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.)
This piano crosswalk was painted by a group of strangers with no training but a lot of harmony
(Washington Post 06/28/2019)
… That is why about 75 people, most of them strangers, showed up at the corner of Main and Gibbs streets — right in front of the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music — to paint four enormous keyboards on the morning of June 23. Before the paint was dry, the community and social media were celebrating the work. … (Also reported by WXXI News, RochesterFirst, Democrat & Chronicle)
Day 4 of Jazz Festival drums up excitement
(13WHAM-TV 06/24/2019)
The CGI Rochester International Jazz Festival lived up to its name Monday. […]
Students from Germany joined with local students at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, too. Those Eastman School of Music students have been invited to perform in Germany thanks to their partnership.
Drummer Roy Marshall of Penfield will be one of them. He is this year’s recipient of the jazz festival scholarship. …
The Players: Wednesday, June 26
(City Newspaper 06/19/2019)
Harold Danko is Professor Emeritus at the Eastman School of Music, but before settling down in Rochester, he had a long career playing with jazz greats Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, and Lee Konitz. He was also a featured performer in the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. Danko is a prolific composer whose classic tune “Tidal Breeze” has been recorded by Baker, Konitz and others.
Led by top music educator and superb saxophonist Bill Tiberio, the Music Educators’ Jazz Ensemble is exactly what it sounds like: an ensemble composed of area music teachers and related musicians. The repertoire ranges from traditional to contemporary. (Also The Players: Sunday, June 23)
(Yahoo Finance 06/13/2019)
“Eastman Community Music School has existed for almost 100 years, serving our Rochester community as part of the Eastman School of Music,” says … (Also reported by Monroe County Post, PR Web (press release, USA TODAY Classifieds, Huewire)
Blues and Jazz in New York City This Weekend – June 21-June 23
(City Guide NY 06/17/2019)
Steve Gadd Band Featuring Mike Landau, Jimmy Johnson, Kevin Hays & Walt Fowler. Steve Gadd is one of the most sought-after studio musicians, in the world. […] Gadd attended the Manhattan School of Music for two years, and then went on to finish at Eastman School of Music. Prior to that, he studied privately with Bill and Stanley Street and John Beck. …
AVA Welcomes Six New Resident Artists For The 2019-2020 Opera Season
(Broadway World 06/25/2019)
Cody Müller (bass) Education: M.M. The Eastman School of Music, B.M. Belmont University … Competitions: Third Place, The Glenn Gould School’s Chamber Competition … (Also reported by OperaWire)
(American Theatre Organ Society 6/30/2019)
Next was the Memorial Art Gallery, which contains an Italian pipe organ dating from 1650 – 1770. Restored and authentic, William Porter from the Eastman School of Music provided demonstrations of the stops and some short compositions to demonstrate the authentic baroque organ sound.
Our last stop for the overture was Christ Church (Espiscopal) which featured two organs for us the hear. First was a late 19th century Hook and Hastings that replaced the original instrument of the same make. The second organ is an two manual, 33 stop instrument modeled after the 1776 Adam Gottlob Casparini organ in Vilnius, Lithuania. David Higgs, Chair of the organ department at Eastman School of Music, was joined by William Porter and they took turns playing and describing the many beautiful sounds of each instrument.
2019-20 Eastman Opera Theatre boasts two double bills
(City Newspaper 06/12/2019)
Eastman Opera Theatre continues to stage productions of operas outside of the standard repertoire. But while EOT has frequently highlighted the work of living composers, the 2019-20 season features lesser-known operas from both the 18th and 20th centuries, including works by important but underappreciated composers. Eastman School of Music’s forthcoming opera season is also notable for the inclusion of two double-bills. … (Also reported by Monroe County Post)
Arts groups share ideas on boosting downtown
(City Newspaper 06/12/2019)
Representatives from four US cities took center stage at an Arts in the Loop symposium last week at the Eastman School of Music, sharing their ideas on how to boost Rochester’s economic development through arts and culture. …
Jazz Fest 2019, Day 1: Jeff reviews Steve Gadd Band and Western Centuries
(City Newspaper (blog) 06/22/2019)
Gadd is a bona fide Rochester son: raised in Irondequoit; Eastridge High grad; Eastman School of Music; lived here for years. He’s one of the world’s …
Patti LaBelle, Jake Shimabukuro shine in first weekend of Rochester Jazz Fest
(University at Buffalo The Spectrum 06/24/2019)
In the same venue on Sunday evening, Stefon Harris & Blackout were in-the-pocket and cool as the other side of the pillow in front of a packed crowd.
Harris, a former Eastman School of Music student, noted his roots in the concert hall. The vibraphonist said one of his first performances with the instrument happened at Kilbourn Hall. …
Rochester Jazz fest 2019: Free show lineup for each day
(Democrat and Chronicle 06/18/2019)
Petito (Billy) is an Eastman School of Music graduate, who is now on faculty at the Eastman Community Music School. He plays regularly with several local …
‘It’s obviously really exciting’: Stevenson grad plays cello for The Who
(Chicago Daily Herald 06/14/2019)
Audrey Q. Snyder, who grew up in Vernon Hills, is one of two string players traveling with rock icons Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey and the rest of The Who. […] Snyder, who was a cello performance major at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music in New York and earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree there, admits …
Skagit Symphony hires new music director
(goskagit.com 06/10/2019)
Michael Bohnert Wheatley will join the Skagit Symphony as its new music director, the organization announced Monday. …
Wheatley, who recently completed his doctorate at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, said he plans to give attendees new experiences as the symphony begins its 40th season.
Extraordinary People: “Rockin Roz”
(RochesterFirst 07/01/2019)
Rosyln Germano started taking piano lessons at the Eastman School of Music when she was just 5 years old! Germano, also known as “Rockin Roz,” says she was one of the first female cocktail piano players in Rochester. She started performing in restaurants and nightclubs beginning in 1963. […]
Today, at the age of 87, Roz drives herself to nursing homes around Rochester to perform. She jokes saying, “All of my fan club are in nursing homes! I know all their music.” …
Finalists for $40000 prize selected
(Chadds Ford Live 06/20/2019)
The winner receives the $40,000 Pierre S. du Pont First Prize, a contract with Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists, and a 2019-20 performance at Longwood Gardens. …
Thomas Gaynor, 27, New Zealand
The first-place winner of a number of international competitions, including St Albans (2017), Erfurt/Weimar Bach-Liszt (2015), and Sydney (2015), Thomas Gaynor is a doctoral student in David Higgs’s studio at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where he was recently awarded the highly coveted Artist’s Certificate—an honor the institution had not given an organist for three decades. Born in New Zealand, he began his organ studies at Wellington Cathedral. Currently, he is associate director of music at Christ Church in Pittsford, NY.
Annual ‘Quiet Concert’ planned for July 4
(Oneonta Daily Star 07/29/2019)
The Catskill Conservatory will present A Quiet Concert for the Fourth, the 23rd annual Independence Day musical gathering and potluck supper at the historic Windfall Dutch Barn in Salt Springville, […]
An adjunct to the program will be an appearance by jazz pianist Ethan Cypress, who is a native of Oneonta and a graduate teaching assistant at the Eastman School of Music, where he is a student in the doctoral program. Cypress was recently named the first-prize winner in the national jazz soloists competition sponsored by the U.S. Army Blues. He will play informally preceding the concert, as well as during the potluck supper.
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