Highlighted Eastman Concerts & Events: January/February 2026

Lauren Sageer| Associate Director of PR and Digital Content

January 20, 2026

The Eastman School of Music is proud to highlight some of our early concert offerings of 2026. We invite you to explore the eclectic collection of performances listed below, all occurring in January and February. To learn more and purchase tickets, please call our Box Office at (585) 274-3000 or visit us online at EastmanTheatre.org.

POSTPONED | Kilbourn Concert Series: Seth Parker Woods, Julia Bullock & Conor Hanick
This concert (originally scheduled for 1/25/26) has been postponed due to inclement weather and will be rescheduled for next season. Ticket holders will receive a full refund.

Powerhouse musicians Seth Parker Woods, Julia Bullock ’09E and Conor Hanick unite for an evening that showcases titan composers of lyricism and storytelling from the 20th and 21st centuries. A three-time Grammy nominee, Woods has garnered a reputation for his versatile and inventive musicality, earning him global acclaim and the 2022 Chamber Music America Michael Jaffee Visionary Award. Woods is joined by Bullock, an Eastman alumna and Grammy-winning classical singer and artist, whose commanding operatic voice has conquered every genre from Baroque to contemporary. Hanick, a pianist praised for his precision and articulation of classic and contemporary fare, rounds out the trio. Together, the musicians perform the works of George Walker ’57E (DMA), John Tavener, Ravel, Andre Previn, and Nina Simone, as well as a new commission by Tania Leon.

Eastman Ranlet Series: Ying Quartet
Sunday, February 1 at 3:00 p.m. | Kilbourn Hall

The Ying Quartet performs its second concert of the 2025-2026 academic year. As quartet-in-residence at the Eastman School of Music, the Ying Quartet occupies a position of unique prominence in the classical music world, combining communicative performances with a fearlessly imaginative view of chamber music in today’s world.

Barbara B. Smith World Music Series: Ballake Sisko, kora & Derek Gripper, guitar
Wednesday, February 4 at 7:30 p.m. | Kilbourn Hall

Malian virtuoso Ballaké Sissoko, widely considered to be one of the greatest touring kora players, joins Derek Gripper, South Africa’s leading guitarist, whose love of the kora set him transcribing and recording some of its greatest works—changing the face of classical guitar and giving the instrument its very first African repertoire. In this concert the artists look at the unbroken musical tradition of the griots of Mali—through French occupation and colonization, it still emerged as one of humanity’s most astonishing aural traditions.

Morning Chamber Music
Saturday, February 7 at 11:30 a.m. | Hatch Recital Hall

This will be a special performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, featuring a collaboration between Eastman’s violin faculty—YooJin Jang, Renée Jolles, David Bowlin, and Juliana Athayde—and two student string quartets, Yoji Quartet and Lazuli Quartet.

Winter Voice Festival: “songSLAM Eastman”
Saturday, February 7 at 4:00 p.m. | Sproull Atrium

For the second year in a row, Eastman is partnering with Sparks & Wiry Cries to bring songSLAM to Rochester. This event is a unique opportunity for composer-performer teams to premiere new art songs and compete for cash prizes. Each team presents an original composition of five minutes or less for voice and one other instrument in any language. In the poetry slam tradition, the audience votes on their favorites and prizes are awarded.

Kilbourn Concert Series: Sérgio and Odair Assad
Monday, February 9 at 7:30 p.m. | Kilbourn Hall

Brazilian-born brothers Sérgio and Odair Assad have redefined the classical guitar duo with their virtuosity, ensemble precision, and innovative repertoire. Raised in a musical family and trained by Monina Távora, a disciple of Andrés Segovia, the Latin Grammy and Grammy Award-winning duo has collaborated with artists like Yo-Yo Ma, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, and major orchestras worldwide. Now, after 60 years on the stage, they include Rochester as a stop on their farewell tour.

