Originally published in the Spring 2024 issue of Eastman NOTES in celebration of Jamal Rossi ’87E, the Joan and Martin Messinger Dean of the Eastman School of Music.
At an early October opera rehearsal in the Eastman School of Music’s black box theater, Rihanna’s “This is What You Came For” blasts over the speakers and a group of opera singers are clapping, snapping their fingers, strutting, and using jazz hands to the beat in a mini dance routine. It was a warm-up exercise…
In a recent studio lesson, Eastman School of Music’s new Associate Professor of Tuba and Euphonium Justin Benavidez coached a student on the Eric Ewazen Concerto for Tuba. “Can you make it ring on every note?” Benavidez asked his student. Benavidez proceeded to demonstrate the ascending line with tones that rang out like warm bells.…
Happy 100th birthday to Gloria Mikialian ’45E! The Eastman alumna born in 1923, who graduated Eastman in 1945 as a pianist, just turned 100 on August 30th. Gloria remembers receiving a full scholarship, which she was thankful for because her family couldn’t afford to pay Eastman tuition. To pay her room and board, she worked…
When Eastman School of Music Professor of Piano Alexander Kobrin landed in Fort Worth, Texas for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2005, it was his first time in the United States. Born and trained in Moscow, Kobrin remembers his father was watching a documentary on Texas ranches and cowboys back in Russia at…
Collaborative performances by OSSIA New Music, the student-run new music organization at the Eastman School of Music, and BIODANCE, a contemporary dance company based in Rochester, will examine the topic of climate change and the merging of technology and nature. Using movement, music, and interactive technology, the performances on August 23 and 24, both at…
On April 8, 2024, Rochester will get a prime view of a rare total solar eclipse. It is an event unlikely to be repeated in Rochester during our lifetimes, as 375 years is the average number of years for a total solar eclipse to reappear over any specific location on earth.* To mark the occasion,…
This year at Eastman, about 330 students are enrolled in chamber music groups. Most perform this weekend in Eastman’s Chamber Music Extravaganza, a multiday chamber music festival where audience members can spend full days catching a variety of chamber groups. The concerts primarily take place in the acoustically brilliant and intimate Hatch Recital Hall and…
When bass-baritone singer Jan Opalach came to the Eastman School of Music 15 years ago, he had been a principal opera singer with the New York City Opera for 30 years. New York City Opera at the time was going through fiscal troubles (and eventually folded) and coming to Eastman “just dovetailed into what had…