ROCHESTER, NY — The Eastman School of Music closes its 2003-04 season with a concert showcasing both the Eastman Wind Ensemble and the Eastman Philharmonia. The performance at 3 p.m., Sunday, May 2, in Eastman Theatre (60 Gibbs St.) is free and open to the public. It will be followed by a reception that pays tribute to former Eastman Philharmonia conductor David Effron, who led the award-winning ensemble from 1977-1998.
The concert’s first half will feature several selections from the Eastman Wind Ensemble’s upcoming Asian tour led by conductor Mark Davis Scatterday, including Toccata and Fugue in D minor by Bach, Fandangos by Roberto Sierra, Concerto for Trumpet by Jacques Hetu (with James Thompson, trumpet), and Hemispheres by Joseph Turrin. The second half will feature the Eastman Philharmonia, conducted by Neil Varon, performing Prokofiev’s heroic Symphony No. 5, Opus 100.
Following the performance, Eastman alumni, faculty, students, and patrons will gather on the School’s Cominsky Promenade to salute Effron, who, during his 21-year tenure, led the Philharmonia through some extraordinary high points including the New Morning for the World tour, its Carnegie Hall performance, and the annual Heidelberg Festival residency in Germany. Along the way, he inspired many of Eastman’s finest conducting graduates and hundreds of orchestral players.
Currently the artistic director and principal conductor of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina and a faculty member at Indiana University, Effron has conducted throughout the United States and the world. He has received numerous honors and is featured on many recordings — including Grammy Award-winning versions of Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait with the Eastman Philharmonia and John Corigliano’s Pied Piper Fantasy with flutist James Galway.
###