The Eastman School of Music’s annual Faculty Artist Series, supported by Patricia Ward-Baker, starts in September and features performances of every kind, from violin to tuba to jazz piano. The recitals give local music lovers the chance to hear the talented artists perform on their home turf during their busy schedules of frequent appearances across the world.
The 2014-2015 performances will be held in the School’s acoustically superb Hatch Recital and Kilbourn halls, where the variety of dates and times will make it possible to find recitals that fit into everyone’s schedule.
Tickets to Eastman Faculty Artist Series recitals are available at the door one hour before the performance and are $10 for the general public; UR ID holders are admitted for free.
The series opens with seven straight faculty recitals in as many nights and begins Wednesday, Sept. 3, in Hatch Recital Hall at 8 p.m. with a recital by Nicholas Goluses, Eastman’s professor of guitar since 1993. Goluses has performed with orchestras and chamber ensembles and as a soloist across North and South America, Europe, Australia and the Far East, and has given recitals at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He has recorded for NAXOS, Albany and BMG, and has received wide critical and audience acclaim for his solo CDs of Sonatas of Johann Sebastian Bach and late solo guitar works of Fernando Sor. Goluses will take the stage playing works by Giulani, Ponce, Bracali, and Houghton.
During “Fantasia and Fantasies at the Keyboards,” which will occur Thursday, Sept. 4, at 8 p.m. in Hatch Recital Hall, Edoardo Bellotti will perform works by Froberger, Pachelbel, Duphly, Platti, J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, Mozart, and Haydn. The associate professor of organ, harpsichord, and improvisation is currently working on a project of new organ music and visual art in Milan, and has often traveled to play with orchestras in Italy and abroad. A leading expert in the performance of renaissance and baroque keyboard music, Bellotti has made several critically acclaimed recordings on historical instruments, including Promenade (Loft Recordings), recorded on the Eastman’s Italian baroque organ at the Memorial Art Gallery.
The Eastman Jazz Faculty Showcase on Friday, Sept. 5, at 8 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall features Jeff Campbell on bass, Clay Jenkins on trumpet, Mark Kellogg on trombone, Charles Pillow on saxophone, Rich Thompson on drums, and Harold Danko, Bill Dobbins, Dariusz Terefenko, Christopher Azzara, and Tony Caramia on piano, offering a wide-ranging and exciting night for jazz fans.
On Saturday, Sept. 6, the spotlight shines Eastman Virtuosi. A chamber ensemble composed of Eastman School of Music faculty members and outstanding student performers, the Virtuosi has performed three world premieres since its formation in 1994 by Bonita Boyd, John Hunt, and Nicholas Goluses. Each concert is programmed, produced, and performed by different faculty members. Playing at 8 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall, Eastman Virtuosi will again display the depth and breadth of Eastman’s instrumental and vocal artistry.
Composer David Liptak has put together a program of works by fellow Eastman faculty composers on Sunday, Sept. 7, in Kilbourn Hall at 3 p.m. Pieces by Liptak have been performed by orchestras nationally and internationally, and have been described as “luminous and arresting” and “richly atmospheric.” He will be joined by soprano Tony Arnold, an internationally acclaimed interpreter of contemporary repertoire and the first performer ever invited to be the Howard Hanson Distinguished Professor of Composition at Eastman, and pianist Alison d’Amato, assistant professor of vocal coaching. The concert will premiere Liptak’s Dove Songs (for voice and piano).
On Monday, Sept. 8, associate professor of tuba Don Harry will perform the music of Reynolds, Scheidt, and J.S. Bach in Hatch Recital Hall at 8 p.m. Harry became the tubaist of the Oklahoma City Symphony in 1972 and joined the Buffalo Philharmonic as principal tuba in 1973. He has worked with groups and orchestras internationally, including New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, and Toronto Symphony. He has also taught at the Julliard School of Music, Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory, and at the Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina.
