The Eastman School of Music’s composition faculty—which recently welcomed four new composers in the five-member department—will be showcased in a Faculty Artist Series concert on Monday, September 16 at 7:30 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall. Composers Elizabeth Ogonek and Evis Sammoutis are new to the Eastman faculty this year; Daniel Pesca and Mikel Kuehn joined the faculty last year. Professor of Composition Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon is the venerable department chair, who is now in his 22nd year at Eastman.
[Pictured above: Top row left to right: Mikel Kuehn, Evis Sammoutis, Daniel Pesca. Bottom row left to right: Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon and Elizabeth Ogonek.]
Zohn-Muldoon says that it is the first full composition faculty recital in nearly two decades. “It felt like a really good time to have a look at the department and see what people are interested in,” he says. “We’re very excited about it.”
Elizabeth Ogonek comes to Eastman after serving on the faculty at Cornell University. Her orchestral works have garnered praise: she served as the composer-in-residence for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 2015–18. Additionally, her works have been premiered by top orchestras in major cities (Boston, London, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, among others).
“I’m so unbelievably excited to join Eastman’s esteemed composition department,” she says. “For me, it really is the opportunity of a lifetime to work alongside such wonderful colleagues and to mentor the next generation of composers.”
Evis Sammoutis brings several international and European connections to his post at Eastman. Those include contemporary ensembles like Ensemble Modern and the Arditti Quartet. With an emphasis on timbre and harmony, new technologies, and sounds inspired by his native country of Cyprus, his music has been performed in more than 45 countries and at contemporary music festivals and series across the globe.
“I am particularly excited to start my tenure with the upcoming composition department showcase concert,” he says. “I cannot think of a better way to celebrate than sharing the stage with my four exceptional colleagues.”
Both Daniel Pesca and Mikel Kuehn are Eastman alumni: Pesca earned an undergraduate degree on piano in 2005 and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition in 2016; Kuehn attended in the ‘90s, earning a master’s degree in ’93 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in composition in ’95. Pesca brings an active performance background as a composer-pianist—in fact, his previous teaching post was as an assistant professor of piano at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. And Kuehn brings a significant background in electroacoustic composition and pedagogy and serves as the director of the rebranded Electroacoustic Music Studios @ Eastman (formerly the Eastman Audio Research Studio, read more here.)
Although hiring Eastman alumni was not by design, Zohn-Muldoon says that Pesca and Kuehn are “very steeped in the culture of the school,” and offer the department some continuity to build on its legacy. And, he says, Ogonek and Sammoutis round out the department with their connections to other types of American and European compositional traditions.
Of Ogonek’s and Sammoutis’s appointments this fall, Kuehn says, “Aside from their stellar accomplishments as composers and pedagogues, they are warmhearted, sincere, and caring. I know that they are the right people to keep the traditions of Eastman’s distinguished composition program and usher it into a new era.”
Zohn-Muldoon believes the new composers bring a panorama of musical views and sounds to Eastman. “At the core, we have a lot of agreements aesthetically and pedagogically, but in terms of our individual work, we all look to different horizons. And I think that is one thing we were really trying to come up with in the faculty searches, sharing certain values so that we continue with this very congenial department but at the same time have a broad aesthetic perspective.”
The works on the faculty showcase highlight this gamut of inspiration and sounds. Ogonek presents a high-energy work for piano, violin, clarinet, and percussion that is inspired by a set of poems written by Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney. Sammoutis will have three works performed, all for guitar/s, many which draw upon Greek themes or concepts, incorporate extended techniques, and experiment with new ways to combine instruments. Pesca finds interest in the playfulness of cats for his solo piano work (which he performs), and in the flowing waters of a river in his duet for cello and piano. Kuehn presents a work for flute and piano inspired by the mythological Chimera, a monster that is a mashup between a lion, goat, and snake. And Zohn-Muldoon presents a homage to Rochester, his home for over two decades, and the sounds of his native country of Mexico in settings of sonnets by Shakespeare and poems by writer Raúl Aceves that embrace “the remembrance of love.”
Although the concert features the composition faculty, it will also bring together many areas of the school, from performance faculty to students, alumni, and guests. Two relatively new names to Eastman’s performance faculty perform: soprano Kiera Duffy, an associate professor of voice who only joined the faculty last year (she also sat on the hiring committees that brought Ogonek and Sammoutis to Eastman), and Joseph Johnson, an associate professor of cello who just joined the faculty this fall.
Additionally, seven alumni return to Eastman to bring the concert to life: guitarist Dieter Hennings ’05E (MM), ’15E (DMA), pianist Thomas Rosenkranz ’01E (MM), ’06E (DMA), guitarist Sungmin Shin ’11E (MM), ’18E (DMA), percussionist Connor Stevens ’15E (MM), ’21E (DMA), guitarist Tom Torrisi ’18E (DMA), flutist André J. Washington ’10E, and violinist Jiaqi Yu ’23E (MM).
Pesca says the concert will be a joyous celebration of the new makeup of the composition faculty. “This is a wonderful and unique opportunity for attendees to become acquainted with all of our unique voices, in performances by outstanding faculty, students, alumni, and guest artists.”