Eastman School of Music

Went to see Ned Rorem’s «Our Town» held in Kodak at the Eastman Theatre. Got seats in one of the lower balcony box, left side of stage. Row-​A. Awesome view.
Act 1 opened with a guy slowly pacing across the staged and then sat down with a hymn playing in the background. At that moment I thought, «this will not be entertaining». And I was right. «Our Town» was «boring»! I was hoping for «The Phantom of The Opera» caliber type of performance.
Other than the boring performance, the theater looks very fancy compare to the RBTL.

A wonderful experience.

Well, since this is my school, and I am loving everything here, I’m going to give a perfect 5 stars!!! haha well, I am being honest. This school is the best with everything; teachers, students, academics, orchestra, etc… Everything I saw and experienced here is just very awesome!
Eastman has two orchestras, Eastman Philharmonia (Phil) and Eastman School Symphony Orchestra (ESSO). Both of them are outstanding and they go through 3 – 4 concerts per semester (about 4 months). It helps the students to learn how to read music quickly and practice efficiently to keep up with the scheduled performances.
Eastman program will push you to a whole new level of performances and knowledge. Each teachers and professors will challenge you to be better. There is no excuses. This place is just perfect for people who are looking to extend your ability and unsure about your future. Once you study here, you realize that there is hope and you have what it takes to become successful in music industry.
Sometimes you might question yourself if the path of music/​performer is right for you, well, by getting here, you will soon find out. You might be able to find out something that you never realized that you could do. This school might open a new path for you to pursuit. There is no one path that you need to follow. This school will allow you to find out what is best for you.
It is difficult to explain everything with words. You just have to come here and experience it.
Of course, this experience is not the same for everyone. Some people might feel differently so what I am saying here is not the only thing. But I strongly recommend coming to this school if you get accepted. There is something you cannot describe but has big impact on your life by attending this school. It doesn’t matter if you are coming here for undergraduate or graduate, by the end of your program, something will change in a good way. (If you work hard! ;))

Nice theater; Mahler Resurrection Symphony. Arild Remmereit conducting

This is a Rochester staple… a highly known and respected music school. As a kid, I went through a period where I worshiped the one and only Kurt Cobain. My parents although couldn’t afford it went out of their way to ensure that I take one on one guitar lessons from a professor at the school. I can’t remember his name because it was so long ago, but I must have made it to 5 – 6 lessons before not being able to afford it anymore. I remember walking through the halls of the school and being in complete awe. I was so happy to set foot into this school, and adored my lesson teacher. Not only was he an amazing musician, he taught me amazing and classic songs from Jimi Hendrix to Aerosmith. I would have loved to continue my lessons, however never did and with age eventually got over playing the guitar. I still remember some songs and all that he taught me. If only I could remember his name! But it’s an amazing school, and has an extremely large sense of character.

Eastman School, how many hours of romance have I spent with you?
The Eastman School of Music is a small music conservatory, meaning every student is a top class musician selected by a rigorous in-​person audition process. They study music, music, music, the usual university distribution requirements are minimized, and the humanities classes are music-​focused. (They are part of the University of Rochester though, so students can take any class there)
In the pantheon of American schools of classical music, Curtis is the most exclusive. There, under 200 students are personally tutored by members of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Julliard and Eastman tie for second, at 8 – 900 students, undergrad and grad combined, pretty intimate schools. Julliard has music, theater and dance departments. Eastman is dedicated purely to music. The differences between the schools lie in departments, Eastman has always had stronger winds, Julliard, stronger strings. Eastman has a very brainy composition department and electronic music program.
The main school was originally where early movies were shot by Eastman studios and the large concert hall was a movie theater. George Eastman was the founder of Kodak and inventor of roll film. Originally film was glass or tin plates! Flat plates don’t work so well for movies. As he became wealthy, Eastman focused his philanthropy on gaps, some tragic, in his own life. He had horrible dental problems so he endowed a dental school and clinic in Rochester. He was self educated, so he was an early major contributor to MIT. His mother had an interest in music, that was the genesis of the Eastman School.
The school has beautiful concert halls, old, and now new, to hear students, faculty and visiting artists. The student performances are free, most others are priced at a fraction of the New York price. If possible, hear something in Kilbourn Hall. It’s a beautiful wood hall, small, simple and acoustically outstanding. Named after Maria Kilbourn, it’s one of the finest in America.
Look around, every person you see is deeply immersed in music, students you see there today are tomorrow’s major soloists. Musical geniuses.
Listening to great musicians, on great instruments, live, in great halls may change your expectations of what music should sound like. I sat in on an audition in the main hall of very valuable violin bows, if you have to ask the price you can’t afford it-​type. Believe it or not, each sounded different, same instrument. 32K MP3’s and many synthetic instruments will never sound the same after Eastman. Even more important, you may begin to hear the emotion and expressiveness of individual performers and performances. I have. Many. They are not locked to a Logic timeline.
If you are in the neighborhood or visiting Rochester, Eastman is a very special place. If you get a chance to hear a master class with an instrument you like, don’t hesitate a minute; master classes are performances for teaching purposes, by world-​class musicians.
It may take more than one visit to get comfortable with the eras of music played here, but chamber music, a small group, was the pop music of its time, ditto solo works, embraced with the same passion as any performer today.

hey! apparently I can review my own school!
It’s good, besides the horrid weather. I would recommend it especially to clarinetists, saxophonists, flutists, oboists, and cellists. hurrah!

They regularly invite us outsiders in to partake of aural pleasures — crafted through the considerable talents of its students, staff, and visiting artists. Not only are they a highly respected school of music, they perform an invaluable community service by providing food for the soul. Absolutely one of Rochester’s best assets.
Kilbourn Hall is the most acoustically stunning concert hall of my experience –not a bad seat– and ESM makes excellent use of it. Performances are frequent and varied: solo student recitals, concerts by student groups and orchestras, performances by faculty members, concerts given by noted non-​ESM musicians… Multiple musical styles are covered: new music, a wide spectrum of classical styles, all kinds of world music, jazz, voice and choral, and early music. Some performances showcase music written by ESM students.
My favorite performances: virtuoso performances by seasoned masters, degree recitals that are the culmination of years of a student’s hard work, and performances by accomplished and entertaining visitors like the Nexus percussion group (a couple members of which are alums of ESM).
Performances by larger groups (some orchestras) and those guaranteed to draw a huge crowd are typically held in the next-​door Eastman Theatre. It doesn’t have Kilbourn’s intimate feel and perfection of space, but it’s a solid performer.
Entrance to student performances is free to all. Tickets for most other concerts (particularly the faculty performances) are free to University of Rochester ID holders, and can be purchased for a minor fee (almost always $ 10) by others. Purchase tickets at the door before the performance — it’s only necessary to buy them advance for the most popular performer (s).
For the lengthy listing of performances open to the public:
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the music school associated with the university of rochester. great music school, broad range of community music education opportunities, and largely responsible for whatever sense of «character» rochester has. eastman students are a talented and eclectic bunch – easily evidenced by a short visit to java’s on gibbs street (a popular eastman hangout). sibley music library has a fabulous selection of sheet music and recordings, but you have to be an eastman student to remove anything from the library. the music practice rooms are open for public access (although they’ve long been a hotbed for collegiate sexual experimentation, or so i’m told). the eastman theatre and killian hall are popular classical music venues in town and are also sometimes rented out for functions such as high school graduations (mine was at eastman theatre).