What do a church organist and jazz pianist Dave Brubeck have in common? They both improvise at the keyboard. In fact, according to David Higgs of the Eastman School of Music, the organ is the only instrument that has maintained improvisation throughout centuries of music history. “Much of the music that we think of today…
Assassins, Stephen Sondheim’s provocative and disturbing take on the American Dream, will be presented by Eastman Opera Theatre November 3 through 6 in Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music. In depicting the thoughts of nine individuals who killed or tried to kill U.S. Presidents, the musical contrasts the assassins’ claims of righting wrongs…
John Marcellus, professor of trombone at the Eastman School of Music, was named winner of the 2011 ITA Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2011 Neill Humfeld Award by the International Trombone Association. The first recognizes distinguished contributions to the trombone profession and the latter recognizes outstanding trombone teaching. The ITA previously recognized Marcellus in 1999…
The Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet will present the opening concert of the 2011-2012 Eastman-Ranlet Series on Sunday, Oct. 16, at 3 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music. The ensemble’s program will include Debussy’s String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10, Janacek’s String Quartet No. 2 “Intimate Letters,” and Brahm’s String Quartet…
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gunther Schuller, the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation grant and a transformative figure in 20th century music, will be in Rochester this month for the publication of his memoirs. His visit will include an interview, free and open to the public, with Eastman School of Music Dean Douglas Lowry about his life…
As part of a two-year-old cultural exchange and collaboration between the Eastman School of Music and conservatories in China, the Beijing Chamber Ensemble will present a free recital at 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 17, in the School’s Hatch Recital Hall. The Beijing Chamber Ensemble is composed of five faculty members from the School of Arts…
Live radio broadcasts, commercial recordings, evolving orchestras and chamber ensembles – all are a part of the Eastman School of Music’s history and will be subjects of exhibits throughout the School’s 90th anniversary year. Curated by David Peter Coppen, special collections librarian and archivist in the School’s Sibley Music Library, the exhibits feature photographs, concert…
For the fifth time in four years, Eastman BroadBand will perform at an international arts and cultural festival in Mexico as the ensemble makes a return engagement to Chihuahua next month. The contemporary chamber ensemble from the Eastman School of Music has been invited back to the Chihuahua International Festival, where the group was the…
“Eastman at St. Michael’s,” a series of monthly recitals presented in historic St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church by vocal and instrumental performance majors from the Eastman School of Music, returns for a new season beginning Sunday, Sept. 25. The first fall concert will feature Voices, Rochester’s professional choral chamber ensemble, conducted by founder William Weinert,…