American Anthem: Philharmonia’s “Star-Spangled Banner” for the 21st Century

Austin Chanu rehearsing Banner with the Philharmonia strings in Kodak Hall. Photograph by Maurice Cohn.   By David Raymond On Monday, October 19, in a livestreamed concert, the strings of the Eastman Philharmonia will perform Banner, a 2014 work by the contemporary American composer Jessie Montgomery. Master’s conducting student Austin Chanu will conduct this work,…

“Creating a Community Conversation”: Virtual Visionaries Brings Musicians Together Online

By David Raymond How do musicians and other creative and performing artists – members of a tight-knit community – function in their careers when that community is fractured? What are the performing possibilities when public performances are canceled? These scenarios became reality overnight with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The resulting closure of schools…

Image of Summer@Eastman Director Sylvie Beaudette and her French Lyric Diction students

Summer at Eastman 2020: An Excellent Online Adventure

Summer@Eastman Director Sylvie Beaudette (top, center) and her French Lyric Diction students [Kayleigh DeBrine, Emma Ginzel, Daniela Monzon, Francis Mok, Molly Petrik; Mimi Law is not pictured]. Photo courtesy of Sylvie Beaudette.   by Andrea Schuler, Summer@Eastman Program Coordinator Nothing about Summer@Eastman 2020 happened the way we expected. We had already spent most of the…

Eastman’s Summers-Only Master’s Degree in Music Education Offers “The Whole Package”

Pictured with this story are members of Eastman’s Music Teaching and Learning Faculty during Summer 2019: top: Alden Snell; center, Mara Culp; bottom, Chris Azzara. Photographs by Michelle Martorell.   Alden Snell is the advisor for summers-only master’s students at Eastman. He recently asked two recent graduates of the summers only program to reflect on…

A Unique Musical Identity: Eastman’s Prizewinning Sequoia Reed Quintet

  The Sequoia Reed Quintet, left to right: oboist Gwen Goodman, saxophonist Trevor Chu, bassoonist Harrison Short, bass clarinetist Lucas Slavin, and clarinetist Michael Miller. Photograph by Max Zheng.   Eastman’s Sequoia Reed Quintet (oboist Gwen Goodman, clarinetist Michael Miller, saxophonist Trevor Chu, bass clarinetist Lucas Slavin, and bassoonist Harrison Short, all ’22E) was recently…