Professor of percussion and chair of the woodwinds, brass, and percussion department Michael Burritt will be featured the following day, Tuesday, Sept. 9, during a recital at 8 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall. Burritt is internationally renowned both as a percussion soloist and a composer. He has played with more than 10 orchestras across the world and is in frequent demand to tour in numerous countries. Additionally, he has two concertos, numerous solo and chamber works, and two books of etudes under his belt. Burritt will be performing his own compositions and music by percussionist Ivan Trevino, member of the cello rock group Break of Reality, and will be joined by guest artists John Beck, professor emeritus of percussion, and William Cahn, a member of the percussion group NEXUS.
Alison d’Amato returns to the Kilbourn Hall stage for her own recital Monday, Sept. 15, at 8 p.m. with a program titled “Stories in Song, Narration, and Animation: Music by Poulenc, Britten, and Larsen.” The multi-faceted performance includes narrator Stephen Carr; tenor Robert Swenson; and baritone Aaron Engebreth. D’Amato is in demand for her skill as a musician and as an instructor; she has appeared in venues all over the continent and has been a guest teacher and performer at prestigious institutions like Tufts University, Boston Conservatory, and the Royal Conservatory of Music. She was also awarded the Grace B. Jackson Prize from Tanglewood Music Center in 2002.
Trio East performs on Thursday, Oct. 16, in Kilbourn Hall at 8 p.m. The group, made up of Clay Jenkins on trumpet, Jeff Campbell on double bass, and Rich Thompson on drums, formed when the three Eastman professors decided to combine their ideas and musical skills in an “open, interesting, and challenging format,” as jazz drummer and composer Peter Erskine puts it. Stop-Start, the band’s debut recording, has been reviewed extensively in the United States and Germany. Guest artists Larry Koonse on guitar and Harold Danko on piano will join the trio.
Jenkins will have his own recital on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 8 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall. Professor of jazz studies & contemporary media and Eastman Community Music School (ECMS) collegiate instructor in trumpet, Jenkins has been with the Eastman faculty since 2000, but has remained active performing on a national and international scale. Along with touring, Jenkins has kept busy by creating solo recordings as well as recordings with his ensemble, which he co-leads with Kim Richmond. The musician and composer will be joined on the Oct. 21 by fellow professors Harold Danko on piano, Jeff Campbell on bass, and Rich Thompson on drums.
On Wednesday, Oct. 29, saxophonist Charles Pillow will present his recital at 8 p.m. in Hatch Recital Hall. Pillow is assistant professor of jazz saxophone and is considered one of the premier woodwind multi-instrumentalists of today. With five CDs to his credit, Pillow can also be heard on more than 100 recordings of jazz and pop artists. He has worked with such stars as Michael Brecker, Maria Schneider, Jay Z, David Liebman, and Mariah Carey.
On Tuesday of the following week, Nov. 4, violist Carol Rodland will be featured during an 8 p.m. recital at Hatch Recital Hall. Rodland’s career began when she made her solo debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra as a teenager. Since then, she has performed and taught across the country, in Germany and in England. Rodland founded a benefit concert series in 2009 called “If Music Be the Food…” whose volunteers aim to increase awareness and support for the hungry through classical music. Pianist Marcantonio Barone will join Rodland on the stage to perform Hindemith’s Three Sonatas for Viola and Piano.
Mark Kellogg will be joined by pianists Christopher Azzara and Joseph Werner to perform American music for low brass on Sunday, Nov. 9, in Hatch Recital Hall at 3 p.m. Kellogg, who is associate professor of euphonium, trombone, and brass chamber music, is principal trombone of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. He has taken up a variety of performing roles throughout his career, including jazz soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral performer. Kellogg has two solo CDs to his credit: a jazz recording with pianist Tony Caramia titled Upstate Standards and a classical recording of French repertoire with Joseph Werner titled Impressions. Azzara, professor of music education, is the author of numerous articles, arrangements, and books, and has performed extensively in nine different countries. Werner, is principal pianist and personnel manager for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and has recordings on the Columbia, Vanguard, Musical Heritage Society, NEXUS, and Naxos labels.
