As a new school year approaches, we are pleased to highlight some of the concerts and events taking place at Eastman this September and October. Presenting a wide range of events featuring internationally accomplished faculty and guest artists in addition to world-class student ensembles, these events will be held in Eastman’s stunning performance spaces: Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, Kilbourn Hall and Hatch Recital Hall.
Most of the concerts listed are free and open to the public, and ticketed events may be booked through EastmanTheatre.org or by calling 585-274-3000. Patrons are encouraged to purchase tickets as soon as possible to secure the best seats and savings.
SEPTEMBER 2023
Faculty Artist Series
Various dates, times and locations
The Eastman Faculty Artist Series will present 15 performances by our internationally acclaimed faculty members throughout the fall 2023 semester, three of which are scheduled to take place in September and five more in October. Tickets are $10 for the public and free to URID holders.
Eastman Piano Series: Yunchan Lim
Sunday, September 17 at 3:00 p.m. | Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre
Millions of viewers took note of this amazing pianist’s talents in the 17 days of intense competition at the 2022 Cliburn Competition. Rising to the top as the gold medalwinner of that competition was Korean-born pianist, Yunchan Lim. As Jury Chair Marin Alsop expressed, “Yunchan is that rare artist who brings profound musicality and prodigious technique organically together.”
The Eastman Wind Ensemble with Andrew McCandless, trumpet
Wednesday, September 20 at 7:30 p.m. | Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre
The acclaimed Eastman Wind Ensemble takes the stage for their first performance of the year featuring newly appointed Professor of Trumpet Andrew McCandless. McCandless and the EWE will perform Alexander Arutiunian’s spirited Trumpet Concerto and John Williams’ poignant “With Malice Toward None” from Stephen Spielberg’s Lincoln. Mark Davis Scatterday leads from the podium. This performance is free and open to the public.
Eastman Wind Orchestra performs Bremer, Milburn and Ticheli
Friday, September 22 at 7:30 p.m. | Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre
The Eastman Wind Orchestra is comprised of first- and second-year wind, brass and percussion students and is the first component of Eastman’s large ensemble rotation system. Led by Mark Davis Scatterday and graduate conducting students, Frank Ticheli’s uplifting Symphony No. 2 is the centerpiece of tonight’s program. This performance is free and open to the public.
EMuSE with João Pedro Oliveira (Howard Hanson Visiting Professor)
Saturday, September 23 at 7:30 p.m. | Hatch Recital Hall
Electroacoustic Music Studios @ Eastman (EMuSE) concerts will feature new compositions by prominent guest artists and students alongside historical works. Additionally, Eastman performers will have the opportunity to learn about music technology for concert production, potentially unlocking a world of new repertoire. They are joined by composer João Pedro Oliveira, who holds the Corwin Endowed Chair of Composition at University of California Santa Barbara and holds this year’s Howard Hanson Visiting Professorship. This event is free and open to the public.
Eastman School Symphony Orchestra (ESSO) and Eastman Philharmonia
Wednesday, September 27 at 7:30 p.m. | Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre
Eastman’s prestigious orchestras, under the baton of Neil Varon, share the stage in a joint concert for their first performances of the year. ESSO will be joined by soprano Darby Schmidt, a current Eastman student, for Ricky Ian Gordon’s song cycle and the flowers pick themselves, based on the poetry of E. E. Cummings. The Eastman Philharmonia closes with Brahms’ resplendent First Symphony. This performance is free and open to the public.
EMuSE presents a portrait of John Chowning
Thursday, September 28 at 7:30 p.m. | Hatch Recital Hall
EMuSE honors the American composer John Chowning – a visionary in the field of electronic music who invented FM synthesis and set up one of the world’s most influential research centers. Featuring guest performer Jane Smith, a bass clarinetist from Scotland, the program includes three of Chowning’s groundbreaking works in their original multi-channel format. This event is free and open to the public.
OCTOBER 2023
Eastman Musica Nova performs Lowry, Manoury and Rihm
Wednesday, October 4 at 7:30 p.m. | Kilbourn Hall
Eastman’s renowned contemporary music ensemble, led by Brad Lubman, consistently performs a diverse selection of music by the composers of our time. Their first program of the year includes Douglas Lowry’s Between Blues and Hard Places and Philippe Manoury’s Instants Pluriels — a unique work composed for an instrumental ensemble divided into two groups with two conductors. Wolfgang Rihm’s bold Gejagte Form rounds out the evening. This performance is free and open to the public.
