Wind Ensemble This Saturday Night!

Ohhh...there I go again talking all about orchestra concerts and forgetting about the Eastman Wind Ensemble.  Their opening concert is THIS SATURDAY NIGHT!  It's at 8PM, it's free, and they're doing Rhapsody in Blue with fabulous pianist Tony Caramia.  Even I, as a violinist, have to admit that it will be at least as good if not better than the symphony concert on the 26th.

Kodak Hall at Eastman Theater

The second-to-last phase of the Eastman Theater renovation project is finished!  The hall has always been beautiful, but now it sounds as good as it looks.  The Eastman Philharmonia Orchestra (juniors, seniors, and grads) had their opening night on Friday; the Symphony Orchestra (freshman/sophomore) plays there on Monday, Oct. 26 at 8PM.   As always, student orchestra concerts are free, and so is parking after 7PM!   You can read more about the theater renovation here.

All About Eastman

I've noticed that there are lots of people in Rochester who aren't that familiar with Eastman School of Music.  Since our world sort of revolves around Eastman, I'm always happy to tell them anything they want to know (and usually a whole lot more...).  Eastman is one of the best music schools anywhere!  Newsweek rated Eastman as the "Hottest School for Music" in 2008 (not to reveal any personal bias, but they were probably referring to the attractiveness of the grad students).  

Here's the amazing thing: ALL of Eastman's student recitals and concerts are free! (they do charge for visiting artist recitals and for operas).  It costs $20-50 to see Rochester's professional orchestra (the RPO ) but Eastman's two symphony orchestras each perform once a month (on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday night) and it's free!   You can also attend concerts by Eastman's wind ensemble, percussion ensemble, new music ensemble, chorale, and individual student recitals.  These events are great for dates or for kids over the age of 8.  The concert calendar is posted online.  After 7PM, parking in the East End Garage (which you can enter from Main Street or Scio) is free.