Here are some select recent clippings showing the variety of hits/mentions identifying musicians and scholars as Eastman School of Music alumni, faculty or students. (Note: Some links may have expired.)
New pres for St. Joseph’s College
(Long Island Business News 03/06/2017)
St. Joseph’s College has named a new president. The college, which has campuses in Patchogue and Brooklyn, announced that Donald Boomgaarden will become its eighth president, beginning July 1. . . . Boomgaarden holds masters and doctoral degrees from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y. A Fulbright Scholar, he also graduated from Harvard’s Institute for Management and Leadership in Education program as well as the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities Seminar on Higher Education Leadership at Loyola University Chicago. (Also reported by Newsday)
Daily Briefs
(Durham Herald-Sun 03/08/2017)
Organists’ concert at Duke: The Durham Chapel Hill Chapter of the American Guild of Organists will present organists Matthew Cates and Michael Jon Bennett in concert at 5 p.m. Saturday, March 11 at in Goodson Chapel at Duke Divinity School. Cates is a student at the N.C. School of the Arts and Bennett is a student at the Eastman School of Music. The concert, which is free and open to all, will feature music of Bach, Brahms, Delelande, Litaize and Vierne.
Jazz leader Rivello will return to YSU
(The Vindicator 03/12/2017)
Dave Rivello will bring his 12-piece jazz orchestra to Youngstown State University on Thursday for a free concert at 7:30 p.m. in Kilcawley Center’s Chestnut Room. The Struthers native and YSU graduate is a freelance composer, arranger and bandleader based in upstate New York. . . . After receiving his bachelor’s degree from the Dana School of Music in 1986, Rivello moved to Rochester, N.Y., where he earned a master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music in jazz and contemporary writing. During that time, he won the Down Beat magazine award for “Best Original Extended Composition,” and the International Association of Jazz Educators award for “Best Original Large Ensemble Composition.”
(Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette 03/10/2017)
Christopher Costanza has no idea why he plays the cello. . . . His parents noticed, he says, and soon his dad was driving him to “serious lessons” every Saturday at the Eastman School of Music, two and a half hours away in Rochester, N.Y. He says it was the highlight of his week from the age of 11 on — and he hurries to confirm he’s serious. “It was a lot of fun to go off to the big city of Rochester,” he says. “Mom would often come too, and eventually two of my sisters were joining me, then one more sister went after I had gone off to college. I was the oldest of six, and four of six of us went to the Eastman School for lessons!
Bravo! Vail presents first-ever spring family chamber music concert, April 8-9
(Vail Daily 03/05/2017)
“The expansion of Bravo’s offerings to families is one of our exciting new initiatives to celebrate Bravo’s 30th season this year,” said Jennifer Teisinger, Bravo! Vail executive director. “We are thrilled to bring Beethoven’s genius to life through the story-telling mastery of Bruce Adolphe augmented by the brilliance of the Zora Quartet and pianist Jenny Chen.
Chen was born in Taipei, Taiwan. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and her master’s degree from Yale University. Currently, she’s pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Eastman School of Music. Chen has performed with numerous ensembles, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Taipei Symphony Orchestra.
Amarillo pianist Rose Chancler returns home with friends for free concert at WT
(Amarillo Globe-News 03/11/2017)
Like many first graders at St. Mary’s grade school in the 1960s and ‘70s, Rose Chancler took piano lessons from Sister Mary Catherine Hein. . . . Chancler played other instruments in the Tascosa High School band, but when it became time to pick a college major she chose piano performance at the University of Texas before going on to receive her doctorate at the Eastman School of Music in New York.
WORLD MUSIC: The Rita Collective with Herb Smith
(City Newspaper 03/08/2017)
Herb Smith’s classical chops are on display when he occupies the third trumpet chair with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. His jazz prowess is obvious when the Eastman School of Music professor plays with his own quartet or Wynton Marsalis, Natalie Cole, Chuck Mangione, Doc Severinsen, and other top acts.
Sinfonietta hosts Conservatory musicians in area schools
(Adirondack Daily Enterprise 03/10/2017)
The Lake Placid Sinfonietta is pleased to be bringing “Quintensity,” a student woodwind quintet from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, to the area March 12 through 14. . . . Quintensity, a woodwind quintet formed in 2014, includes five musicians from the Eastman School of Music: Naomi Harrow, flute, student of Bonita Boyd; Elliot Lichtenberg, oboe, student of Richard Killmer; Daniel Mills, clarinet, student of Jon Manasse; Amelia del Cano, bassoon, student of George Sakakeeny (George Sakakeeny studied with David van Hoesen); and Katelyn Fridmann, horn, student of W. Peter Kurau.
Harpist performs at Thursday Morning Music Club
(Star News 03/07/2017)
The program will be presented by Christina Brier, harpist. Brier performs with the Carolina Philharmonic and Wilmington Symphony. Bier is a founding member of the harp duo Lilac 94, which specializes in innovative new music. She operates a private teaching studio, serves as president of the Coastal Carolina Chapter of the American Harp Society and recently spent six months performing Bollywood music on harp all over India. She received her master’s degree in harp performance from the Eastman School of Music.
Top 5 things to do this weekend
(Grand Haven Tribune 03/09/2017)
Organist Amanda Mole concert — 4-5:30 p.m. Sunday at First Presbyterian Church, 508 Franklin Ave., Grand Haven. Mole is originally from Holden, Massachusetts, and currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate studying with David Higgs at the Eastman School of Music. In 2011, she graduated from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and the School of Music with a Master of Music degree in Sacred Music and Organ Performance. She serves as director of music for St. Michael’s Church in Rochester, N.Y., and Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Webster, N.Y.
(Creators Syndicate 03/02/2017)
The New Horizons Music program provides “entry points to music making for adults.” It was founded in 1991 at the Eastman School of Music under the guidance of Roy Ernst, a professor emeritus at the school. Since that time, the idea has been adopted throughout the U.S. and Canada and has resulted in a mini-explosion of music-focused organizations. While that first program was just a small band, a few short years later, New Horizons orchestras began to appear. According to The New York Times, the New Horizons International Music Association, which caters primarily to adults over 50 who want to play an instrument in a group setting, currently has 10,000 participants in over 230 bands and orchestras around the country.