Eastman’s October includes Miller Theatre and Carnegie Hall concerts
As the Eastman School of Music mourns the passing of Joan and Martin Messinger Dean Emeritus Douglas Lowry, it moves on with his vision of raising the School’s profile with events and programs in New York City. This month, Eastman musicians will be in concert at Carnegie Hall and the Miller Theatre at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. Brad Lubman, Associate Professor of Conducting and Ensembles at Eastman, will direct Ensemble Signal in three of the Miller Theatre’s Composer Portraits, the first of which will be on October 10. On October 27 pianist Cahill Smith, a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at Eastman, makes his Carnegie Hall debut, performing the music of Nikolai Medtner with other Eastman colleagues. This concert will be the first program presenting a survey of Medtner’s works in multiple genres at Carnegie Hall since the composer’s own performance in 1930. October also sees five additional concerts at Eastman: the St. Lawrence String Quartet (Oct 6), the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings (Oct 15), the Eastman Philharmonia with the Eastman Rochester Chorus (Oct 18), the Christian Tetzlaff Quartet (Oct 22), and the Zvi Zeitlin Memorial Concert (Oct 13).
In a new series, “Eastman Presents,” pianist and Eastman doctoral candidate Cahill Smith will perform a variety of Nikolai Medtner’s works, including solo piano music, songs for voice and piano, and chamber music (Oct 27). This will be the first concert presenting a survey of Medtner’s compositions at Carnegie Hall since the composer’s 1930 concert. The program will cover works spanning Medtner’s entire career, from Op. 1, No. 1 to his posthumous piano quintet. Smith is one of a growing number of musicians who are proponents of the composer’s works. Medtner, he maintains, is deserving of a more prominent position in the concert repertoire. Said Smith: “It is the kind of music that becomes richer with subsequent hearings. … Medtner might come as a breath of fresh air to many, and to a few – a revelation. His music is organically connected to the musical past, yet it is relentlessly inventive and original.” The composer often drew inspiration from literature, and the concert will include settings of Goethe, Pushkin, and Tyutchev. Smith’s appreciation of the composer is evident in his performances, as his recital sponsor remarked: “in Cahill’s hands, the music is not just played to be heard, it is played to be felt, and his performances of Medtner’s music are exceptionally wonderful.” The George D. and Freida B. Abraham Foundation will sponsor the event.
Brad Lubman, acclaimed conductor in the U.S. and abroad and Associate Professor of Conducting and Ensembles at Eastman, leads three of seven Composer Portraits at the Miller Theatre at Columbia University, the first of which will be on October 10. Lubman will lead Ensemble Signal, a “music dream team” (Time Out New York), of which Lubman is the Music Director and founding co-Artistic Director. The concert, which features mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway, begins the portrait series with works by Georg Friedrich Haas, who will engage in an onstage discussion that evening. Lubman will return to the Miller Theatre on February 22 and March 13 for concerts honoring Roger Reynolds and Unsuk Chin.
October also sees five local concerts at the Eastman School. The St. Lawrence String Quartet, Stanford’s Grammy-nominated chamber ensemble, performs a program of Haydn, Golijov, and Dvorák in Rochester on October 6 as part of the Eastman-Ranlet Series. The Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings plays works by Caplet, Ibert, Françaix, and Bozza in the Kilbourn Concert Series (Oct 15). The Eastman Philharmonia and the Eastman Rochester Chorus unite for Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in C minor, “Resurrection” (Oct 18), and the Tetzlaff Quartet performs works by Haydn, Bartók, and Beethoven as part of the Kilbourn Concert Series on October 22. The Eastman School will also celebrate the life and work of renowned violinist and Eastman professor of 45 years, the late Zvi Zeitlin, on October 13 with a concert featuring his colleagues and friends, including pianists Jerome Lowenthal and Anna Gourfinkel, and violinists Charles Castleman, Mikhail Kopelman, and Dylan Kennedy.
The full list of the Eastman School of Music’s October dates is provided below, and more information is available at http://www.esm.rochester.edu.
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About the Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music ranks among the nation’s premier music schools, boasting Guggenheim Fellows, Grammy, and ASCAP Award winners on its distinguished faculty. The school 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 University of Rochester. Eastman’s prominent alumni include opera singers Renée Fleming, Anthony Dean Griffey, Joyce Castle, and the late William Warfield; jazz musicians Ron Carter, Steve Gadd, and Chuck Mangione; composer-conductor Maria Schneider; and composers Dominick Argento, Charles Strouse, Michael Torke, and Jeff Beal. The School presents more than 700 public concerts a year and hosts a variety of prestigious festivals and events, including, most recently, the International Society of Bassists Convention and the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival.
Eastman October 2013: events
Sun, Oct 6
3 p.m.
Kilbourn Hall, 26 Gibbs St., Rochester
Eastman-Ranlet Series
St. Lawrence String Quartet
Haydn, Golijov, and Dvorák
Thurs, Oct 10
8 p.m.
Miller Theatre, 2960 Broadway, Manhattan
Portrait Concert: Georg Friedrich Haas
Ensemble Signal / Brad Lubman
Rachel Calloway, soprano
Sun, Oct 13
3 p.m.
Kilbourn Hall
Zvi Zeitlin Memorial Concert
Featuring Jerome Lowenthal, Anna Gourfinkel, Charles Castleman, Mikhail Kopelman, and Dylan Kennedy
Tues, Oct 15
8 p.m.
Kilbourn Hall
Kilbourn Concert Series
Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings
Caplet, Ibert, Françaix, and Bozza
Fri, Oct 18
8 p.m.
Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre
Eastman Philharmonia and Eastman Rochester Chorus
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C minor, “Resurrection”
Tues, Oct 22
8 p.m.
Kilbourn Hall
Kilbourn Concert Series
Tetzlaff Quartet
Haydn, Bartók, and Beethoven
Sun, Oct 27
7:30 p.m.
Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall
Cahill Smith, Piano
Yunjin Kim, soprano; Ji-Yeon Lee, violin; Hirono Sugimoto Borter, violin; Wendy Richman, viola; Philip Borter, cello
All-Medtner Program
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© 21C Media Group, October 2013