Professor of Composition Robert Morris’s work will be highlighted during an 8 p.m. recital on Monday, Nov. 10, in Hatch Recital Hall. His program, titled “Singularities: New Music by Robert Morris,” includes Wright Song Book (2014) and Singularity (2013). Morris has received numerous awards throughout his career, including the Margaret Lee Crofts Composition Fellowship (1967), MacDowell Colony Fellowship, and A. Whitney Griswold Award (1975). Morris has been an invited guest composer at several festivals and universities, and has been commissioned by institutions such as the Yale Summer School of Music and Arts, the Pittsburgh Chamber Symphony, and the Mid-American Center for Contemporary Music.
The fall schedule of faculty recitals concludes on Saturday, Nov. 15, with a performance by Barry Snyder and Federico Agostini at 8 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall. Snyder, professor of piano at Eastman, is a triple prize winner of the Van Cliburn International Competition, and has performed and given master classes in countries from China to Australia. He was also awarded the Diapason D’or for recordings of the complete cello and piano works by Fauré with Steven Doane. Agostini, professor of violin and co-chair of the strings, harp, and guitar department, was concertmaster of the legendary Italian ensemble I Musici. He has given classes at music schools all over the world and founded the D’Amici String Quartet in 2004. Snyder and Agostini will be showcasing works of Ravel, Fauré, and Saint-Saëns.
In 2015, the Eastman Faculty Artists Series starts up again with a recital by violinist Renée Jolles on Sunday, Jan. 18, at 3 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall. Known for her appearances as a soloist with orchestras nationwide, she has premiered hundreds of works. Jolles is a member of the Jolles Duo (harp and violin), Continuum, Intimate Voices, The New York Chamber Ensemble, and is a concertmaster of the world-renowned, Grammy Award-winning, conductorless Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Before becoming associate professor of violin at Eastman, Jolles was on the faculty of the Julliard School, the Mannes School of Music, the Hoff-Barthelson Music School, and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College.
Howard Potter and Chip Ross join in a performance scheduled for 8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 26, in Hatch Recital Hall. Potter, who among other roles is the associate dean for community and continuing education, has more than 25 years’ professional performing experience with numerous orchestras, pit orchestras, and wind ensembles including the Rochester Philharmonic, the Erie Philharmonic, the National Orchestral Association at Carnegie Hall, several off-Broadway theater companies, and the United States Military Academy Band at West Point. He currently is a member of the RPO Marimba Band and plays jazz vibes in various Rochester ensembles. Ross, assistant professor of timpani, has been the principal timpanist of the Rochester Philharmonic since 2003. In 2010, he premiered a concerto written for him by Grammy Award-winning composer, producer, and conductor Jeff Tyzik. Ross has performed with many orchestras in the United States and abroad, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, La Scala Opera, Baltimore Symphony, RAI (Radio Orchestra) of Torino, (Italy), and the Moscow and Philadelphia Chamber Orchestras.
Faculty recitals continue on Wednesday, Jan. 28, with a performance by Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies & Contemporary Media Bob Sneider in Kilbourn Hall at 8 p.m. Also an ECMS senior instructor of jazz guitar, Sneider has been with the Eastman faculty since 1997. Before that, the guitarist toured for two years with two-time Grammy Award winner Chuck Mangione. Often called “the hardest working man at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival” for his nightly shows at Rochester Plaza, Sneider has performed in major festivals, concert halls, and jazz clubs across three continents. Sneider has several solo and co-led CD projects that have received rave reviews and international airplay, including Introducing Bob Sneider, Out of the Darkness, and duo projects with pianist Paul Hofmann – Interconnection and Escapade and Serve & Volley.
Tony Caramia will take the stage for a recital titled “Love in All Keys” on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 8 p.m. in Hatch Recital Hall. A professor of piano as well as director of piano pedagogy studies and coordinator of the class piano program at Eastman, Caramia was a guest on Marian McPartland’s “Piano Jazz” on NPR in 2003. He was a featured performer at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, four National Conferences on Keyboard Pedagogy, and the 50th Anniversary of the New School for Music Study, in Princeton, N.J.. in 2010. A strong advocate of theme recitals—he spoke at the CFMTA-MTNA Collaborative Conference in Toronto, Canada on the topic: The Art of Modern Recital Programming— he has presented multi-media tributes to composers George Gershwin, Billy Mayerl, Harold Arlen, and Richard Rodgers, and to pianist Cy Walter.
