On November 14th and 15th, 1935 the Eastman Theater was the venue for the Inauguration of Dr. Alan Valentine as President of the University of Rochester.

On November 4-6, 1988, Eastman Opera Theater staged Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring in Kilbourn Hall, marking the fourth Eastman production of that opera..

On November 2nd, 1965, Kilbourn Hall was the venue for a University of Rochester guest appearance by the world-renowned South Indian dancer Tanjore Balasaraswati. 

On the afternoon of Sunday, October 23rd, 1960, the Howard Hanson Inter-Faith Chapel was dedicated for use by the Eastman School community..

On Sunday, October 17th, 1999, pianists Laurence Rosenthal and Charles Ketcham gave a recital in Kilbourn Hall of music composed jointly by G. I. Gurdjieff (ca. 1866-1949) and Thomas de Hartmann (1885-1956).

On Friday, October 10th, 2003, National Coming Out Day was observed at the Eastman School Of Music, planned and coordinated by the Eastman Pride Network…

On October 1st, 1960, a plot to dynamite the Eastman School was discovered and thwarted by local law enforcement officials.

On September 27th, 1921, an occasional issue of The Note Book was published and was circulated to students.

In late September, 1949, Eastman School Director Howard Hanson was in Paris serving as a U.S. delegate to the Fourth General Conference of UNESCO. 

The inauguration of Robert Freeman as the Eastman School’s fourth Director on September 20th, 1973 marked the beginning of a new era for the school.

On September 19th, 1921, the Eastman School of Music opened its doors for instruction and welcomed students into the building.

On September 10th, 1995, the third annual Gateways Music Festival concluded with a gala concert in the Eastman Theater…

On Monday September 4th, 1922, which happened also to be Labor Day, the Eastman Theater was opened to the public for the first time.

On August 27th, 1975, this workman was part of a team who were sandblasting the Eastman School’s façade, the first phase of work in a two-year renovation project.

On July 14th, 1972, an Eastman School student earned a distinction not in the musical world, but in the realm of beauty pageants.

Harp performance and pedagogy were much in evidence when the Eastman School hosted the American Harp Society’s sixth national conference on June 26th-29th, 1969.

On the morning of Monday, June 26th, 1922, the Eastman School’s first-ever summer session opened its doors to students

On May 24th and May 27th, 1970, a pair of concerts were mounted in the Eastman Theater to raise funds for the national circulation of an anti-war petition that had been written by two University of Rochester faculty members.

On Monday and Tuesday, May 16th and 17th, 1955, Howard Hanson’s opera Merry Mount was produced at the Eastman School’s annual Festival of American Music.

On May 9th, 1960, the members of the Eastman String Quartet returned from their nine-week tour that had taken them to Southern Europe, the Near East, and Northern Africa.

On Saturday, May 5th, 1973, the renowned Thad Jones appeared as guest conductor and soloist with the Eastman Jazz Ensemble

On the afternoon of Tuesday, April 7th, 1987, the Eastman Philharmonia performed under the direction of renowned conductor Sir Georg Solti

On March 23rd, 1936, Fred Fennell conducted the second annual concert of the University of Rochester Symphony Band in the Eastman Theater.

on April 27th and 28th, 1959, the Eastman School’s Opera Workshop staged The Hunted, a chamber opera in one act by composition postgraduate Martin Mailman.

On April 21st, 1990, a special concert promoted as “Three Decades of Eastman Jazz: A Tribute to Rayburn Wright” celebrated the life and career of the late Rayburn Wright, who had died several weeks earlier.

On April 10th and 12th, 1948, Mozart’s beloved comic opera The Marriage of Figaro was staged in Kilbourn Hall, marking the Eastman School’s first complete production of this opera.

On April 1st, 1939, a select group of Eastman students became Thespians when their newly founded club staged Samson Raphaelson’s play Accent on Youth in Kilbourn  Hall.  

On March 19th, 1971, Rossini’s opera The Italian Girl in Algiers (L’Italiana in Algeri) opened in the Eastman Theater for a two-night run.

Fifty seven years ago this week, five days in March, 1966 were officially known as “Stravinsky Week” at the Eastman School of Music,

On the evening of Monday, March 2nd, 1998, a unique student orchestra gave a concert under Brad Lubman’s direction in Kilbourn Hall. 

It seems appropriate during Black History Month to take note of a performance given in Kilbourn Hall eighty-four years ago this week, on the evening of February 23rd, 1939, of a new Symphony by William Grant Still (1895-1978)

On February 13th and 14th, 1950, the Opera Workshop of the Eastman School staged Claude Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, marking the Eastman School’s first production of this opera in its entirety.

