Challenges Surmounted

Howard Hanson’s Merry Mount is a challenging opera to bring off, but the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra did just that last week (April 10 and 12) in its concert version, with help from Eastman forces including the Eastman Rochester Chorus, Eastman Chorale, and several soloists chosen from recent graduates and current students. Conductor Michael Christie of…

Musical Links to the Community

This Sunday Eastman presents a recital by this year’s winner of the annual scholarship awarded by the Rochester, New York Chapter, The Links, Incorporated. The Links Scholarship celebrates the talents and achievements of an African-American scholar musician. This year’s recipient is sophomore Carmen Livada Johnson-Pajaro (pictured), an Alabama native and a violin student of Ayano…

A Lotte Great Performances

Lotte Lenya (1898-1981) sang in a voice once described as “an octave below laryngitis”, but she was one of the great musical theatre performers of the 20th century and one of the supreme interpreters of the songs of her husband, composer Kurt Weill (1900-1950). Weill and Lenya are shown in the photograph above; the photograph…