Eastman School of Music presents 2022 Women in Music Festival: Eastman Centennial Edition

As part of the Eastman School of Music’s Centennial celebration, and in observance of Women’s History Month, the school is bringing back the Women in Music Festival March 21-25, 2022.

This year’s weeklong festival includes noontime and evening concerts, a daylong symposium devoted to Florence B. Price (the first African American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer), panel discussions, and lectures. The 2022 festival also celebrates the contributions of women in brass and in jazz and of Mexican composer Georgina Derbez, and welcomes back alumni Nicole Keller, organist, and Leonard Hayes, pianist.

First held in 2005, Eastman’s Women in Music Festival is a celebration of women involved in all aspects of music, including composition, performance, teaching, scholarship, and administration. “Our goal is to create a positive and inspiring event that focuses on the accomplishments of women in the entire field of music,” said festival founder and director Sylvie Beaudette ‘93E (DMA), assistant professor of chamber music and accompanying. “With this Centennial Edition of the festival, we are hoping to reinstate a tradition that empowers women musicians and inspires everyone who attends the various events.”

Festival Highlights:

 Monday, March 21, 2022

• 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Noontime Concert: Lowry Hall, Eastman School of Music
• 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Virtual Panel Discussion: “Women in Jazz.” Eastman 305, Eastman School of Music
• 7:30 p.m. – Kilbourn Concert Series: Lorelei Ensemble. Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

• 12:10 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Noontime Concert: “Tuesday Pipes”, featuring organist Nicole Keller in an all-Florence Price program. Christ Church Cathedral, 141 East Avenue, Rochester, NY
• 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Virtual Panel Discussion: “Women in Brass”, OSL 101, Eastman School of Music
• 7:30 p.m. Horn Choir Concert: premieres of Pamela Marshall’s ‘76E Out of the Depths, and Jennifer Bellor’s ‘13E (PhD) Ballad of a Wanderer. Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music

 Wednesday, March 23

• 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Noontime Concert: Lowry Hall, Eastman School of Music
• 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. “Negotiations for Women” with Rachel Roberts ‘03E, Director of Institute for Music Leadership, ESM 305, Eastman School of Music
• 7:30 p.m. Eastman Wind Ensemble and Eastman Wind Orchestra: All-women composers program. Music by Erica Muhl, Shuying Li, Nancy Galbraith, Diana Rosenblum, Alex Shapiro, and Augusta Read Thomas. Kodak Hall at Eastman Theater, Eastman School of Music

Thursday, March 24

• 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Eastman@WashingtonSquare: noontime concert featuring art songs by women composers. First Universalist Church, 150 S. Clinton Avenue, Rochester, NY
• 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Composers Forum: virtual presentation by compoer Georgina Derbez. MSH 304, Eastman School of Music
• 7:30 p.m. Special “Fourth Thursday” concert: Anne Laver, organist; including the premiere of Nathalie Draper’s Pattern Dances for Meantone Organ and dancers. Memorial Art Gallery (MAG), 500 University Avenue, Rochester, NY

Friday, March 25

• 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Florence B. Price Symposium, Humanities Corridor Project: lectures, documentary viewing, lecture recital. All day in Hatch Recital Hall, Eastman School of Music
• 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Noontime Concert: Lowry Hall, Eastman School of Music
• 7:30 p.m. Florence B. Price Legacy Concert: Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music

 

Visit the Festival Website here for a full schedule and overview of events. All the events are FREE and open to the public.

 

Florence B. Price: 

American classical composer, pianist, organist and music teacher Florence Beatrice Price (1887 – 1953) is the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer, and the first to have a composition played by a major orchestra, when the Chicago Symphony performed her First Symphony at the 1933 World’s Fair. Price composed four symphonies, four concertos, and choral works, as well as art songs and music for chamber and solo instruments. Many of these compositions have been recently rediscovered, and frequently played and recorded, and she is being re-evaluated as a distinctive voice in American music.

The three-semester-long Eastman Centennial celebration began in Fall 2021 and continues throughout 2022. Highlights include acclaimed guest artists performing alongside Eastman’s ensembles; national academic and music conferences; alumni events throughout the country; “100 concerts to celebrate 100 years”; a documentary being produced in partnership with WXXI, and more.

For up-to-date information on the Eastman Centennial, including feature stories, future events, videos, testimonials, ways to engage, and more, please visit our Centennial website at https://www.esm.rochester.edu/100.

 

Media Only: Katey Padden, Public Relations and Social Media Coordinator, (585)451-8492, kpadden@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 comprised of more than 130 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.