As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, the Eastman School of Music joins a nationwide celebration with Eastman Explores America, a series of concerts showcasing the diverse talents of Eastman students, faculty, and special guests. Spanning a wide range of musical ensembles, traditions, styles, and perspectives, the series reflects the richness and complexity of American music while highlighting the many ways Eastman artists continue to shape its story.

Please note that all Faculty Artist Series concerts are $10 for the general public and free to University of Rochester ID holders. General Admission tickets will be available for purchase at each concert.

Horn Choir: 9/11 25th Anniversary Remembrance Concert
September 11, 2026 | 11:30 a.m. | Kilbourn Hall

Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks of 2001, Eastman turned once again to music and community to remember, reflect, and honor those affected by the tragedy. At the center of the September 11 remembrance concert was the Eastman Horn Choir, under the direction of Professor of Horn Peter Kurau ’74E and joined by Eastman alumni now serving in the U.S. Army, including Colonel Ted Price ’97E and Army Field Band members Master Sergeant J.G. Miller ’06E and Staff Sergeant Morgan Chalmers ’25E.

For more information about this concert, read our recent article.

REICH AT 90

Rochester Fringe Festival: Musica Nova and Eastman Percussion Ensemble
September 18, 2026 | 7:30 p.m. | Kilbourn Hall

As composer Steve Reich approaches his 90th birthday on October 3, Musica Nova and the Eastman Percussion Ensemble will join forces for a program celebrating the rhythmic vitality and distinctive sound world of one of contemporary music’s most significant voices. The concert features three of Reich’s works: Mallet Quartet, performed with the Eastman Percussion Ensemble; Radio Rewrite; and Double Sextet, which won Reich the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2009.

For Professor of Conducting & Ensembles and Director of Musica Nova Brad Lubman, the occasion is an opportunity to celebrate a composer whose impact extends well beyond the contemporary classical music world. Lubman calls Reich, who was awarded an honorary doctorate from Eastman in 2016, “one of the most important, influential, and celebrated composers of our time.”

Eastman Presents: Mivos Quartet
September 20, 2026 | 3:00 p.m. | Kilbourn Hall

Continuing the Reich celebration, Eastman Presents welcomes the Mivos Quartet to Kilbourn Hall for a Sunday afternoon performance. Led by violinist and Eastman alumna Olivia de Prato ’05E, the quartet will perform Reich’s three string quartets. The repertoire includes Different Trains, Reich’s reflection on his childhood and World War II that incorporates prerecorded train sounds; WTC 9/11, an emotionally charged response to the terrorist attacks of 25 years ago; and Triple Quartet, originally commissioned by the Kronos Quartet. Purchase tickets.

Faculty Artist Series: Jazz Faculty
September 22, 2026 | 7:30 p.m. | Kilbourn Hall

A rare opportunity to hear Eastman’s jazz faculty together on a single stage! “These musicians frequently lead their own ensembles and have countless recording credits to their names, making this concert a unique opportunity to hear them come together as a collective,” says Chair of the Jazz Department Marshall Gilkes.

The program will feature a mix of original compositions and jazz standards, offering a lens through which to consider America’s history. “As an American art form, jazz is a particularly fitting way to reflect on the past 250 years of American history and culture,” Gilkes says. “Jazz was born out of many aspects of American history—both good and bad—and reflects the diverse cultural traditions, experiences, struggles, and creativity that have shaped the country.”

Joining Gilkes will be jazz faculty members Jeff Campbell ’92E (MM), ’02E (DMA), bass; Sara Gazarek, voice; Bob Sneider ’93, guitar; Christine Jensen, saxophone; Clay Jenkins, trumpet; Gary Versace ’93E (MM), piano; Otis Brown III, drums; and Dariusz Terefenko ’98E (MM), ’03E (MA), ’04E (PhD), piano.

JAZZ LEGACY: Members of the jazz faculty, including Sara Gazarek, Christine Jensen, and Jeff Campbell, played during Eastman’s convocation in 2025. Photo Credit: Lauren Sageer.

Faculty Artist Series: Brock Tjosvold with Kyrsten Chambers Jones and Ryan Hardcastle
September 29, 2026 | 7:30 p.m. | Hatch Recital Hall

Assistant Professor of Vocal Coaching Brock Tjosvold ’22E (DMA) is joined by mezzo-soprano Kyrsten Chambers Jones and violist Ryan Hardcastle for a recital titled Across Time and Space.

“It’s a meditation on how music and storytelling unite us regardless of our diverse backgrounds,” says Tjosvold. “It includes poetry by Owen Dodson, a gay, black poet of the Harlem Renaissance; works by Americans in a variety of languages; and music of Eastman composition faculty Elizabeth Ogonek. It also features the music of immigrants, including Charles Loeffler and one of Eastman’s first organ professors, Abel Decaux.”

