Composer, arranger, and Eastman’s new Beal Institute director Mark Watters By Dan Gross Mark Watters is joining Eastman to lead the new Beal Institute for Film Music and Contemporary Media. Watters is a six-time Emmy Award winning composer, conductor and arranger. Mark served as the music director of the Centennial Olympics in 1996, and the…
By Dan Gross Long time friends, Eastman School colleagues, and frequent collaborators Bonita Boyd (Professor of Flute), Barry Synder (Professor of Piano), and Steven Doane (Professor of Cello) perform an unusual program of trios tonight at 8 p.m. in Hatch Recital Hall/ Tickets are $10 (free for Eastman/University of Rochester ID holders), available at the…
Composer-pianist Billy Childs (left) and the members of the Ying Quartet: Janet Ying, Phillip Ying, Robin Scott, and David Ying David Ying, who is Eastman’s Associate Professor of String Chamber Music, and Associate Professor of Violoncello, and also the cellist for the award-winning Ying Quartet. He recently spoke to Dan Gross about the beginnings of…
Brad Lubman conducting Musica Nova in Steve Reich’s Double Sextet, March 2016 Earlier this week, Dan Gross chatted with the four conductors on tonight’s Musica Nova concert at 8 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall. Associate Professor of Conducting Brad Lubman is the director, and will conduct Dry by Michael Gordon. Three students conduct the other pieces;…
Photographs throughout the post show the puppets used in Don’t Blame Anyone. By Dan Gross Don’t Blame Anyone is the first opera by Eastman faculty members to premiere at Kodak Hall in 60 years. This piece combines music, puppetry, dance, and theatre into a two-act opera, and is a collaboration of performers from the United…
Arranger and bandleader Boyd Raeburn in the 1940s, photographed by William Gottlieb By Dan Gross Eastman Chamber Jazz, led by Jeff Campbell, will be playing the music of Boyd Raeburn tonight, November 8, at 8 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall. The Raeburn Band did not have much commercial success, but it played some very interesting music.…
Bassist and Eastman alumnus Ike Sturm: “Eastman was such a rich place for me.” By Dan Gross Eastman alumnus Ike Sturm is a bassist, composer and bandleader in New York City. He also is the Music Director for the Jazz Ministry at Saint Peter’s Church (the “Jazz Church”). He has performed with Alarm Will Sound,…
Brad Lubman conducting Musica Nova in 2015. Photograph by Kurt Brownell By Dan Gross Tonight at 8 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall, Eastman Musica Nova gives its first concert of the fall semester. A highlight of the program (described in detail below) will be performances of music by Frank Zappa — “Dog Breath Variations/Uncle Meat,” “Outrage…
By Dan Gross Don’t Blame Anyone is the first opera by Eastman faculty members to premiere at Kodak Hall in 60 years. This piece combines music, puppetry, dance, and theatre into a two-act opera, and is a collaboration of performers from the United States and Mexico. (It will also be performed at Teatro Diana in…
By Dan Gross Tonight, September 22, at 7 p.m., in Eastman’s Kilbourn Hall, the Rochester Fringe Festival presents Scarred by the Somme, the latest production of Table Top Opera, inspired by the centennial of World War I and the music of Claude Debussy. Dan interviewed Eastman Professor of Music Theory Matthew Brown, one of the…