton is the cellist of the Poinsett Piano Trio and is associate professor of violoncello at Furman University in Greenville, S.C. . . . He studied at Boston University with Leslie Parnas, and earned master of music and doctor of musical arts degrees with Paul Katz and Steven Doane at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. While at Eastman he was teaching assistant to Professor Doane and taught both for the University of Rochester and Eastman’s Community Education Division.
Keuka’s spring concert series kicks off March 19
(Finger Lakes Times 03/01/2017)
Keuka College’s spring concert series continues March 19 with a performance by the Rod Blumenau Quartet. Comprised of Rod Blumenau, Gabe Condon, Danny Ziemann and Alex Coté, the group plays jazz of all vintages — from 100-year-old New Orleans jazz to adaptations of current tunes. Their styles range from ragtime, swing, bop, funk, and Latin jazz. . . . Condon is a nationally acclaimed guitarist, vocalist, composer and educator who earned bachelor’s and master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music. He received DownBeat magazine’s Outstanding Soloist Award in 2010 and took first place in the 2014 Wilson Center International Guitar Competition in the jazz category. . . . Ziemann, who has taught at Keuka College’s Eastman@Keuka Summer Music Camp, is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and has a New York state teacher certification. A performer, educator and composer, he has been freelancing since age 16, traveling throughout North America and internationally, including touring with bandleader Gordon Webster. . . . An instructor of jazz bass at the Eastman Community Music School and at SUNY Oswego, Ziemann serves as a teaching artist for the Institute for Creative Music and is an active guest clinician and teacher at many college-based music camps such as the Buffalo State Music Institute.
Organist to present ‘The Power of Musick’
(Irondequoit Post 03/01/2017)
Organist Annette Richards will perform “The Power of Musick” on the Italian baroque organ at 7:30 p.m. March 16 at University of Rochester’s Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Ave. Richards will perform compositions by William Byrd, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Ascanio Mayone and George Frederick Handel as part of Eastman School of Music‘s Third Thursdays concert series.