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.)
Eastman students learn the business of music
(Rochester Business Journal © 04/24/2015)
There is a business side to music, which is not the first thing students think of when considering a career in the arts.
The Eastman School of Music and a unique local group, Sound ExChange, show there is a smart way to make music while learning the administrative side—and to do it in perfect harmony.
And with a major grant from the Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation, the Eastman musicians have sparked collaborations to showcase talent and promote music education.
“Most musicians have three or four income streams,” said Leslie Scatterday, assistant director for the Arts Leadership Program at the Eastman School. “They’re gigging, teaching and holding some small part-time administrative job that gives benefits. They have to learn how to manage all this money.”
Music teacher makes quarterfinals for national recognition
(The Berkeley Independent 05/07/2015)
Linda Versprille, director of Orchestras and the Panjamdrum Steel Band at Sangaree Middle School, is one of 213 music teachers from 194 cities across 42 states to have been announced as quarterfinalists for the Music Educator Award presented by The Recording Academy and the GRAMMY Foundation. More than 4,500 initial nominations were submitted from all 50 states.
Versprille attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Her Bachelor of Music Degree is in Piano and Music Education General Supervisor’s Curriculum. She is certified in Music K-12 Instrumental, Choral and Piano.
Pianist says Franciscan nuns put him on the right path at an early age
(Sioux City Journal 05/05/2015)
Richard Steinbach’s cousins taught him to play popular songs of the day on their pianos.
When the 5-year-old was spending more time than he should have been tickling the ivories at the Catholic school he attended in Sterling, Colo., his kindergarten teacher suggested his parents buy a piano and enroll Steinbach in lessons.
Around seventh grade, Steinbach says he knew he wanted to make performing and teaching music his career. He says a group of Franciscan nuns shaped his ability during the first 10 years of his studies.
Steinbach went on to earn degrees in piano performance from the University of Colorado/Boulder and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. He obtained his doctor of musical arts degree from the University of Iowa, while teaching at Briar Cliff University where he has instructed students since 1980.
Naperville teen’s concert finds new cause: pediatric brain cancer research
(Chicago Daily Herald 05/05/2015)
The second Healing Hearts with Harmony concert organized by Naperville North High School senior Taylor Kroma is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 6, at the school’s Performing Arts Center, 899 N. Mill St.
Kroma, who plans to pursue jazz studies and music education at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, beginning in the fall, also sees beauty in the mission of putting on a concert for a public good. Last year’s event helped her process the trauma of witnessing one of her father’s seizures and enduring his coma, and through the songs students played, she began to find peace.
Local theatre opens 47th season with musical comedy ‘Marvelous Wonderettes’
(Westmoreland County Times 05/06/2015)
Diana Rose Becker is playing the part of Cindy Lou. “The part is sort of the dominating female lead, in terms of personalities,” Brandt noted. “She’s done the show before, but played Missy at the Post Playhouse, and this role will be new for her.” A graduate of the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music, she played “Maria” in an international tour of West Side Story and “April” in the Gallery Players production of Company in New York.
Students present new dances
(The Register-Guard 05/08/2015)
There’s jazz, dance and a lecture on new ways of looking at 19th century musical passages going on at the University of Oregon’s School of Music and Dance in the week ahead.
Seth Monahan, associate professor of music theory at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., will talk about “Voice-leading Energetics in Wagner’s ‘Tristan’ Idiom,” as part of the UO series. Monahan’s study presents a new perspective on tonal tension and relaxation in certain musical passages. He focuses on voice-leading contour in the repertoires of the latter 19th century, as exemplified by composer Richard Wagner.
The spacey challenge of Six Organs of Admittance
(Rochester Democrat & Chronicle © 05/04/2015)
Musicians from the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Eastman School of Music, the Eastman Community Music School, Hochstein School of Music & Dance and others, including the young students of ROCmusic, perform at a 7 p.m. May 15 ROCmusic benefit in the Stardust Ballroom at the Edgerton Recreation Center, 41 Backus St. ROCmusic was introduced in 2012 as a collaboration between the city of Rochester, the City School District, The Eastman School of Music, The Eastman Community Music School, Hochstein School of Music and Dance, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Max and Marian Farash Foundation. The idea, inspired by a Venezuela program called El Sistema, is designed to give city youths and minorities access to tuition-free music instruction. The second-annual event includes raffles and a dessert reception. For more on the program and tickets for the event ($25, must be purchased in advance) check esm.rochester.edu/rocmusic/.
Ann Stookey organ fund goal met at St. Paul’s
(Chestnut Hill Local 05/06/2015)
Karl Robson will be the recitalist for the final Ann Stookey Memorial Organ Recital of the season at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 10. He will perform “Symphonie III (op. 28)” by Louis Vierne. Robson is a doctoral student at the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. The recital is immediately followed by Choral Evensong, sung by the Adult Choir of Saint Paul’s. All are welcome, also to the reception following the service.
‘World-class’ line-up of musicians set for Canandaigua Lake Music Festival
(Daily Messenger 05/04/2015)
The 2015 concert series will feature:
Guitarist Petar Kodzas, a native of Belgrade who is now part of the faculty at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. He was a prize winner in the Orpheus Competition and the National Music Competition in Yugoslavia, and will perform Spanish masterpieces with his wife, Ines Draskovic, an acclaimed pianist and member of FLCC’s music faculty.