EASTMAN NOTESFALL/WINTER 2013 JACK is Jumpin’! An Eastman-born quartet reflects on a thriving career PreP ared to t ake the St AGe EASTMAN STUDENTS share a drive and passion to make music, and are prepared to enter the profession confident in their skills as artists, teachers, thinkers, and leaders. Visit rochester.edu/annualfunds/stage Thank you for your support. Through your gift, Eastman can continue to offer a gift to make your gift today. second to none. Annual Giving Programs All gifts count toward The Meliora Challenge, a University-wide fundraising Campaign that University of Rochester was launched in October 2011 and runs through June 30, 2016. Visit campaign.rochester.edu. 800.598.1330 | [email protected] 2014028_UR_Eastman_Notes_Ad_Summer_2013.indd 1 8/28/13 9:50 AM { FALL/WINTER 2013 } Headed for the top: The JACK Quartet started at Eastman in 2003 and has remained together in the cause of contemporary music. 2 From the Dean 3 Brief Notes 20 School News 10 18 24 Recordings IML: From Rite 14JACK Institute to Here at 26 Alumni Notes is Jumpin’! Institution Eastman 28–30 With worldwide performances and It’s been a big year for A faculty member Tributes, Eastman’s innovative and a recent graduate In Memoriam acclaimed CDs, this Eastman-born Institute for Music on their engagement quartet is thriving. Leadership. with Stravinsky’s 31 incendiary, century-old Faculty Notes Rite of Spring. 32 Student Notes ON THE COVER: The JACK Quartet. PHOTOGRAPH BY HENRIK OLUND JUSTIN BERNHAUT Fall/Winter 2013 | Eastman Notes 1 { FROM THE DEAN } EASTMAN Special Effects NOTES Schools of music have complicated missions but one astonishing awareness and knowledge of technology and Volume 31, Number 2 simple purpose: to educate talented young performers, new media. They seek to weave their music into the fabric Fall/Winter 2013 scholars, composers and teachers in the critical functions of the culture in which they live. It is our belief that these Editor of their chosen professions. We have a responsibility to traits represent a trend toward convergence, with music David Raymond furnish experiences that not only teach the art, but also at the core. At a practical level, these new ensembles are bear some resemblance to the world that our students not leaving governance and business models to chance. Contributing Writers Mark Berry will inherit. This includes preparing them in the musi- They are seizing ownership of operations, marketing, Dannel Espinoza cal rudiments and the real-life challenge of inspiring artistic planning, and, yes, the balance sheet. Douglas Lowry and building an audience, knowing important aspects The Paul R. Judy Center (described on pages 12–13) Brad Lubman of the business, and becoming entrepreneurs. Some will furnish us with a living, breathing means of not just David Raymond think that the latter components studying trends, but leading Helene Snihur are beyond the domain of what them. In 2015, Eastman will host Contributing we should be doing, suggesting a festival/conference, funded by Photographers Kurt Brownell that an education in the arts the Judy Center, that will bring Adam Fenster should “stick with the art.” Yet in artists and entrepreneurs to Gelfand-Piper history provides us with many discuss what is really happening Photography examples of innovative musi- in this new world of music, from Kate Melton cal entrepreneurs who not only musical production to marketing Nadine Sherman Gerry Szymanski created inspiring music but also to distribution. We will witness Brandon Vick ambitiously built careers. From first-hand the musical results of Mozart to Stravinsky, our lore is some of these efforts. This festi- Photography Coordinator full of artists who learned how val will focus not on what’s wrong Karen Ver Steeg to drum up business, not afraid with the music world, but will cel- Design of posting handbills or cleverly ebrate what’s right, using the past Steve Boerner marketing their wares. as a point of ignition for the future. Typography The attentive musician lis- When we couple initiatives like & Design, Inc. tens to the pulse of the times— this with the array of accomplish- Published twice a not to curry favor with current ments of our Eastman alumni year by the Office stylistic trends, but to form an and students just this last spring of Communications understanding of how music’s of 2013, one can sense the special (Mark Berry, Executive presentation and enjoyment have evolved. To assume effect that Eastman is having on the music world. From Director), Eastman School of Music, 26 that the musical experience of 1813—how it looked, felt, Renée Fleming’s being awarded the National Medal of Gibbs Street, Rochester, dressed; where it took place—would and should remain Arts and Jeff Beal’s two Emmy nominations for his score NY 14604, (585) the same in 