Meliora Weekend
Thursday, October 5 – Sunday, October 8 | Various Locations
Meliora Weekend 2023 is gearing up to be an unforgettable experience for the Eastman community. The weekend offers a full range of performances, social activities and programs for alumni, students, families, friends, faculty and staff.
Kodak Hall Series: An Evening with Renée Elise Goldsberry
Friday, October 6 at 8:00 p.m. | Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre
Tony and Grammy Award-winning actress Renée Elise Goldsberry (from the hit Broadway musical Hamilton) will make her Rochester debut as part of the 2023-24 Eastman Presents season. The program features an array of Broadway hits, including selections from Hamilton, Rent, The Lion King, Carousel and many more. Accompanied by a full orchestra of student musicians from Eastman’s Empire Film and Media Ensemble, the concert will be conducted by the director of Eastman’s Beal Institute and six-time Emmy Award-winning composer and conductor, Mark Watters.
Eastman Chorale performs Lowry, Hailstork and Billings
Sunday, October 8 at 3:30 p.m. | Kilbourn Hall
Eastman’s flagship choral ensemble, under the leadership of William Weinert, performs music by Douglas Lowry and Rochester native Adolphus Hailstork. Three songs by William Billings, one of America’s earliest prolific composers, round out the program. This concert is free and open to the public.
OSSIA New Music
Tuesday, October 10 at 7:30 p.m. | Kilbourn Hall
OSSIA takes its name from the score marking that indicates a musical alternative. This student-led ensemble provides alternatives for the performance of new music at the Eastman School of Music, throughout the Rochester area and beyond. This concert is free and open to the public.
Eastman Wind Ensemble performs Strauss, Walker, Wolfe and Lowry
Wednesday, October 11 at 7:30 p.m. | Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre
A subset of the EWE, the Eastman Harmonie performs an early work of Richard Strauss, the Suite in B-flat for 13 Instruments, Op. 4. Julia Wolfe’s boisterous Arsenal of Democracy is juxtaposed with a new transcription by Lucia Disano ’11E of the serene Lyric for Strings by Pulitzer Prize winner George Walker ’56E (DMA), ’12E (Honorary). Douglas Lowry’s celebratory Wind Religion concludes the program. Mark Davis Scatterday and doctoral conducting assistant Mason St. Pierre conduct. This concert is free and open to the public.
Eastman Piano Series: Angela Hewitt
Friday, October 13 at 7:30 p.m. | Kilbourn Hall
One of the most respected pianists on the international stage and hailed as “the pre-eminent Bach pianist of our time” (The Guardian), Angela Hewitt makes her solo recital debut as part of the Eastman Piano Series. A not-to-be-missed occasion, her program includes works of Bach, Mozart and Schumann.
Eastman Wind Orchestra performs Boulanger, Holst and Vaughan Williams
Friday, October 13 at 7:30 p.m. | Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre
The Eastman Wind Orchestra presents two evocative transcriptions of Lili Boulanger: D’un matin de Printemps (“Of a Spring Morning”) and D’un Soir Triste (“Of a Sad Evening”). Based on English folk songs, composers Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ masterful suites for wind band are staples in the repertoire. Mark Davis Scatterday and graduate conducting students guide from the podium. This performance is free and open to the public.
Gateways Music Festival: Brass Collective
Tuesday, October 17 at 7:30 p.m. | Hatch Recital Hall
The Gateways Music Festival’s mission is to support and connect professional classical musicians of African descent and enlighten and inspire communities through the power of performance. Gateways Brass Collective was founded in 2018 and maintains an active touring schedule of performances, master classes, demonstrations, clinics and community engagement activities across the United States.
Kilbourn Concert Series: Gateways Festival Chamber Players with Phylicia Rashad
Friday, October 20 at 7:30 p.m. | Kilbourn Hall
The Gateways Chamber Players is a new Gateways Music Festival ensemble featuring some of the nation’s leading classical musicians in a performance of Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale Suite and Wynton Marsalis’ A Fiddler’s Tale. The ensemble makes its Carnegie Hall debut in October 2023 as part of Carnegie Hall’s 2023-24 season and Kennedy Center debut in February 2024. Acclaimed American actress and Dean of Howard University’s College of Fine Arts Phylicia Rashad joins this esteemed ensemble.