The second violin recital of the Faculty Artist series will spotlight Oleh Krysa, professor of violin, on Wednesday, Feb. 11, at 8 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall. Krysa has both taught and played in major music centers throughout the world. A champion of contemporary music, he has worked closely with such composers as Alfred Schnittke, Edison Denisov, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Krzsyzstof Penderecki, and has premiered a number of the composers’ works, many written for and dedicated to him. He has played solo recitals in major music halls throughout the world and has appeared in major festivals on three continents. Krysa has numerous recordings on the Melodiya, BIS, Triton, Olympia, TNC, Amadis, Polskie Nagranie, and Russian Disc labels. He has won major prizes in such international competitions as the Wieniawski (1962), Tchaikovsky (1966), and Montreal (1969), and the Paganini Competition (1963).
Violinist Charles Castleman will give his final recital as an Eastman faculty member in Kilbourn Hall at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 15. Castleman, professor of violin since 1975, will be joining the faculty of Frost School of Music at the University of Miami full-time in fall 2015. He has been a soloist with the orchestras of Philadelphia, Boston, Brisbane, Chicago, Hong Kong, Moscow, Mexico City, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, and Shanghai. Castleman can be heard on multiple solo and chamber CDs and is included on a Cypres CD set of the 17 best prize-winning performances in the Brussels Concours’ 50-year history. As one of 16 Ford Foundation Concert Artists, he commissioned the David Amram Concerto, premiering it with Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony and recording it for Newport Classic.
The following day, Monday, Feb. 16, will feature George Taylor in Kilbourn Hall at 8 p.m. The associate professor of viola has been active in the world of performance since his recital debut at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1979. Along with giving recitals as a solo and chamber musician at venues nationwide, Taylor advocates for the performance of music by African-American composers and is a member of the Black Music Repertory Ensemble, which presents music of these composers in concerts throughout the country. Taylor has performed and premiered works written for him by many composers, including Ron Carter, Noel DaCosta, George Walker, David Liptak, and Carmen Moore. Before joining the Eastman faculty, he was a member of the Ciompi Quartet of Duke University from 1979 through 1986.
Professor of violin and founder of the Kopelman Quartet Mikhail Kopelman will perform in Kilbourn Hall on Sunday, March 1, at 3 p.m. Kopelman was on the faculty of the Moscow Conservatory teaching both solo violin and string quartet, was first violin of the Borodin String Quartet and of the Tokyo String Quartet, and was concertmaster of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. He has performed in many international festivals and for more than 15 years was closely associated with renowned pianist Sviatoslav Richter. In 1995, he received the Royal Philharmonic Society Award and the Concertgebouw Silver Medal of Honour. Before becoming a professor of violin at Eastman in 2002, Kopelman was professor at the Yale School of Music, coaching chamber music.
Cellist and professor Steven Doane will present his recital on Tuesday, March 17, at 8 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall. An internationally known soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, recording artist, and pedagogue, Doane performs at festivals and on concert series throughout the United States and overseas. Doane made his Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center debuts in Don Quixote with David Zinman and the Rochester Philharmonic in 1983. Since then, his appearances have included programs in London’s Wigmore Hall and Boston’s Saunders Theater. Doane is also internationally lauded for his teaching: he received Eastman’s Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1993 and the Piatigorsky Prize in teaching at the New England Conservatory in 1986. He was named an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in 2014.
