Eastman Archive

Eastman Audio Archive

The Eastman Audio Archive (EAA) is the repository for all recordings of performances at the Eastman School of Music. The EAA’s earliest recordings date from 1933, making it the oldest continuous collection of recordings made at any music school in the United States. Today, the collection contains recordings of more than 35,000 performances, including student degree recitals, ensemble performances, faculty and guest artist programs, lectures and workshops, and concerts.

Following 20th- and 21st-century developments in recording technology, the EAA recordings comprise a range of media formats—many of which are now obsolete—namely, instantaneous acetate and aluminum disks, reel-to-reel analog magnetic tape, reel-to-reel digital tape, magneto-optical disks, CDs, and now digital files (.wav audio files). Recordings made since 1988 are catalogued in the University of Rochester library catalog system (DiscoverUR), and service copies of many of these recordings are available in the library’s Recordings Stacks. Members of the UR/ESM community can also access streaming audio of recordings made since 2018, as well as select archival recordings, through links in DiscoverUR. For recordings made before 1988, contact David Peter Coppen, Special Collections Librarian and Archivist (585-274-1335). Additionally, video recordings of many recent Eastman concerts and student performances are available on the ESM YouTube channel.

Select highlights in the EAA include recordings of:

Featured Videos of Eastman Concerts

Eastman Centennial: Eastman Wind Ensemble (world premiere of the brass fanfare “Festival Music” by Steve Danyew) – 2021

Eastman School of Music Presents Britten’s War Requiem – 2020

ESSO Performs Dvorák’s Carnival Overture (1891) – 2019

Eastman Chorale Performes Christopher Theofanidis’s Messages to Myself – 2019

Eastman Wind Ensemble: John Mackey: Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Wind Ensemble – 2018

 

Prokofiev Symphony No. 5, Op. 100 – Eastman Philharmonia, Nov. 12, 2016

Questions about the Eastman Audio Archive should be directed to David Peter Coppen, Special Collections Librarian and Archivist (585-274-1335).