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.)
Violin Virtuoso Bin Huang Appointed to Eastman School of Music Faculty
(The Violin Channel 4/22/2015)
The Eastman School of Music, at the University of Rochester has today announced the appointment of Chinese-born violin virtuoso, Bin Huang – as an Associate Professor of Violin.
A graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Music and the Eastman School of Music, Bin is a former prize winner at the Paganini, Munich, Tchaikovsky, Queen Elisabeth and Jacques Thibaud International Violin Competitions. (Also reported by The Strad)
JACK arrives to perform a new work — and play in the dark
(Wisconsin State Journal 05/04/2015)
One of the music world’s brightest talents is coming to Madison this week to perform in the dark. On Thursday night, the acclaimed JACK Quartet will play Georg Friedrich Haas’s String Quartet No. 3, “In the Dark,” in the Fredric March Play Circle. The usually hour-long piece is performed in utter blackness — for both musicians and audience.
The four members of JACK — violist John Pickford Richards (J), violinists Ari Streisfeld (A) and Christopher Otto (C), and cellist Kevin McFarland (K) — met as students at the Eastman School of Music. Now in their early 30s, the musicians are winners of the Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, New Music USA’s Trailblazer Award and the CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming.
Grammy-winner Maria Schneider big in big band jazz circles
(The Columbus 04/30/2015)
Byron Stripling is rarely at a loss for words, but the effusive director of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra stumbled a bit when asked to describe the music of this weekend’s guest, Maria Schneider. “That’s a tough question,” said Stripling before settling on the phrase “breathtakingly beautiful.”
Schneider’s isn’t a household name, even among some jazz fans, but she is widely regarded as one of the genre’s premier composers and arrangers.
Her range prompted Time magazine to write: “To call Schneider the most important woman in jazz is missing the point two ways. She is a major composer — period.”
Schneider — who grew up in Windom, Minn., and attended Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. — is most commonly associated with jazz arrangers Gil Evans and Bob Brookmeyer, known for their layered, flowing and airy sounds.
Performing in a leadership role
(Rochester Business Journal © 04/24/2015)
Not many have the joy of ending the day by listening to a concert with musicians who may be among the best in the world. For Jamal Rossi, dean at the Eastman School of Music, it is all in a days work.
Almost every night I am able to have my work re-affirmed. Every concert, I get to go and feel as though its all worth it, he says.
Rossi, 56, joined the Eastman School faculty as senior associate dean in 2005 and gradually moved up the ranks to his current position. He oversees a staff of 235 full-time and 145 part-time employees, a student body of 900 collegiate students and 1,600 community students in the Eastman Community Music School.
Writing the Future: Thomas McKenny
(KBIA 04/27/2015)
In his 47 years as a faculty member at the University of Missouri School of Music, Dr. Thomas McKenney has taught a lot of students how to compose music. This evening at MU’s Whitmore Recital Hall, those students pay tribute to their teacher with a concert featuring their own works.
McKenney’s own compositions are often written for electronics. Soon after he came to MU in 1967 as a recent graduate of the Eastman School of Music he was awarded funds to visit electronic innovator Robert Moog’s factory and laboratory.
Eastman announces 2015-16 Eastman Presents Series
(Rochester City Newspaper © 04/23/2015)
The Eastman School of Music has announced its 2015-16 Eastman Presents Series, which will include performances from Wynton Marsalis, Kristin Chenoweth, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. All performances begin at 8 p.m. and will take place in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, 26 Gibbs Street.
Duffy, Saunders among those to be honored at UR Commencement
(Rochester Business Journal 04/29/2015)
The Eastman Medal recognizing outstanding achievement and dedicated service in honor of the University’s benefactor will be awarded to Philip Saunders. Ralph Locke, professor of musicology at the Eastman School of Music, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award in Graduate Education.
Jazz musicians entertain in honor of alumnus
(The Lion’s Roar 04/28/2015
The Department of Fine and Performing Arts hosted the annual Bill Evans Jazz Festival in conjunction with the Louisiana Association for Jazz Education State Music Festival. The festival featured performances by special guest Charles Pillow, assistant professor of jazz saxophone at Eastman School of Music in New York.
Mat-Su Schools Foundation, Menard scholarship winners named
(Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman 04/27/2015)
Members of the Mat-Su Schools Foundation board met April 15 and selected five winners for this year’s First Student Scholarship from a pool of 21 submissions. Funded by First Student Inc., each award is $2,000 and is directed toward post-high school education.
Joshua Smith, Colony High School — he plans to combine his interests in music and computer science through studies at the Simon School of Business and the Eastman School of Music.