Participants in the 2017 Eastman Summer Saxophone Institute. Photo: Sylvie Beaudette
by Andrea Schuler, Summer at Eastman Program Coordinator
The 40 days of Summer at Eastman 2017 were a whirlwind of music, study and fun! Here are some numerical highlights of the season:
Summer students came to Eastman from 35 states (plus Washington, DC) and 10 countries. Students ranged in age from 12 to 70 years old.
We offered 44 programs this summer, 8 of which were new for 2017.
17 is the number of collaborative pianists who played all day every day for countless classes, lessons, rehearsals, and performances during those 44 programs, accompanying every instrument and voice and helping everyone sound great! (No estimate of the number of pages turned.)
We welcomed 25 guest Summer instructors and presenters in 2017, including Mindy Kaufman and Emily Skala (The Artistic Flutist: Bonita Boyd International Flute Masterclass), Norman Bolter (Eastman Summer Trombone Institute) and Craig Hella Johnson (Advanced Choral Conducting: Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Howells’ Requiem). 14 of these artists were new to Summer@Eastman.
1 is for Summer@Eastman’s first-ever online course, which premiered this summer: “Phrase Rhythm and Form in Brahms Chamber Music,” a graduate-level music theory class developed and taught by Professor Dave Headlam. We hope to offer more online courses in future years!
Students, collaborative pianists and faculty from the 2017 Eastman Cello Institute. Photo: Kurt Brownell
19 is the number of cellists (high school, collegiate, and adult) who participated in the debut season of our brand-new Eastman Cello Institute: 3 weeks of intense study and performance led by Alan Harris, Kathleen Kemp, and Cora Swenson Lee.
56 musicians from the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra performed in 3 days of rehearsals and recording sessions for the 9 student conductors of the Summer Conducting Institute (led by Maestro Neil Varon). The student conductors also practiced with a 6-piece chamber ensemble.
1,200 pounds of Orff instruments were sent to Eastman by Iowa’s West Music Company for use in the Orff Schulwerk Teacher Education Course. (That’s a LOT of xylophones and recorders!)
Singers in the Gregorian Chant and Renaissance Polyphony Institute in Chicago. Photo: Stephanie SeRine
20 is the number of student choristers for Michael Anderson’s “Singing Gregorian Chant and Renaissance Polyphony” institute, held at Chicago’s beautiful St. John Cantius Church (dedicated 1898). They read 5 pieces from Renaissance notation; the oldest piece on the program, “Alma redemptoris mater,” dates from the 11th century. Professor Anderson also reports that the group consumed 48 treats from Stan’s Donuts & Coffee during class sessions.
Summer at Eastman performances were held in 12 venues this year (at Eastman, around Rochester, at Keuka College, and in Chicago).
9 is the number of students who took classes this summer as part of Eastman’s Summers-Only Master’s Degree in Music Education program.
“The Artistic Flutist: Bonita Boyd International Flute Masterclass” welcomed 31 performers and 7 auditors this year. Over 5 days, the class featured 9 masterclasses, 3 recitals, several guest presentations, and a group outing for a Sam Patch riverboat cruise on the Erie Canal.
20,000 is an estimate of the total number of pipes in the 23 organs played by students during the Summer Academy for High School Organists.
The 8 students in “Theory and Analysis of Contemporary Music: Study Abroad Course in Paris” spent the month of June at IRCAM’s ManiFeste-2017. They attended 19 concerts in 11 concert halls, heard 20 world premieres, enjoyed 14 lectures by festival composers, performers, and scholars, and even spent 90 minutes in IRCAM’s anechoic chamber!
Jazz, anyone? 36 high school students from around the country + 10 Eastman jazz faculty members = Summer Jazz Studies (2 weeks of serious fun).
Despite 3 ferocious lightning storms, the students and faculty of Eastman at Keuka had a marvelous 2 weeks at Keuka College, playing 10 concerts (including 2 at Eastman) and participating in 2 masterclasses and 1 creative music-making workshop. S’mores production for the 2 annual campfires required 60 Hershey bars, 5 bags of marshmallows and 3 boxes of graham crackers.
385 is the total number of singers who participated in this year’s Summer Sings (community choral reading sessions open to the public, led by William Weinert). The best-attended Sing this summer: the choral finale of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (110 singers, plus 4 onstage soloists and 1 intrepid collaborative pianist).
From Music Horizons Director Petar Kodzas, a summary of the 20 days of Music Horizons (Eastman’s pre-conservatory summer intensive program for classical musicians, grades 9-12): “12 string players, 11 wind players, 10 theory sessions, 9 recital hours, 8 chorale rehearsals, 7 history classes, 6 chamber duos, 5 composers, 4 conductors, 3 clarinets, 2 oboes, and a Petar in a pear tree!”
59 is the number of performances on this year’s Summer concert calendar. Admission to 31 of those concerts was free.