Arts Features

Violinist Epongue Ekille from Rochester is one of the people calling for a greater recognition of Black musicians’ contributions to classical music. She shares her experiences and some listening recommendations.

Judi Vinar first saw Bobby McFerrin on the Grammy Awards back in the 80’s. “I was blown away,” she said by phone from her home in the Twin Cities. “When I first heard Bobby do a solo piece, you know, a lot of what he does is jump around with a bass note and octave note on top and somehow he fits the melody inside of that.” She went out and bought all his records. Vinar grew up listening to a wide range of styles from Julie Andrews musicals to Tom Jones LPs, soaking up styles like a sponge. She studied classical music and singing at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. But in her heart, she said, she was always drawn to pop music and jazz. And she’d not heard anyone sing like Bobby. When McFerrin was appointed creative chair of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in 1994, she jumped at the chance to sing with him. Her career as a singer, teacher, and conductor was taking off when she walked into a beautiful church and auditioned for him. “He was very focused,” she remembered. “He has this

David Temperley composes tuneful, expressive pieces in a classical mold, drawing on his experiences with chamber music and influences from the popular music he grew up listening to on the radio. He's also a music theorist who writes about rock music, including in his latest book The Musical Language of Rock . Read more about Temperley and his music in CITY Newspaper this week: "Having it Both Ways. The Music of Rochester Composer David Temperley." You can also hear his music and story in this radio feature:

To get to know Maria Newman, you have to understand who her father was. She is the daughter of nine time Academy award-winning film composer Alfred Newman, who wrote the 20th century Fox fanfare. Her brothers and cousin are equally famous; there’s Randy Newman of Toy Story fame, Thomas Newman, who scored Finding Nemo and Shawshank Redemption . Her brother David has scored nearly 100 films such as Galaxy Quest . It’s no exaggeration to say she comes from a musical dynasty.

The characters in Giacomo Puccini’s opera La Bohème start out as broad archetypes: the moody poet, a fun-loving musician, a lonely young woman dreaming of love, a flirtatious party girl… They're drawn in broad strokes, and it’s easy for everyone to see something of themselves, or their friends, in this group. But as the cast of this summer’s Finger Lakes Opera production of La Boheme discussed – the opera’s true power lies in how all these characters change.

Composer Margaret Brouwer lives in Ohio, near Lake Erie. She loves the natural beauty of the Great Lakes and she’s worried about them. She has composed her love for Lake Erie -- and her concerns for its future -- into a musical work called "Voice of the Lake ."

The summer solstice is “Make Music Day,” which is being celebrated in Rochester and around the world. If you’re downtown on Friday afternoon, you might notice a group of people standing in a circle with their arms linked. They’ll be doing the Heart Chant by composer Pauline Oliveros.

I see myself as an educator, and over time I have also seen myself more broadly as a part of the healing community, that music is a healing force. My participation in music and my representation of a living entity, bringing music to life and engaging with audiences, is a healing act. This is Professor Katherine Ciesinski . You might find her performing onstage in a grand opera house in Mexico; or maybe teaching in a studio at a conservatory; or maybe even taking notes in a science classroom. She is known among Eastman students as the professor who attends every performance and event, gives hours of voice lessons a week, and even pursues an additional degree outside of her teaching. Whether you spend a few minutes or almost an hour listening to her stories, you will find that this long time teacher still values the importance of being a life-long learner, as well as using music to heal people and tap into our deepest human emotions. Even as she moves forward, Professor Ciesinski never

Lynn Harrell has been a musical performer for most of his life. He started playing cello at a young age, and his professional career has spanned decades: he started playing in the Cleveland Orchestra at the age of 18, where he was then principal cellist from 1964 to 1971, and he has played solo and chamber music performances around the world. While still very busy with music, Harrell has recently tried something new: acting in a movie. It's a beautiful short film called Cello , where he portrays a (fictional) cellist named Ansel Evans, who has to deal with deblitating effects of ALS, and how it affects his relationship with his family and his music.

World-renowned composer, conductor, and pianist André Previn has died at the age of 89 . During his wide-ranging career, Previn wrote Oscar-winning movie scores, played piano on noted jazz recordings, conducted pretty much all the top orchestras. His compositions included an opera version of A Streetcar Named Desire, written for Renée Fleming in the starring role. And in 2014, he wrote a piece for the Eastman Wind Ensemble: Music for Wind Orchestra (No Strings Attached). When he visited for the premiere, Previn was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Rochester, and worked with students at the Eastman School of Music. Here is a remembrance, with selections from our interview during his time in Rochester. You can also listen to more of what he said about his experiences in music, along with some words of advice for music students in the extended interview here: Celebrating Andre Previn at 85 .