Eastman School of Music’s annual Faculty Artist Series, supported by Patricia Ward-Baker, takes off in September with a variety of performances, ranging from tuba to voice and piano. The programs give local music lovers the opportunity to experience recitals by the faculty artists, whose busy schedules include frequent appearances elsewhere in the world.
The performances will be held in the School’s acoustically superb Hatch Recital and Kilbourn Halls. The variety of dates and times makes it possible to find performances that fit in everyone’s schedule.
Tickets to Eastman Faculty Artist Series recitals are available at the door one hour before the performance and are $10 for the general public; UR ID holders are admitted for free.
The first performance of the series is in Hatch Recital Hall on Tuesday, September 3, at 8 p.m. featuring Kathleen Bride, Eastman’s professor of harp since 1989. Bride has performed internationally at events such as the Maria Korchinska International Harp Competition, Holland Harp Week, and the Lincoln Center Project. Her former student and colleague Courtney Hershey Bress, principal harp of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, will join Bride on the stage for a variety of works by Debussy, Franck, Tournier, and Kaska.
Works by Eastman composers David Liptak and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon will be featured the following day, Wednesday, September 4, in Hatch Recital Hall at 8 p.m. Liptak’s award-winning compositions have been performed by numerous orchestras, such as the San Francisco Symphony and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. The works of Zohn-Muldoon, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, have been performed by groups such as eighth blackbird, Riverside Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group. Their joint recital will be sung by guest soprano Jamie Jordan, an Eastman alumna whose musical performance was praised by the New York Times for her “alluring clarity”. Faculty performers include saxophonist Chien-Kwan Lin and percussionist Michael Burritt.
Thursday, September 5, will spotlight Eastman’s professor of tuba, Don Harry. His performance in Hatch Recital Hall at 8 p.m. will include works by Schumann, Jude, Wilder, Yagisawa, York, and Mendelssohn. Prior to joining the Eastman faculty, Harry served as the tuba instructor at the Juilliard School of Music and was principal tuba player in the Buffalo Philharmonic. The recital’s ensemble pieces will feature pianist Susan Schuman and the Eastman Brass.
A chamber recital by the Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media Faculty at 8 p.m. on Friday, September 6, in Kilbourn Hall offers a change of pace. The ensemble features professors Harold Danko and Bill Dobbins on piano, Clay Jenkins on trumpet, Mark Kellogg on trombone, Charles Pillow on saxophone, Bob Sneider on guitar, Jeff Campbell on bass, and Rich Thompson on drums.
The busy week continues with a recital by Eastman Virtuosi on Saturday, September 7, in Kilbourn Hall at 8 p.m. Eastman Virtuosi is a chamber ensemble composed of Eastman faculty and outstanding student performers. Since its founding in 1994, the group has performed three world premieres and worked with numerous guest conductors including Brad Lubman, David Effron, and Peter Bay. This recital will include Dvořák’s Serenade, popular for its intense harmonies and elegance of form. Faculty performers include pianist Natalya Antonova.
The recital on Sunday, September 8, at 3 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall features Tony Caramia, Professor of Piano. Titled “Dancing Keys,” the first half of the program includes a variety of toe-tapping works for solo piano, including fox trot, a tango, and dances by Florence Price, Darius Milhaud, Dave Brubeck, and Alberto Ginastera. In contrast, the second half will focus on jazz waltzes, written by Chick Corea, Ron Carter, Bill Evans, Fred Hersch, and Caramia. Caramia has performed in the Rochester International Jazz Festival as well as on NPR as a guest on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz.
Violist George Taylor will perform the music of Bach and Brahms on Monday, September 9, in Kilbourn Hall at 8 p.m. Taylor was a member of the Ciompi Quartet of Duke University from 1979 to 1986, and made his Carnegie Recital Hall debut in 1979. The New York Times recognized his high quality of performance when noting: “He is already an unusually accomplished player, with a secure command of the instrument, and an ardent, refreshingly direct style.”
On Tuesday, September 10, in Kilbourn Hall at 8 p.m., voice professor Robert Swensen will perform music by composers from the World War I era, including Charles Ives, George Butterworth, Ivor Gurney, and Erich Korngold. Swensen is a first-place prizewinner of the Concert Artists Guild International Competition and has toured around the world in roles with the New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, San Francisco Opera’s Western Opera, and more. He will be accompanied by pianist Paula Fan, who has been a featured artist across five continents and is now a piano professor at the University of Arizona.
