Rochester, NY – The recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, and an array of other major awards and honors, George Perle is a powerful influence among American composers of our time. “He’s an American original,” says David Headlam, Professor of Music Theory at the Eastman School of Music. “Perle developed a completely…
Rochester, NY — Many of the 20th century’s greatest pianists appeared in recital in the Eastman Theatre, including Rachmaninoff, Horowitz and Serkin. With the Theatre’s magnificent new concert shell and vastly improved acoustics, it was time for the Eastman School of Music to renew this great tradition with three contemporary keyboard superstars. Emanuel Ax opens…
Rochester, NY — Voice and opera students at the Eastman School of Music will vie for awards and accolades at the fifth annual Friends of Eastman Opera Voice Competition on Saturday, November 19 in Kilbourn Hall. Eighteen students have already made it into the first round by being nominated by an Eastman voice teacher. Each…
Rochester, NY — The Eastman School of Music kicks off its popular World Music Series on Tuesday, November 15 with a highly regarded tour from the National Council for Traditional Arts. Masters of the Caribbean explores the varied and exciting musical traditions of the Caribbean by presenting three artists: The Mighty Sparrow (Trinidadian calypso), Ecos…
TOKYO — In his wildest dreams, Mozart probably never would have imagined young Japanese students singing arias in Italian from his opera Don Giovanni. But on October 7 — under the guidance of their American music director, Todd Lowery — 32 fourth-grade students from the English immersion school, the Gunma Kokusai Academy (GKA), were featured…
Rochester, NY — Eastman Opera Theatre kicks off its 2005-2006 season with a production of Claudia Legare, an adventurous opera composed by Eastman alumnus, Robert Ward. Ward, who garnered a Pulitzer Prize in 1962 for his opera The Crucible, is excited to see Eastman School of Music’s acclaimed opera program produce Claudia Legare . The…
The Eastman School was saddened to learn of the recent death of Warren Benson, Professor Emeritus of Composition, at the age of 81. Born in 1924, and a professional performer by the age of 14, Warren Benson played timpani in the Detroit Symphony orchestra under Ormandy, Reiner, Goossens, Bernstein, and others while an undergraduate at…
Rochester, NY – Martin E. Messinger may not have been a stellar student when he took piano lessons at the Eastman Preparatory Department in the early 1940’s, but that hasn’t stopped him from ensuring the school’s continued success. On October 22, 2005, 10 Gibbs Street will be renamed Messinger Hall in honor of the Rochester…
Rochester, NY — On Friday, September 23, 2005, more than 400 people filled the Eastman School of Music’s Kilbourn Hall to attend the School’s annual Jazz Showcase. This year, however, the students in the concert’s ten ensembles decided to turn the free event into a benefit for a specific group of Hurricane Katrina victims: jazz…