Eastman’s newest faculty member is set to perform in Kilbourn Hall on Wednesday, March 18, at 8 p.m. Larry Zalkind was principal trombone for the Utah Symphony before being named the associate professor of trombone at Eastman. Zalkind has toured, recorded, and performed since 1990 as a member of the Summit Brass, a group of more than a dozen top U.S. brass players. He has also released three solo CDs and has recorded with many different orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Symphonies of Chicago, Atlanta, and St. Louis. Zalkind often premieres new orchestral works for solo trombone, including Henry Wolking’s Concerto for Trombone and Bill Reichenbach’s Streets of Paris for trombone and wind ensemble, and was a faculty member at the University of Utah for 30 years.
Harold Danko comes to the Kilbourn Hall stage for his recital on Thursday, March 19, at 8 p.m. The professor of jazz studies & contemporary media has nurtured long-term relationships with legends such as Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, and Lee Konitz. During the last two decades he has become increasingly known as a band leader, composer, and solo pianist, as is evidenced by the amount of his music captured on more than 30 CDs. Danko has also been featured at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, Lincoln Center’s “Meet the Artist” series, Washington D.C. Performing Arts Society series at the Kennedy Center, and numerous jazz festivals both in the United States and abroad. He has been with the Eastman faculty since 1998.
Bass-baritone Jan Opalach will present his recital on Sunday, March 22 in Kilbourn Hall at 3 p.m. A winner of the Walter M. Naumburg Vocal Competition and associate professor of voice at Eastman, he has performed more than 50 roles during his career. He was Invited to join the New York City Opera by Beverly Sills and was principal artist there for 30 years. Opalach has also been a member of the Waverly Consort, has appeared on television on multiple occasions, and has performed with more than 15 orchestras in the U.S. and Canada. He can be heard on the Argo, Bridge, CRI, Decca, Delos, EMI, Koch International, L’Oiseau-Lyre, Lyrichord, Nonesuch, Teldec, Telarc, VoxBox and Vox Unique labels. Opalach will be joined by pianist and voice and opera department chair Russell Miller.
Eastman Virtuosi will return to Kilbourn Hall for their spring recital as part of the Faculty Artist series. The group, which has worked with numerous guest conductors including Brad Lubman, David Effron, and Peter Bay, will perform on Saturday, March 28, at 8 p.m.
On Sunday, March 29, Barry Snyder will give a recital in Kilbourn Hall at 3 p.m. The professor of piano performs on more than 30 recordings on various labels, and was a part of the Eastman and Meadowmount Trios as well as the recipient of Mu Phi Epsilon Musician of the Year in 1987. Snyder was a faculty member at Georgia State University before he joined Eastman’s ranks in 1970. Since then, he has been recognized for his skill in instruction, winning the Edward Peck Curtis Award for Teaching Excellence in 1975 and earning a spot in the book The Most Wanted Piano Teachers in the United States.
Associate professor of clarinet Kenneth Grant is set to perform on Sunday, April 19, at 3 p.m. in Hatch Recital Hall. Also an ECMS collegiate instructor in clarinet, Grant is principal clarinet of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and has also been a member of the the Colorado Philharmonic and the Columbus Symphony. He has performed extensively across the globe, presenting world and nationwide premieres and teaching the Eastman summer session in Hamamatsu, Japan, for four years. Before teaching at Eastman, Grant was a faculty member at Capital University and Ohio Wesleyan University.
The final concert of the 2014-2015 Faculty Artist Series features pianist Bill Dobbins, professor of jazz studies & contemporary media, at 8 p.m. in Hatch Recital Hall on Monday, April 27. His career has encompassed composing, arranging, teaching, conducting, and performing. As a pianist, Dobbins has performed with classical orchestras and chamber ensembles under the direction of Pierre Boulez, Lukas Foss, and Louis Lane, and has performed and recorded with such jazz artists as Clark Terry, Al Cohn, Red Mitchell, Phil Woods, Bill Goodwin, Dave Liebman, Kevin Mahogany, Paquito D’Rivera, Peter Erskine, and John Goldsby. He was a prizewinner in the 1972 International Gaudeamus Competition for interpreters of contemporary music and from 1994 through 2002 was principal director of the WDR Big Band in Cologne, Germany. Dobbins’s compositions and arrangements, published by Advance Music, have appeared in jazz education programs worldwide.
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