New York, NY — What originally began as a "thank-you" concert for an alma mater now has been expanded into a tribute concert for a grieving city. Before last week, when lives were irrevocably changed, Robert H. Smith, Jr., a 1998 master’s degree recipient in piano from the Eastman School of Music, had organized a number of recent Eastman graduates now based in New York City to participate in a special concert for Eastman’s student scholarship fund. After last week’s tragedy, Smith and his fellow Eastman alumni have decided to dedicate this concert as a tribute to all the victims of September 11, 2001.
On Sunday, October 14, 2001, at 2 p.m. at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, 12 Eastman School alumni who graduated between 1993-2000 in composition, voice, piano, violin, viola, and cello, will join together in a concert featuring works by Bach, Berg, Mahler, Rzewski, Bizet, and Eastman graduates Kevin Puts and Matthew Fuerst. Despite their young ages (all are under 30), these artists already have distinguished resumés. Their accomplishments include recitals, chamber music, opera, and concerto performances throughout the world, and such prizes such as the Richard Tucker Opera Award and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, among many others. Eastman Professor of Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music, Dr. Jean Barr, will join the alumni for the final work — a two-piano, eight-hand version of Bizet’s Fantasy on Themes from Carmen, arranged by Mack Wilberg.
"This special concert," says Smith, "was created as a small token of our appreciation and gratitude for the Eastman faculty and staff’s unbridled support and guidance, which greatly influenced and enlivened our lives, and continues to do so now— especially in light of last week’s tragedy." Smith is director of the graduate program in orchestral performance and community outreach at the Manhattan School of Music.
Tickets can be purchased at the Carnegie Hall Box Office or by calling CarnegieCharge, (212) 247-7800. Tickets are $25 and $50, and include a post-concert reception at the hall.
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