On February 8th, 1953, the Eastman Wind Ensemble made its public debut with a concert in Kilbourn Hall

Twenty-four years ago this week, on December 16th, 1998, photographer Louis Ouzer photographed Dr. Mann and Dr. Weinert at the Eastman School of Music

On the evenings of Friday, December 7th, 1981 and Friday, December 9th, 1983, the Eastman Chorale performed the George Frederic Handel’s beloved oratorio Messiah under conductor Donald Neuen

This week we mark two anniversaries of the first-ever Carnegie Hall appearances by two Eastman School ensembles.

On October 29th and 30th, 1976, performing forces and an artistic team from the Eastman School mounted two performances of the newly reconstructed The Disappointment at the Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress

On the evening of Friday, October 18th, 1996, the renowned Benny Carter appeared in concert with the Eastman Jazz Ensemble and the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble

On the evening of Saturday, October 13th, 1956, a television series featuring Eastman School musicians made its debut on station WROC-TV (channel 5) in Rochester

On the evening of Monday, October 6th, 1958, a new radio program comprised explicitly of Eastman School content made its debut on station WVET-AM in Rochester.

This week in 1971, the Eastman School’s fourth annual Recording Workshop was in session.

On May 1st, 1925, a “Concert of New Works by American Composers” took place in the Eastman Theater, marking the first of what would be named the American Composers’ Concerts at the Eastman School

On Wednesday, April 23rd, 1980, trumpeter Clark Terry was the featured guest soloist with the Eastman Jazz Ensemble.  Professor Rayburn Wright, BM ’43, was the conductor. 

On Tuesday, April 16th, 1946, a young faculty member and his student ensemble were invited to the stage at that year’s Festival of American Music

On April 9th, 1969, Director Walter Hendl called an all-School Convocation for a special memorial service honoring the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Twenty-one years ago this week, on Friday, March 30th, 2001, “We connect Satie with Thoreau” was the leitmotif and overarching theme when OSSIA took the stage with a knock-out performance of John Cage’s Song Books

On March 23rd, 1971, Marian McPartland played a swingin’ session at the Eastman School of Music, marking her first documented visit to the school

Fifty years ago this week, beloved concert pianist Rudolf Serkin made a guest appearance at the Eastman School.

Fifty six years ago this week, five days in March, 1966 were officially known as “Stravinsky Week” at the Eastman School of Music,

One hundred years ago this week, on March 3rd and 4th, 1922, Kilbourn Hall was formally opened to the public,

On February 25th, 1962, the 87 members of the Eastman Philharmonia and their accompanying entourage flew home to the U.S.A.

Sixty years ago this week, the members of the Eastman Philharmonia were approaching the end of their landmark three-month tour.

Sixty-nine years ago this week, the Eastman Wind Ensemble made its public debut with a Sunday afternoon concert in Kilbourn Hall.

Eighty-nine years ago this week, on January 31st, 1933, English pianist Myra Hess appeared in recital in Kilbourn Hall.

Sixty years ago this week, the 87 members of the Eastman Philharmonia were in Moscow, beginning their four-week sojourn in the USSR.

Sixty years ago this week, the members of the Eastman Philharmonia were more than halfway through their landmark tour of Europe, the Middle East, and the Soviet Union

Sixty years ago this week, the members of the Eastman Philharmonia were continuing their landmark tour of Europe and the Middle East.

On December 17 and 18, 1970,   EOT scored yet another milestone with a production of Richard Strauss’ seldom performed Die Schweigsame Frau.

On December 6th, Eastman Philharmonia travelled to Rennes, principal city of Brittany and a sister city of Rochester, New York

A glimpse back at events in the school’s concert calendar in the past century.

on November 24th, 1961, the members of the Eastman Philharmonia departed from Rochester to begin a landmark tour..

On November 20th, 1924, the Rochester American Opera Company made its public debut with a Mussorgsky/Leoncavallo double bill in the Eastman Theater.

Fifty years ago this week, an important faculty premiere took place in Kilbourn Hall when members of the Eastman Quartet gave the premiere performance of Warren Benson’s Capriccio for violin, viola, violoncello and piano.

On November 1st through 6th, 1926, an ambitious Eastman-based group known as the Rochester American Opera Company performed each night in Kilbourn Hall.

On October 29th, 1972, renowned jazz pianist Marian McPartland (1918-2013) was photographed while working with Eastman students in the classroom.

October 23rd, 1970, ESM Director Walter Hendl conducted the Eastman Philharmonia in what had by then become an annual event at Eastman: a United Nations Concert.

On October 15th, 1969, a large-scale demonstration known officially as the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam was staged in many cities and towns.

October 10th, 1927, the the Gordon String Quartet made its first appearance at the Eastman School of Music in a Kilbourn Hall recital.