Kodak Hall Series: Disney-Pixar’s “Up” In Concert
Friday, February 13 at 7:30 p.m. | Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre

The unforgettable animated classic Up returns to the big screen with Michael Giacchino’s Oscar- and Grammy award-winning score performed live to picture! Follow the unlikely duo of a curmudgeonly 78-year-old balloon salesman and his 8-year-old stowaway on this hilarious, heartwarming journey to a lost world filled with danger and surprises. Giacchino’s score will be performed live by the musicians of the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra, led by Emmy-Award winner and Director of the Beal Institute for Film Music and Contemporary Media, Mark Watters.

William Warfield Scholarship Concert (NEW DATE)
Sunday, February 15 at 4:00 p.m. | Kilbourn Hall

The William Warfield Scholarship Fund celebrates the legacy of famed baritone and Rochester native William Warfield. This year’s event, themed “Let Freedom Dream,” will feature current Eastman student Darrin John Nicholson II ’28E, baritone, alongside a stellar lineup of acclaimed performers, including award-winning soprano Kearstin Piper Brown; WWSF President Emeritus, artist, and pianist Thomas Warfield; Grammy®-nominated saxophonist and flutist Jimmie Highsmith Jr.; and others. This year’s concert will also feature the presentation of the 2026 William Warfield Legacy Award to Opera Ebony Co-Founder and pianist Wayne Sanders. There will be a pre-concert chat with Sanders and WXXI in Kilbourn Hall 30 minutes before the start of the performance.

The following events feature students of the Eastman School of Music, exploring the range of our various ensembles. Whether these exceptional musicians are singing cantatas by Bach, performing piano concertos by Brahms, or collaborating with budding composers, we invite you to witness our students at work. These concerts are free and open to the public.

Beal Institute: Visual Music 8.0
Friday, January 23 at 7:30 p.m. | Kilbourn Hall

Students from the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra perform original scores written by students in the Beal Institute for Film Music and Contemporary Media, set to The Mummy (1923) and Disney’s Egyptian Melodies.

Bach Cantata Series
Sunday, February 1 at 3:30 p.m. | Hatch Recital Hall

Works by J.S. Bach: “O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort” and “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott.”

Eastman Wind Ensemble
Wednesday, February 4 at 7:30 p.m. | Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre

Works by Coleridge-Taylor, Lindroth, and Maslanka, featuring guest soprano Lindsey Kesselman as soloist in Christopher Cerrone’s “Darkening, Then Brightening.”

Eastman Philharmonia
Monday, February 9 at 7:30 p.m. | Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre

Works by Johannes Brahms and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

Eastman Jazz Orchestra
Thursday, February 19 at 7:30 p.m. | Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre

Featuring the music of Ed Neumeister, under his direction.

For full event listings, visit Eastman’s online calendar.

Media only: Lauren Sageer, Associate Director of Public Relations & Digital Content,

(585) 451-8492, lsageer@esm.rochester.edu

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About Eastman School of Music:

The Eastman School of Music was founded in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman (1854-1932), founder of Eastman Kodak Company. It was the first professional school of the University of Rochester. Mr. Eastman’s dream was that his school would provide a broad education in the liberal arts as well as superb musical training.

More than 900 students are enrolled in the Collegiate Division of the Eastman School of Music—about 500 undergraduates and 400 graduate students. They come from almost every state, and approximately 23 percent are from other countries. They are taught by a faculty comprising more than 170 highly regarded performers, composers, conductors, scholars and educators. They are Pulitzer Prize winners, GRAMMY winners, Emmy winners, Guggenheim fellows, ASCAP Award recipients, published authors, recording artists and acclaimed musicians who have performed in the world’s greatest concert halls. Each year, Eastman’s students, faculty members and guest artists present more than 900 concerts to the Rochester community. Additionally, more than 1,700 members of the Rochester community, from young children through senior citizens, are enrolled in the Eastman Community Music School.

About the University of Rochester:

The University of Rochester is one of the nation’s leading private research universities, one of only 62-member institutions in the Association of American Universities. Located in Rochester, N.Y., the University gives undergraduates exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty through its unique cluster-based curriculum. Its College, School of Arts and Sciences, and Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are complemented by the Eastman School of Music, Simon School of Business, Warner School of Education, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, School of Nursing, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, and the Memorial Art Gallery.