Eastman Repertory Singers and Treble Chorus
Saturday, October 21 at 3:30 p.m. | Kilbourn Hall
Eastman Repertory Singers is a mixed 60-voice chorus of Eastman students presenting frequent performances in styles ranging from Renaissance madrigals and motets to premieres of contemporary choral works. Together, those who enroll in the Eastman School of Music/ University of Rochester Treble Chorus create a vocal ensemble of students from across the university who sing a wide variety of music in class and in concert throughout the semester. Members closely study choral literature from varied historical and cultural origins, bringing to life compelling repertoire created with mature treble voices in mind.
Eastman-Ranlet Series: Belcea Quartet
Sunday, October 22 at 3:00 p.m. | Kilbourn Hall
Founded in 1994, the Belcea Quartet, the quartet-in-residence at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, blends its diverse cultural backgrounds and influences into a common musical language. For their Ranlet Series debut, the Quartet presents a program from the staples of the repertoire — Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Bartók’s first quartet and the sole quartet of Debussy.
Eastman School Symphony Orchestra performs Elgar’s “Enigma Variations”
Monday, October 23 at 7:30 p.m. | Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre
First and second year undergraduate students make up the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra (ESSO), conducted by Neil Varon and graduate conducting students. In the Enigma Variations, Edward Elgar introduces a theme that serves as the basis for a series of variations, each a musical depiction of a person in the composer’s life. As Elgar commented, “This work, commenced in a spirit of humor and continued in deep seriousness, contains sketches of the composer’s friends.” Douglas Lowry’s Exordium Nobile opens the program. This performance is free and open to the public.
Eastman Philharmonia performs Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony
Wednesday, October 25 at 7:30 p.m. | Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre
Eastman’s flagship orchestra, under the leadership of Neil Varon, presents Anton Bruckner’s transcendent Ninth Symphony, the composer’s personal farewell to the world. This performance is free and open to the public.
Eastman Chamber Jazz
Monday, October 30 at 7:30 p.m. | Hatch Recital Hall
Jazz fans can enjoy music year-round at Eastman, from the award-winning Eastman Jazz Ensemble to ensembles ranging from intimate chamber groups to big bands. For decades, Eastman jazz has been synonymous with exciting performances, fresh new music and arrangements and outstanding student performers. Eastman Chamber Jazz is an ad hoc ensemble presenting a variety of repertoire once per semester. This concert is free and open to the public.
Click here to view the full 2023-24 Eastman Presents season and to purchase tickets. For all other happenings at Eastman, visit our Events Calendar for the most up-to-date information.
Media only: Lauren Sageer, Assistant Director of Public Relations and Digital Content,
(585) 451-8492, lsageer@esm.rochester.edu
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About Eastman School of Music:
The Eastman School of Music was founded in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman (1854–1932), founder of Eastman Kodak Company. It was the first professional school of the University of Rochester. Mr. Eastman’s dream was that his school would provide a broad education in the liberal arts as well as superb musical training.
More than 900 students are enrolled in the Collegiate Division of the Eastman School of Music—about 500 undergraduates and 400 graduate students. They come from almost every state, and approximately 23 percent are from other countries. They are taught by a faculty comprised of more than 130 highly regarded performers, composers, conductors, scholars, and educators. They are Pulitzer Prize winners, Grammy winners, Emmy winners, Guggenheim fellows, ASCAP Award recipients, published authors, recording artists, and acclaimed musicians who have performed in the world’s greatest concert halls. Each year, Eastman’s students, faculty members, and guest artists present more than 900 concerts to the Rochester community. Additionally, more than 1,700 members of the Rochester community, from young children through senior citizens, are enrolled in the Eastman Community Music School.
About the University of Rochester:
The University of Rochester is one of the nation’s leading private research universities, one of only 62-member institutions in the Association of American Universities. Located in Rochester, N.Y., the University gives undergraduates exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty through its unique cluster-based curriculum. Its College, School of Arts and Sciences, and Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are complemented by the Eastman School of Music, Simon School of Business, Warner School of Education, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, School of Nursing, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, and the Memorial Art Gallery.