July 5,
2005
Eastman offers new summer institutes
A new summer institute at Eastman School offers training for conductors-in-the-making. |
group of apprentice conductors will get the opportunity to fine-tune their skills before a live professional orchestra as part of the Eastman School's first-ever Summer Conducting Institute. The five-day program, which kicks off July 16, capitalizes on the collaborative relationship between the Eastman School and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO).
"This type of experience comes all too seldom for most young conductors and certainly is one to be cherished," says Neil Varon, institute director and conductor of the school's lower- and upperclassmen orchestras.
Participants include those from across the United States as well as from the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Korea, and Taiwan and range in age from 20 to 57. Nine participants from the 16-member group will work with professional musicians to prepare, rehearse, and conduct repertory, receiving feedback from both Varon and the RPO musicians.
The institute covers such topics as intonation and acoustic issues, stage settings, score reading and comprehension, artistic collaborations with soloists and composers, development of new repertories, and more.
Evening sessions led by Musica Nova Conductor Brad Lubman look at issues related to conducting modern music. Other sessions examine career development issues as well as the conductor's role as artistic leader within a community.
The Conducting Institute is one of several new institutes and programs offered during the school's summer session. The music of North India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh is featured in the week-long Hindustani Music Institute beginning July 5. Class activities include live demonstrations of Hindustani classical music, both vocal and instrumental, as well as hands-on lessons in raga and tala, the melodic and rhythmic foundations of this musical genre. In a culminating event, vocalist Asawari Maggirwar performs with accompanists in Kilbourn Hall on July 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Other new offerings include Eastman Sings! The Eastman Summer Vocal Institute, July 24 to 30, featuring members of the voice and opera faculty. August 1 to 5, soprano Julianne Baird leads Vocal Techniques in Baroque Literature, a seminar on stylistically authentic performances of 16th- and 18th-century literature. For more details about summer programming at Eastman, visit www.rochester.edu/Eastman/summer.
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