Eastman Summer Conductor’s Institute
Summer@Eastman started off as “Summer Session” in 1923, with classes offered to music educators wanting to complete their certification in the summer or take classes for their professional growth. Today, our summers-only master’s degree in Music Education; is an extension of those early days, making this program one of the oldest and most recognized degrees of its kind in the country. Through the years, “Summer Session” saw many programs come and go: symposiums for music directors, opera performances at the Highland Park Bowl, or workshops for jazz arrangers. (Vincent Lenti’s Serving a Great and Noble Art, a history of the Eastman School of Music during the Howard Hanson years, devotes an entire—and fascinating—chapter to “Summer Session.” I recommend it!).
Summer@Eastman continues the summer tradition with unique and creative offerings. This year, the Eastman School of Music will offer for the first time a course in Paris, France, sponsored by the IES Abroad program. In conjunction with the Agora Festival and in collaboration with IRCAM, this course will study the music of our time in a very concrete way, with all that the City of Light can offer, including concerts, museum exhibits, and good food!
The New Horizons program, to coincide with the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, will present each participant with a full day of activities, from band rehearsals and lectures on jazz history, to improvisation workshops. The evening is left free for participants to enjoy the festival’s indoors and outdoors concerts.
Would your teenager like to build robots in the morning and play in a wind ensemble in the afternoon? Our “Summer Connection” program for high-school and middle-school students, allows them to design their own summer camp from a wide selection of classes. Summer 2012 will also see the return of Music Horizons and Summer Jazz Studies, our classic programs for advanced high-school musicians, as well as the biannual Eastman Young Artists International Piano Competition, with the winners’ concert performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.
Our institutes for professionals, music teachers, college students, and advanced high-school students will also return: some with special guests, some with new venues, but all with the high standards that the Eastman School of Music is known for.