Faculty Artist Series: Clay Jenkins
October 19, 2026 | 7:30 p.m. | Hatch Recital Hall

Professor of Jazz Studies & Contemporary Media Clay Jenkins will perform some of his original compositions alongside music by the likes of Thad Jones, Kurt Weill, Duke Ellington, Ornette Coleman, Thelonius Monk, Tadd Dameron, Lee Morgan, and fellow jazz faculty member Jeff Campbell.

Faculty Artist Series: Mark Kellogg
November 1, 2026 | 7:30 p.m. | Hatch Recital Hall

Professor of Trombone Mark Kellogg ’86E is joined by Associate Professor of Collaborative Piano Priscilla Yuen ’11E (MM), Professor of Music Teaching & Learning Christopher Azzara ’88E (MM), ’92E (PhD), and others performing the music of César Franck, Charles Ives, Kellogg, and the Great American Songbook.

“My recital program is a celebration of all-American repertoire,” says Kellogg. “From the music of William Billings, one of our country’s first prominent composers, to music composed in the last year. In programming two of my own works, I have attempted to represent the notion of performer becoming composer. In a certain way, one could say that my small contribution to the concert repertoire is meant to celebrate the ingenuity and creativity of the American spirit.”

Faculty Artist Series: Michael Burritt
November 10, 2026 | 7:30 p.m. | Kilbourn Hall

Professor of Percussion Michael Burritt brings his newly formed Burritt Percussion Group to Kilbourn Hall to perform original works by several of his Eastman students.

PERCUSSION MASTER: Michael Burritt led the Eastman Percussion Ensemble in a performance at the International Percussion Education Association Festival in Shanghai in 2023.

Faculty Artist Series: Phillip Ying
December 6, 2026 | 3:30 p.m. | Hatch Recital Hall

Associate Professor of String Chamber Music Phillip Ying ’91E, ’92E (MM), violist of Eastman’s Quartet-in-Residence, the Ying Quartet, invites his colleague Associate Professor of Piano Ran Dank to present British B’s, a series of sonatas by composers York Bowen, Arnold Bax, and Sir Arthur Bliss.

Eastman Philharmonia
December 14, 2026 | 7:30 p.m. | Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre

Led by conductor Brad Lubman, the Eastman Philharmonia will perform French-American composer Edgard Varèse’s Amériques, the first work Varèse composed on his arrival in the United States, which Lubman calls “extremely exhilarating.” Also on the program is Minds in Flux by George Lewis, who serves as Eastman’s Howard Hanson Visiting Composer throughout the 2026-27 academic year.

“When one considers this concert, and indeed all the concerts this year, one is immediately aware of the wealth of fascinating works of art, in this case the music of our own time,” Lubman says. “We should all be more aware of how absolutely necessary culture and the arts are for our very existence to thrive.”

RPO: Jeff Beal Scores “Metropolis“
March 5, 2027 | 7:00 p.m. | Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre

A century after its 1927 release, Fritz Lang’s silent-film masterpiece Metropolis returns to the big screen at Eastman with an entirely new musical voice. American conductor and composer Jeff Beal ’85E will lead the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and members of Eastman Philharmonia in a special live-to-picture performance featuring the premiere of his original score.

“I’m really thrilled to be bringing my new score to Metropolis to Kodak Hall,” Beal says. “The film is a piece of cinematic history. Classic films like this from the silent era became the templates for all sci-fi and suspense that followed.”

Yet for Beal, the film’s enduring power goes beyond its place in cinematic history. Its story of industrialization and the tension between humans and machines feels remarkably timely in an era of rapidly evolving technology. That contemporary relevance is central to Beal’s approach to scoring classic films. “Part of what I love about doing new scores for older films is it can take them out of their time period,” he says. “I don’t think of them as museum pieces, but as living, breathing pieces of art.” A new score, he believes, can help audiences experience an older film through the musical and cinematic language of today. Purchase tickets.

LIVE-TO-PICTURE: Composer Jeff Beal conducted the Eastman Philharmonia during a live-to-picture performance of ‘The Red Violin’ during the 2025 Soundtrax Film Music Festival. Photo Credit: John Schlia.

From remembrance and jazz to contemporary composition, classical repertoire, and the reinvention of a century-old film, Eastman Explores America offers many ways to consider the country’s musical past, present, and future. Together, these performances demonstrate that American music is not a single tradition, but an evolving story shaped by countless voices, influences, experiences, and acts of creativity. As Eastman joins the nation in marking 250 years, its stages provide a place to listen to that story—and to hear where it might go next. We hope to see you there.

To learn more about these events, and others taking place at Eastman this year, visit our online events calendar.