ESM faculty to teach classes in Japan

F aculty from the Eastman School will return to Hamamatsu, Japan, from Wednesday, August 4, to Thursday, August 12, to teach master classes at the city's ACT City arts complex. The program, launched last year, will offer more than a week of instruction to as many as 80 young Japanese musicians who have auditioned for the chance to study with ESM faculty. Young performers who show exceptional distinction will be offered scholarships to study at ESM, if they meet academic standards.

Faculty who teach violin, viola, double bass, flute, clarinet, piano, and voice will offer both individual lessons and master classes, both of which are open to the public there. In addition, ESM faculty will offer open lessons for Hamamatsu children for two hours on Saturday, August 7.

Participating faculty members are Douglas Dempster, associate director for academic affairs and organizer of the seminar; Jean Barr, professor of piano accompanying and chamber music; Bonita Boyd, professor of flute; James VanDemark, professor of double bass; John Graham, professor of viola; Kenneth Grant, associate professor of clarinet; Oleh Krysa, professor of violin; Dale Moore, professor of voice; and Barry Snyder, professor of piano.

Four current or former ESM students will serve as translators and teaching assistants during the program: Shizuo Kuwahara '98, Fumi Okuda '98, Kiyoaki Kojima '00, and graduate student Toko Suzuki.

Hamamatsu became one of Rochester's 10 Sister Cities in 1996. Ever since, cultural exchanges like this ESM program have been growing. Last week, 73 students from an all-girl high school in Hamamatsu visited Rochester and performed in a special concert at Kilbourn Hall. The Ichiritsu Municipal High School Chorus Club sang a collection of Japanese songs and Mozart's a capella vocal work Ave Verum Corpus.