The second piano recital of the Faculty Artist series features Russell Miller at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, October 2, in Hatch Recital Hall. Before joining the Eastman faculty in 1995, Miller held positions at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Oberlin College Conservatory. He will be performing works by Bach-Siloti, Schumann, and Lori Laitman with soprano Julia Broxholm, a Broadway singer and current faculty member at Kansas University.
Professor of Jazz Trumpet Clay Jenkins will be in the spotlight on Tuesday, November 5, in Hatch Recital Hall at 8 p.m. Jenkins has performed with numerous jazz icons including Milt Jackson, Diana Krall, and Ray Brown. He also taught at the University of Southern California and Colburn School of the Performing Arts prior to joining Eastman faculty in 2000.
The recital on Monday, November 18, in Kilbourn Hall at 8 p.m. will feature Mark Kellogg, associate professor of trombone and euphonium. Kellogg has been a part of the Rochester music community for much of his life. After attending Eastman for his undergraduate degree and performing with the San Francisco Symphony, he returned to Rochester and is currently principal trombone of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Kellogg will be joined by pianists Joseph Werner and Christopher Azzara, bassist Daniel Ziemann, and percussion professor Michael Burritt in a program featuring the music of Bolter, Premru, Scarbrough, Davis, and Mandel.
Piano professor Rebecca Penneys hosts and performs in an eight-hand extravaganza on Sunday, November 24, in Kilbourn Hall at 3 p.m. A two-time recipient of the Naumberg Chamber Music Award with the New Arts Trio, which she founded, For this event, Penneys has invited Eunmi Ko, Omri Shimron, and Johnandrew Slominski, all of whom are former students who currently teach at universities across the country.
Music of Robert Morris will be performed on Tuesday, December 3, in Hatch Recital Hall at 8 p.m. A recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, including American Music Center and NEA grants and the Margaret Lee Crofts Composition Fellowship, Morris taught at the Yale School of Music and University of Pittsburgh prior to joining the Eastman faculty. At this performance, his work Piano, Winds, River will be played by guest pianist Solungga Fang-Tzu Liu, a performer of new music and a teacher at Bowling Green State University.
The fall schedule of faculty recitals finishes with Distinguished Professor of Violoncello Alan Harris performing on Sunday, December 8, at 3 p.m. in Hatch Recital Hall. Harris studied with famed cellist Janos Starker and has been a faculty member at Eastman since 1965. He has been principal cellist of the Rochester Chamber and Eastman Orchestras as well as assistant principal cellist of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Harris will appear with Eastman’s award-winning professors Barry Snyder on piano, Mikhail Kopelman on violin, and Bonita Boyd on flute, performing music of Mendelssohn, Faure, and Martinu.
The Faculty Artist series continues in 2014, with jazz guitarist Bob Sneider on Wednesday, January 22, 2014, at 8 p.m. in Hatch Recital Hall. Known locally for leading the nightly jazz sessions that close out each night of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, Sneider toured with two-time Grammy Award winner Chuck Mangione for several years and has performed, toured, and recorded with such artists as Nat Adderley, Joe Locke, Pat Bianchi, Gary Versace, Gerry Niewood, and Chris Potter.
On Sunday, January 26, Associate Professor of Piano Enrico Elisi will perform at 3 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall. Described by La Nueva España as “a true musician and a master of elegance, refinement and fantasy,” Elisi has appeared at festivals and with orchestras in prestigious venues throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The winner of top prizes in the Venice Competition and the Oporto International Competition, he is also an adjudicator at music competitions.
Professor of Violin Mikhail Kopelman will be featured in Kilbourn Hall at 8 p.m. Tuesday, January 28. Kopelman was first violinist of the Borodin String Quartet for two decades and first violinist of the Tokyo String Quartet from 1996 to 2002. A former member of the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra and concertmaster of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, he is the recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Award and the Concertgebouw Silver Medal of Honour.
Professor of Violin Charles Castleman will be performing on Sunday, February 2, at 3 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall. He has been a soloist with the orchestras of Philadelphia, Boston, Brisbane, Chicago, Hong Kong, Moscow, Mexico City, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, and Shanghai, among others. Castleman’s rendition of the Jongen Violin Concerto is included in a Cypres CD set of the 17 best prize-winning performances of the Brussels Concours 50-year history.
On Tuesday, February 4, at 8 p.m. Professor of Violin Oleh Krysa will perform in Hatch Recital Hall. A prominent student of David Oistrakh, Krysa was awarded major prizes in such international competitions as the Wieniawski, Tchaikovsky, and Montreal (1969), and was the winner of the Paganini Competition in 1963. Well-known for his numerous recordings, Krysa has played solo recitals in major music centers throughout the world and appeared in festivals in Europe, North America, and New Zealand.
