Eastman Showcase – 2008

First Prize at Choral Composition
November 2008
Composition graduate student Steven Danyew won first prize at the 2008 Ithaca College Choral Composition Competition for his Goodnight, Goodnight. The competition is designed to encourage the creation and performance of new choral music. Winners received cash prizes and six high school choirs performed the top two compositions at Ithaca College.

The Refuge
September 2008
Last November, Houston Grand Opera (HGO) presented The Refuge, an opera with music by Christopher Theofanidis (MM ’92) and libretto by Leah Lax that brings together the stories of the many different immigrant populations in Houston. The Refuge also brought together many members of those different communities and performing groups in the city to create a remarkable multi-media presentation...

A Good Initial Impression
August 2008
The members of a new string quartet - every man JACK of them, you might say – are starting to make a splash in the contemporary music world. Violist John Pickford Richards (BM ’02, MM ’04), violinists Ari Streisfeld (BM ’05) and Christopher Otto (BM ’06) and, and cellist Kevin McFarland (BM ’04) all met at Eastman and formed a string quartet, using the first letters of their names to create its title, JACK...

Rhythm Ambassadors
July 2008
John Beck, who recently retired as Eastman’s professor of percussion, and six Eastman students – seniors Kyle Acuncius, Christopher Slagle, Brian Heveron-Smith, and Richard Williams, and graduate students Robert Sanderl and Jacob Thieben – traveled to Bjelovar, Croatia, to participate in International Percussion Ensemble Week (IPEW)...

This is Eastman Singing
June 2008
Eastman Opera Theatre is featured on a new CD from Albany Records, which also features first recordings of a pair of one-act operas by the distinguished American composer Lee Hoiby...

Teaching Talent Honored
May 2008
Eastman not only produces the world’s best musicians, it also produces some of the world’s best music teachers. Every year, several outstanding teachers-in-training are chosen for the Teaching Assistant Prize for Excellence in Teaching...

Putting on a Happy Face
March 2008
One of Broadway’s great “Golden Age” composers is also an Eastman grad – Charles Strouse (BM ‘47). Strouse celebrates his 80th birthday on June 7...

New Music in the House
February 2008
The Fifth House Ensemble has presented performances and educational concerts in the Chicago area since 2005. Its charter members include its executive director, flutist Melissa Ngan Snoza (BM ’02), and her husband, double bassist Eric Snoza (BM ’01)...

A Splendid Series
January 2008
While it is common to hear one Beethoven violin sonata on a recital program, it is quite rare to hear all ten played by one violinist in a series – but all ten Beethoven sonatas will be offered by Eastman School Professor of Violin Oleh Krysa ...