The Eastman School of Music, of the University of Rochester, is pleased to announce its Faculty Artist Series for the fall 2025 semester. The series provides Eastman’s esteemed, internationally celebrated faculty with a platform to showcase their exceptional artistry in the school’s beautiful performance spaces.
Tickets for Eastman’s Faculty Artist Series are $10 for the general public (unless otherwise noted) and free to University of Rochester ID holders. General Admission tickets will be available for purchase at each concert. Visit EastmanTheatre.org for more information.
Please note that listed repertoire is subject to change.
Thursday, September 4 | Hatch Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Mariano GarcĂa, visiting professor of saxophone
Saturday, September 6 | Kilbourn Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Joe Johnson, cello
Featuring Chiao-Wen Cheng, piano; Yoo Jin Jang, violin; Michael Wayne, clarinet
The program includes Disco Toccata and Adams Variations by Guillaume Connesson; Scherzo and La Plus Que Lente by Debussy; D’un Soir Triste and D’un Matin de printemps by Lily Boulanger; and Quartet for the End of Time by Messiaen.
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Tuesday, September 9 | Kilbourn Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Mark Watters, baritone saxophone: “A Life in Music”
*Free admission as a part of ESL Rochester Fringe Festival
Featuring Tony Award-winner Brian Stokes Mitchell, special guest narrator; Brett Miller, conductor; Neylan Loffredo, soprano
The program includes reflections on Watters’s career in the film and animation industry, along with the world premiere of his Rhapsody for Baritone Saxophone and Chamber Orchestra. Watters invites Tony Award-winner Brian Stokes Mitchell, whose famed baritone voice has also earned him Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, to perform as a special guest narrator during the recital.
Friday, September 12 | Christ Church at 7:30 p.m.
Faculty Artist Series Presents: Nathan Laube, organ
Jointly presented with the Rochester Celebrity Organ Series (RCORS). Tickets to RCORS concerts may be purchased at the door, one hour prior to the performance.
Sunday, September 14 | Kilbourn Hall at 3:30 p.m.
Priscilla Yuen, Irina Lupines, Soojin Kang and Tony Cho, Collaborative Piano: “L’histoires de Животных (The Stories of Animals)”
Featuring guest narrators Sylvie Beaudette, Katherine Ciesinski, and Kathryn Cowdrick
Families are invited to bring their children for an afternoon of “stories from our childhood.” The program features L’Histoire de Babar le petit Ă©lĂ©phant (The Story of Babar the Little Elephant) by Francis Poulenc; Петя и Волк (Peter and the Wolf) by Sergei Prokofiev; and Le carnaval des animaux (The Carnival of the Animals) by Camille Saint-SaĂ«ns.
Sunday, September 14 | Kilbourn Hall at 6:30 p.m.
Justin Benavidez, tuba and Friends
*Free admission as a part of ESL Rochester Fringe Festival
Featuring Priscilla Yuen, piano; Marshall Gilkes, trombone; Michael Burritt, percussion; Andrew McCandless, trumpet; Peter Kurau, horn
On the program: A Very Good Morning by Roland Szentpali; portas by Ricardo Molla; Concerto for Tuba by Jennifer Higdon, Get It! by Gene Koshinski; Adagio from the Limpid Stream by Shostakovich.
Tuesday, September 16 | Kilbourn Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Jazz & Contemporary Media Faculty
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Saturday, September 20 | Kilbourn Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Eastman Virtuosi at Meliora Weekend
Featuring Renée Jolles, violin; Michael Wayne, clarinet; and Chiao-Wen Cheng, piano on Bartók’s Contrasts. In addition, Juliana Athayde, violin; YooJin Jang, violin; Masumi Per Rostad, viola; David Ying, cello; James VanDemark, bass; Andrew McCandless, trumpet; and Chiao-Wen Chiang, piano will present the Saint-Saëns Septet Op. 65.
Sunday, September 21 | Kilbourn Hall at 3:30 p.m.
Ran Dank, piano
On the program is Haydn, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, and Ravel.