Professor of Violin Federico Agostini will perform on the stage of Kilbourn Hall at 3 p.m. Sunday, February 9. Agostini has performed throughout the world as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra, and as concertmaster of the legendary Italian ensemble I Musici. He has appeared in various international music festivals in Europe, the United States, and Japan. His Philips recordings comprise Bach and Vivaldi’s violin concertos, including The Four Seasons, which was filmed on location in Venice and is available on DVD.
Appointed concertmaster of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 2005 at age 24, Juliana Athayde became the youngest person to hold the position since the orchestra’s inception in 1922. She will present a recital at 3 p.m. Sunday, February 16, in Kilbourn Hall. Athayde has performed as guest concertmaster with the Houston Symphony and National Arts Center Orchestra, and has performed both nationally and internationally with the Cleveland Orchestra.
Trombonist John Marcellus will be featured in recital in Kilbourn Hall on Tuesday, February 18, at 8 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall. Marcellus is internationally known as a soloist for his performances and recordings as Principal Trombone of the National Symphony Orchestra and as soloist with the United States Navy Band. He has appeared in solo recitals and master classes in Europe and Asia and with many community and university bands and orchestras throughout the United States and Canada.
Violist Phillip Ying, member of the Grammy-Award winning Ying Quartet, will perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday, February 25, in Kilbourn Hall. He has also been featured numerous times in recitals and as a soloist with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony and the Aspen Festival Chamber Orchestra. With the Ying Quartet, he maintains a vital interest in new music, commissioning and performing new works by such composers as Augusta Read Thomas, Michael Torke, Kevin Puts, Jennifer Higdon, and Paquito D’Rivera, and is currently pursuing a multi-year commissioning project with the Institute for American Music.
Internationally known soloist and chamber musician Steven Doane will be joined by Professor of Piano Barry Snyder for his cello recital in Kilbourn Hall at 8 p.m. on Monday, March 3. In 1974, Doane was a finalist in the International Tchaikovsky Competition and he is currently in the Los Angeles Piano Quartet. His duo performances with Snyder have been broadcast throughout the United States and Europe, including on the BBC in England. Their recording of the complete music of Gabriel Fauré for cello and piano was awarded the Diapason D’or in France.
Barry Snyder returns for his solo piano recital at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 30, in Kilbourn Hall. A triple prize winner in the 1966 Van Cliburn International Competition, Snyder has made 32 solo, concerto, and ensemble recordings under numerous CD labels. He has performed and given master classes throughout Europe, North America, and Asia, and premiered works by Syd Hodkinson, Verne Reynolds, Toshio Hosokawa, David Liptak, Carter Pann, Alec Wilder, and John LaMontaine.
The works of Professor of Composition Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez will be featured in a recital on Tuesday, April 1, at 8 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall. Among the many awards he has received are the 2007 Barlow Prize, a Finalist Prize at the 2004 Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestral Composer Competition, and the 2003 Lee Ettelson Composition Award. He has also been honored with awards and fellowships from the Koussevitzky, Guggenheim, Fromm, Rockefeller, Camargo and Bogliasco Foundations. He was the 2000-01 American Academy of Arts and Letters Charles Ives Fellow and has received two BMI Composition Awards, the Mozart Medal from the governments of Mexico and Austria, as well as a Fulbright Fellowship.
Director of the Eastman Jazz Ensemble and the Eastman Studio Orchestra, pianist Bill Dobbins comes to the stage at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 8, in Hatch Recital Hall. Dobbins has performed with classical orchestras and chamber ensembles under the direction of numerous prestigious musicians including Pierre Boulez, Lukas Foss, and Louis Lane. In 1972, Dobbins was prizewinner of the International Gaudeamus Competition of Interpreters of Contemporary Music. From 1994 through 2002, Dobbins was principal director of the WDR Big Band in Cologne, Germany.
The final concert of the Faculty Artist Series features bass-baritone Jan Opalach on Sunday, April 13, at 8 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall. A principal artist of the New York City Opera for 30 years, Opalach has performed more than 50 roles. For orchestral and oratorio performances, he has collaborated with such luminaries as Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Alan Gilbert, Gunter Herbig, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Christopher Seaman, Robert Shaw, Leonard Slatkin, and David Zinman. Opalach has won as won the Walter M. Naumburg Vocal Competition, Metropolitan Opera National Auditions, s’-Hertogenbosch International Vocalisten Concours, and a National Endowment for the Arts Soloist Recital Grant.
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