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.)
(Opera News May 2017)
Kathryn Lewek’s unusually dark, rich voice flashes through high coloratura as if born to the fach. But early on, singing soprano seemed a distant dream. . . . Lewek sang zwischenfach roles during her studies at the Eastman School of Music. “As a singer, there are things you do for the audience and things you do for yourself,” she says, “and for me, what was fun was luxuriating in that middle voice. People kept saying, ‘Lighten up—I promise your voice has enough color.’ So I finally started taking their advice, and that gap started to fill in.”
American Composers Orchestra Holds 26th Underwood New Music Readings Next Month
(Broadway World 05/12/2017)
This year, six of the nation’s most promising composers in the Early Stages of their professional careers have been selected from over 250 submissions received from around the country. The selected composers – James Diaz, Nick DiBerardino, Martin Kennedy, Hilary Purrington, Alexander Timofeev, and Yucong (Zoe) Wang – represent a broad spectrum of musical backgrounds and sound worlds.
Yucong (Zoe) Wang: Blackbird. Yucong (Zoe) Wang (b. 1993) began studying piano at age six and composition when she was 11. In 2011, she entered the Shanghai Conservatory as the top-ranked student, studying composition with Professor Gang Chen and Professor Huang Lv. In 2013, she entered the Eastman School of Music to pursue a B.M. in composition. Wang’s compositions have been performed at many concerts in Shanghai, at the Eastman School of Music, the George Eastman House, the Strong National Museum, and the University of Oregon. In 2016, she collaborated with the Deviant Septet, and her piece, The Ecstasy of Six Persian Poems, was performed by the septet at the Warren and Patricia Benson Forum on Creativity. . . . She also received the Eastman School‘s Belle Gitleman award in 2016 for her chamber pieces, Five Wright Songs and The Ecstasy of Six Persian Poems.
Empire State Youth Orchestra to honor percussionist
(Albany Times Union 05/11/2017)
No one is sure how many young percussionists Richard Albagli has taken under his wing in his 33 years with the Empire State Youth Orchestra, not even Richard Albagli. He hasn’t kept track. Hundreds, maybe? Thousands? . . . Eventually, Albagli left to earn a degree from the Eastman School of Music — and, back in Troy, began to feel that sense of mission. “I knew — not guessed, but knew — there was something else I was supposed to do.” A few years later he met a student with ESYO: Randy Crafton, now a professional drummer with more than 100 recording credits. Crafton wanted ESYO to form a percussion ensemble, and he wanted Albagli to lead it.
Why you should learn a musical instrument
(Marketwatch 05/04/2017)
There used to be a “widespread belief that if you did not begin learning a musical instrument in your childhood or school years, you had missed your chance,” says Roy Ernst, professor emeritus at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. “The field of music education didn’t offer many opportunities” for adults to learn, he says. Now such attitudes have changed with gusto. “People of any age can learn to play and [gain] a level of satisfaction,” says Ernst, who founded New Horizons, a program that encourages adults to play musical instruments or sing, and to join bands, orchestras or choral groups.
Scholarship program helps young singers reach for stars
(Cincinnati.com 05/08/2017)
This year’s four Choral Scholarship students testify to the quality of excellence and achievement that St. Paul Community United Methodist Church of Madeira’s program encourages. . . . The four graduate students – Arroyo, baritone Eric Heatley, mezzo-soprano Paulina Villarreal and soprano Reilly Nelson – all hail from UC’s College-Conservatory of Music. . . . Nelson was a finalist and award winner at the Lotte Lenya competition last year. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music as well as a Masters from CCM. She is a native of Saulte Ste. Marie, Michigan.
Alexis Cregger of Winchester takes her act below ground
(Wicked Local Winchester 05/10/2017)
In the crush of humanity that is the New York City subway system, there is little time or space for a transcendent moment. It is an overcrowded, dank space, after all, where no one wants to linger. It is an overcrowded, dank space, after all, where no one wants to linger, crammed as it is with busy people who are rushing to get to wherever they need to go, just lifting their eyes from their phone screens long enough to push through the turnstile and dodge between the closing train doors.
Then Alexis Cregger opens her mouth and sings. . . . During her junior year of high school Alexis studied voice at the internationally-known Interlochen Arts Academy, a fine arts boarding school in Michigan. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, graduating in 2000.
Live from Hochstein comes to a close
(WROC TV 8 -5/10/2017)
The “Live from Hochstein” concert series closed Wednesday with concert by the Eastman Cello Ensemble. The free lunchtime event, called New Music for Many Cellos, featured the Eastman Cello Ensemble performing music by Rochester composer, David Liptak, Eastman alumnus Caleb Burhans, and others.
Classical: Raritan River Fest brings on the tango
(Allentown Morning Call 05/12/2017)
Allentown Band Side-by-Side Concert: Joining the band, under the direction of Ronald Demkee, will be cornet and trumpet soloist Lewis Buckley, who also will be guest conductor. . . . Buckley, a native of Columbus, Ohio, earned his undergraduate degree from the Eastman School of Music and his master’s degree from Connecticut College. In 1969, he enlisted into the U.S. Coast Guard Band, and in 1975 became the band’s fifth director, a post he held for more than 29 years, becoming the longest-tenured conductor of a senior military band in American history.
Acclaimed organist Tom Trenney to perform with BYU-Idaho choirs
(Standard Journal 05/09/2017)
Organist Tom Trenney will perform Thursday, May 18, at 7:30 p.m. on the Ruffatti organ in the Barrus Concert Hall at Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg. . . . Since 2009 Trenney has served as minister of music to First Plymouth Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he leads four choirs, plays the organ and preaches. He is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Eastman School of Music.
Last minute Mother’s Day gift guide
(Ponte Vedra Recorder 05/11/2017)
Romanza FestivaleCatch the Romanza Festivale’s last headlining performers, the Lomazov-Rackers Piano Duo, before the festival closes May 14. On Thursday, May 11, the musicians will perform at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine at 7:30 p.m. The prize-winning duo, comprised of Marina Lomazov and Joseph Rackers, both hold a doctor of musical arts degree in piano performance from the Eastman School of Music in addition to serving on the piano faculty of the University of South Caroline School of Music.
Concert to explore Italian baroque cello, organ repertoire
(Irondequoit Post 05/09/2017)
Four Eastman School of Music doctoral students will perform: Cora Swenson-Lee, baroque cello; Oliver Brett, organ; Jacob Fuhrman, organ; and Caroline Robinson, organ. Other performers include master’s student Lucas Button, baroque cello; senior Andrew Laven, baroque cello; and Eastman Immersion student Macintyre Taback, baroque cello.