Tuesday, September 23 | Kilbourn Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Alexander Kobrin, piano
Part of Eastman’s Shostakovich Celebration, honoring the 50th anniversary of his death.
Featuring YooJin Jang, violin; Masumi Rostad, viola; David Ying, violin
Repertoire includes violin, cello, and viola sonatas by Shostakovich.
Thursday, September 25 | Kilbourn Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Mikhail Kopelman, violin and Friends
Part of Eastman’s Shostakovich Celebration, honoring the 50th anniversary of his death.
Repertoire includes a selection of string quartets by Shostakovich.
Friday, September 26 | Hatch Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Chelsea Whitaker, piano
Featuring Sarah Coit, mezzo-soprano; Stephen Carroll, tenor
The program contains selections of British song, including Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac by Benjamin Britten; songs by Ivor Gurney; and A Young Man’s Exhortation by Gerald Finzi.
Saturday, September 27 | Kilbourn Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Eastman Virtuosi
Part of Eastman’s Shostakovich Celebration, honoring the 50th anniversary of his death.
Featuring Marina Lomazov on solo piano pieces by Shostakovich, as well as Mikhail Kopelman, violin; Renée Jolles, violin; Phillip Ying, viola; David Ying, cello; and Elinor Freer, piano performing the Shostakovich Piano Quintet. Jolles will also be joined by Michael Wayne, clarinet and Irina Lupines, piano to present Galina Ustvolskaya’s austere Trio for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano. Ustvolskaya was Shostakovich’s favorite student, possibly his love interest, with themes from this piece quoted many times in later Shostakovich works, including his String Quartet No. 5.
Monday, September 29 | Hatch Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Nicholas Goluses, guitar
Celebrating the release of his new album Across the Horizon, Goluses will perform solo pieces from it on this recital.
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Tuesday, September 30 | Kilbourn Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Michael Burritt, percussion
Featuring Juliana Athayde, violin; Eastman Percussion Ensemble
This program features a performance of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Joseph Schwantner’s Fast Forward, written for Michael Burritt and commissioned by Eastman for the school’s Centennial Celebration. Also on the program: Hollinden, Tompkins, and Burritt’s own composition for violin and marimba with Eastman faculty member and RPO Concertmaster Juliana Athayde.
JUST ADDED! Thursday, October 9 | Hatch Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Manuel Valera, jazz piano
For the fall 2025 semester, Manuel Valera will teach jazz piano in the studio of Gary Versace (while Versace is on sabbatical). Valera is a Grammy-winning pianist, a 2019 Guggenheim Fellow, and Professor of Jazz Studies at New York University.
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Monday, October 20 | Hatch Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon and Daniel Pesca: “Songbook”
Featuring Leah Brzyski, Zohn Collective, Ania Vu, and John Liberatore
The majority of the Zohn Collective’s membership hold Eastman roots, as faculty and alums, so giving this ensemble visibility aligns with Zohn-Muldoon’s mission to create community by generating projects, ensembles, and events that positively impact the culture. The composers highlighted in this program are all Eastman-connected.
Tuesday, October 21 | Hatch Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Charles Pillow, jazz saxophone
Featuring Sara Gazarek, jazz voice; Marshall Gilkes, trombone; Otis Brown III, drums
The program includes Pillow’s reimagining of “Porgy and Bess” by George Gershwin.
Sunday, November 2 | Hatch Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Mark Kellogg, trombone
Featuring Amy Azzara, jazz voice; Christopher Azzara, piano; Kyle Vock, bass; Eric Schmitz, drums
The Mark Kellogg Quintet will come together to present a mix of jazz standards and original compositions.
Tuesday, November 18 | Hatch Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m.
David Bowlin, violin; Tony Cho, piano
Featuring Rosemary Elliott, cello; Steven Doane, cello
Repertoire includes the Schubert Rondo in B minor D 895, Beethoven’s Kakadu Variations, Kaija Saariaho’s Tocar, and the Fauré piano trio Op. 120.
Media only: Lauren Sageer, Associate Director of Public Relations and 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 comprised of 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.
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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, NY, 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.