ROCHESTER, NY – It may be summer, but School and great music are in session at the Eastman School of Music. The School’s Community Education Division (CED) presents its annual summer concert series, as well as several other concerts connected to its Summer Session programs and workshops. The concerts – which range from classical to jazz to world music – feature the talents of Eastman CED and collegiate faculty as well as other notable guest artists.
Again this year, all concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. and will be held in Kilbourn Hall (26 Gibbs St.), unless otherwise indicated. All but two concerts (the evening concert on July 9 and July 12) are free.
A brief description of each follows. Please note that student summer camp concerts are not included here, but will be announced on our 24-hour MusicLine at 274-1100.
Tuesday, June 20 (8 p.m.) Zora Mihailovich, piano
New to the CED faculty this fall, pianist Zora Mihailovich – praised by The London Times for her "lyrical sweetness and intimately eloquent phrasing" – opens the summer series with her Kilbourn Hall debut. She’ll perform works by Scarlatti, Liszt, Chopin, Rubinstein, and Rachmaninoff.
Monday, June 26 The Dave Rivello Ensemble
Back for its seventh year as part of Eastman’s High School Jazz Studies summer program, this local, 12-piece group – made up of many Eastman graduates – with a big band sound performs music written and conducted by its namesake, Dave Rivello. Among the works to be performed are premieres of two of Rivello’s newest compositions.
Wednesday, June 28 The Ying Quartet
As a highlight of its weeklong "Chamber Music Discovery" workshop, Eastman’s quartet-in-residence presents a concert featuring the music of Beethoven (Quartet in f minor, Op. 95), Prokofiev (Quartet No. 1, Op. 50), and Dvorák (Piano Quintet, Op. 81, with Elinor Freer, piano).
Sunday, July 2 Margaret Leenhouts, violin; Alla Kuznetsov, piano
CED faculty and RPO violinist Margaret Leenhouts is joined by her CED colleague, pianist Alla Kuznetsov, in a program of violin and piano duos – including Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne, sonatas by Debussy and Beethoven, and two short works by the noted early 20th-century violinist Fritz Kreisler.
Monday, July 3 CED faculty and guests
This innovative concert features 17 artists – the majority from the CED faculty – performing eight different works with combinations of players from one to eight. It begins with a solo performance, then a duo, trio, quartet, ultimately working its way up to a performance by eight players on two pianos.
Wednesday, July 5 Bob Sneider, jazz guitar
Eastman jazz guitarist Bob Sneider returns to Kilbourn Hall again this summer for a concert featuring music from his forthcoming CD along with bebop and Latin classics. He’ll be joined by local musician Tony Padilla (Latin percussion), Eastman faculty member Mark Kellogg (trombone/euphonium), Eastman alumnus Bob Stata (bass), Mike Melito (drums), and special guest pianist Reggie Thomas, professor of jazz at Southern Illinois University.
Thursday, July 6 Mitzie Collins and friends: World Music
For the past eight years, CED’s Mitzie Collins and friends have filled Kilbourn Hall to capacity with fans of world music. This year will be no different, as her annual summer concert features music and dance from the Middle East (Omar Faruk Tekbilek and his son Murat Tekbilek), Eastern Europe (Sladki Doumi, a chorus of ten women), Germany (Die Lustigen Almdudler, Rochester’s premier German band), and Scandinavia (Fiddlespel, a fiddle duo from Ithaca) – as well as Irish set dancing (often called Irish square dancing) and American folk music by Collins (hammered dulcimer) and Jim Kimball (fiddle).
Sunday, July 9 (3 p.m.) Jeremy Zhu, violin; Don Reinfeld, cello, and Howard Spindler, piano
CED violinist and Eastman graduate Jeremy Zhu teams up with RPO cellist Don Reinfeld and CED Interim Director Howard Spindler for a Sunday afternoon concert featuring the music of Mozart, Faure, and Eugéne Ysaÿe.
Sunday, July 9 Tony Caramia, piano: "Partners"
Eastman pianist Tony Caramia, a favorite of Kilbourn Hall concertgoers, presents another innovative program: a concert that pairs him with different duet partners. They include singers (Carol Mulligan, Misty Castleberry, and Eastman Dean of Students Phyllis Wade); jazz guitarist Bob Sneider; and Caramia’s wife, Lisa, in duet and two-piano repertoire. Please note: There is a charge for this concert. General admission tickets ($10 for adults, $8 for University of Rochester faculty and staff with ID, and $5 for students with ID and children) may be purchased at Ticket Express, 100 East Ave., or by calling 222-5000. They also may be purchased at the Kilbourn Hall box office one hour before the start of the concert.
Monday, July 10 Erin Hannigan, oboe; Scott Stratton, trombone
Husband-and-wife musicians, both Eastman graduates, present a concert featuring the music of Saint-Saëns, Reinecke, Pasculli, Serocki, and Hidas.
Wednesday, July 12 Gene Bertoncini, jazz guitar
Jazz fans won’t want to miss renowned jazz guitarist Gene Bertoncini’s annual summer concert at Eastman. Please note: There is a charge for this concert. General admission tickets ($10 for adults, $8 for University of Rochester faculty and staff with ID, and $5 for students with ID and children) may be purchased at Ticket Express, 100 East Ave., or by calling 222-5000. They also may be purchased at the Kilbourn Hall box office one hour before the start of the concert.
Thursday, July 20 Lori Sims, piano
Eastman Summer Piano Festival guest artist Lori Sims, a grand prize-winner at the 1998 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, will treat Rochester audiences to a recital that includes the music of Schumann, American composer Curtis Curtissmith, and others.
Friday, July 21 Piano Competition winners Eastman Theatre
Eastman’s fourth annual Young Artist International Piano Competition – which runs from July 15-21 – will bring 32 of the world’s most talented young pianists (ages 14-18) to Rochester. The winners of the competition are the featured performers in this gala concert in Eastman Theatre. Please note location of this concert.
Saturday, July 22 Beth Levin, piano
The music of Schumann, Debussy, Chopin, and Louis Karchin will be featured in this solo recital by Piano Festival guest artist Beth Levin, whom The New York Times calls a performer with "a bold interpretive personality and a powerful technique."
Monday, July 24 Sophia Gibbs Kim, flute; Irina Lupynis, piano
Sophia Gibbs Kim, CED instructor and doctoral student at Eastman, will present a program of 20th century flute music from around the world featuring works from France, Argentina, England, Korea, and the former Soviet Union. She’ll be accompanied by pianist Irina Lupynis, guitarist James Day, oboist Allison Kreiling, and clarinetist Anthony Franco.
Wednesday, July 26 Cecile Saine, soprano; Howard Spindler, piano
Barber’s classic Knoxville: Summer of 1915 is the featured work in this concert by CED faculty members Cecile Saine and Howard Spindler.
Monday,
July 31 Valerie Errante, soprano; Robert Wason, piano
Eastman faculty member Robert Wason and his frequent collaborator Valerie Errante will perform a concert of turn-of-the-(20th)-century Lieder from Munich, drawn from their continuing study of this repertoire. Works by Ludwig Thuille, Walter Courvoisier, and 12 songs by Richard Trunk – all famous settings of translations by German poets of the poetry of French symbolist Paul Verlaine – will be featured.
Monday, August 2 Eva Stern, viola; Joel Schoenhals, piano
This talented duo featuring recent Eastman graduates closes the summer series with the music of Brahms, Bloch, and Fauré.
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Note to editors: Photos of some of the artists performing this summer are available.