Internationally acclaimed, Grammy®-nominated composer and flutist Valerie Coleman will be the Eastman School of Music’s 2024 Glenn E. Watkins Lecture Series guest speaker. Coleman will be on campus from November 6-8, 2024, with public events taking place in Hatch Recital Hall during the first two days of her three-day residency.
Highlighted as one of the “Top 35 Women Composers” by The Washington Post, she was named the 2020 “Classical Woman of the Year” by “Performance Today,” an honor bestowed to an individual who has made a significant contribution to classical music as a performer, composer or educator. Other prominent accolades include the Van Lier Fellowship Award, Herb Alpert Awards’ Ragdale Prize and MAPFund.
According to the Philadelphia Enquirer, “Coleman’s music has a special kind of joy. A sense of liberation and goodness that has been central to a certain American sound in classical music for decades.” She is the founder of the acclaimed ensemble Imani Winds and holds positions at The Juilliard School, Tanglewood Institute and Manhattan School of Music.
“The Musicology Department is thrilled to welcome Valerie Coleman to Eastman to deliver the 2024 Glenn E. Watkins lecture,” shares Michael Alan Anderson, Chair of the Musicology Department. “Our community will be eager to witness her fascinating story, penetrating artistic vision and signal contributions to composition and performance. We are further excited to have turned this traditional lecture into a multiday residency that will benefit students and faculty across the school through an array of activities.”
While visiting Eastman, Coleman will spend time with undergraduate and graduate students across departments. From group coaching sessions and class appearances to a ‘meet and greet’ at the George Walker Center for Equity and Inclusion in Music, Eastman’s students will have ample access to Coleman’s expertise.
On Wednesday, November 6, Coleman will present her Glenn Watkins Lecture, titled “Of Crosscurrents and Catalysts,” at 4:30 p.m. in Hatch Recital Hall, immediately followed by a lecture Q&A. For those who are unable to attend in person, this lecture will be livestreamed. The next day, on Thursday, November 7, she will lead a Chamber Music Masterclass at 12:30 p.m. in Hatch. Both of these events are free and open to the public. She will also privately address a symposium hosted by the Composition Department.
Coleman is “so delighted to visit the Eastman School of Music as a guest for the 2024 Glenn E. Watkins series. Looking forward to a wonderful time of connecting with students and faculty across the many disciplines there.”
The Glenn E. Watkins Lecture Series was established by the distinguished musicologist and Eastman alumnus Glenn Watkins ’53E to bring exceptional figures in the field of music and related humanistic disciplines to speak at the school. Watkins, who died in 2021, joined the University of Michigan faculty in 1963, where he was Earl V. Moore Professor of Music from 1984 until his retirement in 1996.
Known for his Italian Renaissance scholarship and his work on music of the 20th century, Watkins’s publications encompassed multiple genres. His “Soundings: Music in the Twentieth Century” (1988) was widely adopted as a textbook, while his “Gesualdo: The Man and His Music” (1973) remains one of the defining studies of Carlo Gesualdo.
The Glenn Watkins Lecture Series has brought such guests to Eastman as Vijay Iyer, Meredith Monk, Jo Ann Falletta, Leon Botstein, Francesca Zambello and Jeremy Denk.
Media only: Lauren Sageer, Assistant Director of Public Relations and Digital Content,
(585) 451-8492, lsageer@esm.rochester.edu
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About Valerie Coleman:
Valerie Coleman is an internationally acclaimed, Grammy®-nominated composer and flutist. She is Performance Today’s 2020 Classical Woman of the Year, Orchestra of St. Luke’s 2022 “Gift of Music” honoree, recipient of Herb Alpert Awards’ Ragdale Prize, Van Lier Fellowship Award, MAP Fund, and the creator of Imani Winds, an ensemble whose legacy is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History in Washington D.C. Through Imani Winds, she is a CMS Bowers Program Artist alumna, and laureate of Concert Artists Guild competition. Listed as one of the “Top 35 Women Composers” by The Washington Post, she is one of the most performed living composers in the world. Her music is broadcasted on American Public Media, National Public Radio, Sirius-XM, WNYC, WQXR, Minnesota Public Radio, Radio France, Australian Broadcast Company and Radio New Zealand.
In addition to multiple commissions from Carnegie Hall and The Philadelphia Orchestra, other highlights include commissions from The Metropolitan Opera, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, The Library of Congress, and American Composers Orchestra among many, and her works have been performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, The New York Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, BBC Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, The New World Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, and many more. Highlighted moments include Ballet X performing Umoja choreography by Tiler Peck, BBC Proms with Chineke! Orchestra, PBS with maestro Gerard Schwarz and the All-Star Orchestra, tours of Tracing Visions for string orchestra by Sphinx Virtuosi, and Giants of Light by the Carnegie Hall National Youth Orchestra, as well as chamber music premieres at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Northwest, Phoenix Chamber Music Society, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Clarion Concerts.
Coleman is the Director of the Woodwind Quintet Workshop at Boston University Tanglewood Institute, is on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music, and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and is a Yamaha Artist. Her works appear on the labels: Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical, Naxos, Cedille Records and eOne, including the 2023 Grammy® award winning album by New York Youth Symphony, and Imani Winds’ 2005 Grammy® nominated album, The Classical Underground. Her music is published by Theodore Presser, and her own company, Coleman Page. Learn more: Website | Facebook | Instagram
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.