EROI Festival 2011
November 10 - 13, 2011
Eastman School of Music

"Improvisation and Organ Pedagogy"

Presented in conjunction with the American Guild of Organists' 16th Biennial Conference on Organ Pedagogy.

Made possible with support from the Westfield Center.

The Eastman School of Music announces the tenth annual Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative (EROI) Festival presented in conjunction with the 16th annual AGO Conference on Organ Pedagogy

This year’s festival will present the topic of organ improvisation through a variety of compositional techniques and styles. The conference will alternate master classes featuring students at a variety of levels, panel discussion addressing the teaching of improvisation, and sessions that will provide attendees with resource material in the pedagogy of improvisation.

Full event passes are available for $275. Single-day Festival and transportation are also available.

For more information, or to register, visit the EROI Festival 2011 page.

With the aim of making Rochester a global center for organ performance, research, building, and preservation, the Eastman School of Music has begun to assemble a collection of new and historic organs unparalleled in North America. An incomparable teaching resource, this collection will offer access to organs of diverse styles and traditions to talented young musicians from around the world. Tourists, scholars, and music lovers will be drawn to Rochester to hear the varied sounds of these extraordinary instruments.

The realization of EROI will include the placement of two European-style organs in downtown Rochester. A historic Italian Baroque organ was installed in the University of Rochester’s Memorial Art Gallery in 2005. The Craighead-Saunders organ, closely modeled after a Lithuanian organ built by Casparini in 1776, was constructed and installed in Christ Church (Episcopal) in 2008, in cooperation with the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester. The renovation of the historic E.M. Skinner organ, housed in the Eastman School's Kilbourn Hall, the restoration and installation of an 1893 Hook and Hastings, and the restoration and replacement of the School’s fourteen practice organs, will complete the initial phase of this 10-year plan.

Eastman's Organ Department

When the Eastman School of Music opened its doors in 1921, it housed the largest and most lavish organ collection in the nation, befitting the interests of its founder, George Eastman. Mr. Eastman provided the School with opulent facilities and stellar faculty, creating an expansive vision for organ art and education in the 21st century. Over the years, the Eastman School has built on this vision by offering one of the most distinguished organ programs in the world. In keeping with this tradition of excellence, the Eastman School of Music has embarked on a long-range plan, the Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative (EROI), that will extend George Eastman’s vision into the 21st century.