2013 ignores some basic laws of nature. to House of Cards, to the Project Fusion saxophone quar- 274-1050. Listening to this pulse of the times is what the new Paul R. tet of students winning the grand prize at this year’s Eastman-Notes@ Judy Center for Applied Research at Eastman is all about. Fischoff International Chamber Music Competition, esm.rochester.edu Working from the notion that the symphony orches- one can sense this Eastman “special effect.” tra is an ever-evolving ensemble, Paul Judy, a longtime We measure our work by the impact we hope to have supporter of Eastman and keen student of organiza- on the futures of our students and by our imprint on tional behavior, hit upon the idea that the emergence of the current world of music. We have much to celebrate. innovative small ensembles across the land is somewhat And, to be sure, much work to do. But we could not akin to the emergence of the symphony orchestra in the do any of this without the steadfast belief our support- 19th century. ers have in the Eastman mission. This issue of Notes, In the case of new ensembles, the evidence suggests rich with stories of Eastman family, bears out our that young musicians, in addition to presenting in the observations. established concert hall venue, are now reaching out to Visit the Apple Store to download and read Notes create performance experiences in whole new contexts. on your iPad. They are also infusing their performances with heavy doses of other art forms, particularly digital visual media. In many cases, these works of digital media are created by the musicians themselves, in part because our stu- 10% Total Recovered Fiber 100% Post-Consumer Fiber dents are entering our music schools equipped with an 2 Eastman Notes | Fall/Winter 2013 ADAM FENSTER { BRIEF NOTES } The People’s Diva and President Obama at the White House. No, Spidey is not leaving Hatch Hall after a recital. Spider-Man, Opus 2 Hanson Completed finished it. When the Sibley annotating, and putting Ms. Fleming Eastman’s Spidey senses After retiring in 1964, Library received the man- it into a usable form for goes to were tingling for a couple East man’s legendary uscript in 2005, Eastman researchers. This summer of days in May, when Howard Hanson started an Historian Vincent Lenti un- his task was completed, and Washington cast and crew members autobiography . and never dertook the task of editing, a copy of Vince’s edition Renée Fleming (MM ’83) of the upcoming movie of The Autobiography of has received plenty of The Amazing Spider-Man Howard Hanson joined the awards during her career, 2 hit town. Rochester In May, 16 Eastman faculty members were acknowledged shelves of Sibley Library. but the 2013 National temporarily became New for their years of service to the school. At the top of the (There are no publishing Medal of Arts—bestowed York City, as street signs list was Professor of Piano and Eastman School Historian plans, so only three copies by President Obama in a were replaced and NYPD Vincent Lenti, who celebrated 50 years as an Eastman exist, by the way.) Look for White House ceremony on cars raced on Main Street. faculty member. Vince celebrated his demi-centennial at a excerpts in the next Notes. July 10—is surely near the Two days of shooting for a reception with family, friends, colleagues, and the students top of the list. The sopra- car-chase scene focused on in his piano studio. Go Team Lenti! no’s fellow honorees this the immediate ESM area. year comprised a diverse The movie is scheduled for group, including author release in May 2014. Tony Kushner, trumpeter Herb Alpert, and movie A Star Reborn director George Lucas. She was Inez Harvuoth (BM ’36) at Eastman, but was known as Irene Manning in Hollywood (where she starred in movies with Bogart and Cagney) and on Broadway, where she worked with Jerome Kern and Lerner and Loewe; she also sang (in German) on Glenn Miller’s last recordings. Manning, who died in 2004, is the subject of a new biog- raphy, Irene Manning: The Rebellious Prima Donna, by Gene Arceri, just published Irene Manning made her mark by bearmanormedia.com. on Hollywood, on Broadway, The book is $19.95; the pet and in leopard prints. leopard is extra. ASSOCIATED PRESS (FLEMING); ADAM FENSTER (SPIDERMAN); GERRY SZYMANSKI (LENTI) Fall/Winter 2013 | Eastman Notes 3 A Massive Requiem Hundreds of musicians joined forces in May for a performance of Benjamin Britten’s 20th-century classic War Requiem, observing the centennial of its composer (1913– 1976) and the piece’s 50th anniversary. The powerful work, which combines the traditional Latin Mass for the Dead with moving antiwar poems by Wilfred Owen, united the Eastman Rochester Chorus, Eastman Chorale, Philharmonia, Chamber Orchestra, and Children’s Chorus; and soloists Laura Osgood, Matthew Valverde, and Ben Curtis.