Eastman School of Music presents EASTMAN VIRTUOSI at Merkin Concert Hall

On Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 8:00 PM, the Eastman School of Music - one of the nation's premier music institutions, named "Hottest School for Music" by Newsweek - presents its esteemed faculty-based chamber ensemble, Eastman Virtuosi, in concert at Kaufman Center's Merkin Concert Hall. The program features works by Georg Philipp Telemann, Francis Poulenc and Anton Dvorak, as well as the New York premiere of Sebastian Currier's Pulse (2002).

"An Eastman presence in New York City is crucial," said Douglas Lowry, Dean of the Eastman School of Music. "Eastman Virtuosi's March 27 concert represents our official re-entry into the New York area. With Eastman's venturesome outlook on the training of America's young musicians, and an influential musical reach that extends worldwide, we look forward to evolving a presence in the nation's cultural capital that is as stimulating and provocative as our students and alumni."

EASTMAN VIRTUOSI
Eastman Virtuosi is a chamber ensemble composed of Eastman School of Music faculty and outstanding student performers. Concert programs are programmed, produced, and performed by faculty, showing the depth and breadth of the School's instrumental and vocal artistry. Concerts have included all-Slavic and all-Baroque programs; works by Steve Reich, Zoltan Kodaly, and other 20th century composers; songs by Richard Rodgers and the Gershwin brothers; and music and narration for Stravinsky's "The Soldier's Tale;" as well as eclectic bills featuring works by Mozart and Britten or by Bizet and Sondheim in the same performance. Since its founding in 1974, the Eastman Virtuosi have presented the world premieres of Jin Jin Luo's "Tiger," Augusta Read Thomas's "Eclipse Musings (Version #2)," and David Liptak's "Songs for Persephone," and performed under such guest conductors as Brad Lubman, David Effron, Peter Bay, Jeffrey Kahane, David Gilbert, Mark Gibson, Giora Bernstein, and Samuel Adler. The founders and artistic co-directors of the ensemble are: Bonita Boyd, flute; John Hunt, bassoon; and Nicholas Goluses, guitar. Additional performers for this concert program include: James Thompson, Trumpet; Richard Killmer, Oboe; Kathryn Denny, Oboe; Ulrika Davidsson, Harpsichord; Mikhail Kopelman, Violin; Stephen Doane, Cello; Barry Snyder, Piano; Phillip Ying, Viola; Kenneth Grant, Clarinet; and W. Peter Kurau, Horn.

Bonita Boyd, Flute / Artistic Co-Director, Eastman Virtuosi
Bonita Boyd was named Principal Flutist of the Rochester Philharmonic in 1971, becoming the youngest principal flutist of a major American orchestra, a fact noted by Glamour Magazine in its "Career Women of the Year" feature. Her 1980 Alice Tully Hall performance of Paganini Violin Caprices for solo flute was praised as a "flabbergasting account of her talent" and later captured on her popular recording. Boyd's 1983 Los Angeles debut earned comparisons to James Galway and Jean-Pierre Rampal, and Frankfurter Allgemeine called her "a musician of great dimension." Boyd has premiered and recorded numerous works, and toured across North and South America, Europe, the Far East and Australia as a soloist, recitalist, and master teacher. She collaborates regularly with guitarist Nicholas Goluses, with whom she is soon releasing an album titled Quicksilver (Albany). Appointed to the Eastman School of Music faculty in 1977, Boyd is also a member of the artist faculty of the Aspen and Aria Music Festivals and is co-principal flutist of the Aspen Festival Orchestra.

Nicholas Goluses, Guitar / Artistic Co-Director, Eastman Virtuosi
One of American's most-sought after guitarists, Nicholas Goluses appears as a recitalist, chamber music player, and a soloist with orchestras across North and South America, Europe, Australia, and the Far East. He has recorded several highly acclaimed CDs for Naxos, BMG and Albany Records. Committed to performing new music for guitar, Goluses has given the premiere performances of numerous concertos for guitar and orchestra and of more than 100 solo and chamber music works by today's leading composers. Goluses founded the guitar department at Eastman where he has also served as chair of the string department and was the recipient of the Eisenhart Award for excellence in teaching. Goluses was the first Andrés Segovia Professor of Guitar and chairman of the guitar department at Manhattan School of Music, where he received the Pablo Casals Award for Musical Accomplishment and Human Endeavor, the Faculty Award of Distinguished Merit and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree. He was appointed to the faculty of the Eastman School of Music in 1993.

John Hunt, Bassoon / Artistic Co-Director, Eastman Virtuosi
A member of the Dorian Wind Quintet, John Hunt has played Principal Bassoon in the Naples Philharmonic and was a member of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also served as Principal Bassoon of The U.S. Army Band and Orchestra. During summers, he has participated as a member of the Aspen Music Festival, the Colorado Music Festival, the Orquésta Sinfónica de Minería in Mexico City, the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, Monadnock Music, and the Festival Institute at Round Top, Texas. Hunt is a former member of the National Reed Trio, the Laureate Quintet, and the Buffalo Blaser Quintet. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Louisville Symphony Orchestra, Arlington Symphony Orchestra, Waco Symphony Orchestra, and Southeastern Music Center Festival Orchestra. In 1991, Hunt was appointed to the faculty of the Eastman School of Music, where he co-founded the Eastman Virtuosi and currently chairs the Department of Winds, Brass, and Percussion.

EASTMAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC, UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER

The Eastman School of Music (www.esm.rochester.edu), located in Rochester, N.Y., is one of the nation's leading music schools, earning top rankings from Kaplan/Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. The school is dedicated to providing students with intensive professional educational and entrepreneurial opportunities in their musical disciplines as well as opportunities for a broader liberal arts education within the context of a university.

Established in 1921 by Eastman Kodak Company founder George Eastman as the first professional school of the University of Rochester, the Eastman School educates 500 undergraduate and 400 graduate students annually in performance, composition, jazz studies and contemporary media, music education, theory, conducting, and musicology. Its faculty includes Grammy winners, Guggenheim Fellows, ASCAP Award recipients, and recording artists. Eastman's prominent alumni include opera singers Renée Fleming, Anthony Dean Griffey, Joyce Castle, and the late William Warfield; jazz musicians Ron Carter, Steve Gadd, and Chuck Mangione; composer-conductor Maria Schneider; and composers Dominick Argento, Charles Strouse, Michael Torke, and Jeff Beal.

TICKETS: $20 Individual; $10 Students/Seniors. Call the Merkin Concert Hall box office at 212-501-3330, or visit online at www.merkinconcerthall.org. The box office is located at 129 W. 67th St. between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue.