Eastman School of Music is now represented by 21C Media Group
21C Media Group is delighted to announce that it now represents the Eastman School of Music. Boasting Guggenheim Fellows and Grammy and ASCAP Award winners on its distinguished faculty, Eastman ranks among the nation’s premier music schools. It has been commended and recognized nationwide for giving its students an intensive professional education, entrepreneurial opportunities in their musical disciplines, and the experience of a broader liberal arts education within the context of a university (University of Rochester). Eastman also presents more than 700 public concerts a year and hosts a variety of prestigious festivals and events, including, most recently, the 40th International Viola Congress; the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival (June), a festival on “Bach and the Organ” presented jointly with the American Bach Society (Sept), and the “Prismatic Debussy” festival celebrating the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth (Oct), are among notable upcoming offerings.
As Douglas Lowry, the Joan and Martin Messinger Dean of the Eastman School observes:
With our recently completed renovations and expansion, including the acoustically superb Hatch Recital Hall and state-of-the-art recording facilities, the Eastman School of Music continues to build on its legacy of innovation and artistry.
We look forward to presenting new ideas, enterprises and special events, like the upcoming festivals focusing on Bach and Debussy, that underscore Eastman’s high standards of performance, scholarship, and pedagogy. As the School expands its partnerships with other institutions, including our leadership in collaborative learning over Internet2, we’ll open doors to artists around the world while continuing to provide our students with a vigorous, well-rounded education.
Located in Rochester, N.Y., the Eastman School was established in 1921 by George Eastman, founder of the Eastman Kodak Company, as the first professional school of the University of Rochester. Former heads of the school include Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Howard Hanson, who served as director for 40 years (1924–64). Today’s faculty comprises more than 130 highly-regarded performers, composers, conductors, scholars, and educators, including mezzo-soprano Katherine Ciesinski, early-music specialist Paul O’Dette, and the resident Ying Quartet. Prominent among the school’s illustrious alumni are opera singers Renée Fleming and Anthony Dean Griffey; jazz musicians Ron Carter, Steve Gadd, and Chuck Mangione; composer-conductor Maria Schneider; and composers Dominick Argento, Charles Strouse, Michael Torke, and Jeff Beal.
Eastman’s collegiate division numbers 500 undergraduate and 400 graduate students, approximately 23 percent of whom come from overseas, drawn by the caliber of the school’s offerings in performance, composition, jazz, music education, theory, conducting, and musicology. In addition, Eastman’s community and continuing education programs provide first-rate music instruction and performance opportunities for students of all ages.
Eastman students have many opportunities to reach non-traditional audiences in the community, performing in schools, nursing homes, libraries, book stores, and other sites through the “Music for All” outreach program, while vocal ensembles and organists give concerts and recitals at area churches. Through its Institute for Music Leadership, Eastman provides programs to help students bridge the transition from the academic to the professional world. Courses and internships provide opportunities to gain “real world” experience and develop the necessary leadership and entrepreneurial skills to meet the challenges of today’s changing and highly competitive music world.
Venues for the school’s numerous public concerts include the 2,326-seat Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, the intimate Kilbourn Hall, and the newly-opened Hatch Recital Hall, which enjoys state-of-the-art acoustical and multimedia technology for Internet, audio, and video. Important recent events include the Women in Music Festival, with guest composer and jazz pianist Lorraine Desmarais, and the 40th International Viola Congress, hosted by the Eastman viola faculty. Eastman is a partner and co-sponsor of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, which opens for nine days on June 22, following the success of last year’s tenth-anniversary festival, which was attended by more than 182,000 jazz lovers.
Some of the world’s most respected Bach scholars, including Christoph Wolff of Harvard University and the Bach-Archiv Leipzig, will present their latest research during the EROI (Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative) Festival in September. Eminent musicologist, organist, and author Peter Williams is the keynote speaker, with concerts featuring such noted musicians as organists Edoardo Bellotti and Jacques van Oortmerssen. Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble, under its director and Eastman School Professor Paul O’Dette, will perform vocal and instrumental music with soloists Daniel Taylor (countertenor), Jesse Blumberg (baritone), Jason McStoots (tenor), and Ellen Hargis (soprano).
In October, Eastman looks forward to celebrating the 150th anniversary of Claude Debussy’s birth with “The Prismatic Debussy,” comprising three weekends of performances and a month-long exhibition of manuscripts at the school’s Sibley Music Library, the largest academic music library in North America. Festival highlights include the Eastman Philharmonia, Wind Ensemble, and Chorale playing music for large ensembles; a PRISM chamber concert entitled “Debussy in Transcription”; and the North American premiere of five newly-discovered songs.
More information about the Eastman School of Music is available at the web sites listed below.
www.esm.rochester.edu
www.facebook.com/EastmanSchool
twitter.com/eastmanschool