2025 – Institute for Music Leadership

Composition: Zohn Collective Residency

jdunn — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 21:12:25 +0000

Zohn Collective, an acclaimed new music ensemble, enjoyed a busy, fruitful four-day residency at Eastman. Ensemble members presented a reading of works by student composers, offered career coaching through the IML, and recorded an episode of the IML’s “Careers in Crescendo” podcast; while visiting composers in town for the project presented in the Composition Symposium and First-Year Colloquium. The residency culminated in a well-attended concert on the Faculty Artist Series, led by composition professors Daniel Pesca and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon. This residency was also supported by the UR Humanities Center, the Ditson Fund at Columbia University, and New Music USA.

Tetra String Quartet: Songs of Change: Empowering Incarcerated Youth Through Music

jdunn — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 19:30:24 +0000

The Tetra String Quartet (Jenna Dalbey) won a Paul R Judy Center for Innovation and Research Grant for their project “Songs of Change: Empowering Incarcerated Youth Through Music.” The Tetra String Quartet began working with incarcerated populations in 2011 when they performed for the Prison Entrepreneurship Program in Cleveland, Texas. In 2015, Tetra launched a partnership with Maricopa County’s Durango Juvenile Detention Center (DJDC) by providing educational concerts for their community. Tetra worked closely with Durango’s leadership and staff to cultivate a curriculum that meets their needs. In 2021, Tetra expanded their residency by joining forces with local changemaker rapper Colby Jeffers to present three hour song/rap writing workshops for DJDC youth six times a year.

Connor Higley: Development of a Novel Tuba Ergonomics Stand

jdunn — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 19:24:05 +0000

Tuba players struggle to find an instrument ergonomics setup that provides ease, efficiency, and comfort in their playing. The instrument, by its acoustical requirements, is large and because of this, is not designed to conform to players’ anatomy and body structure. Current products do not provide musicians with a complete ergonomic solution; factors of manufacturing cost and complexities from natural variations of human and instrument make a true custom solution difficult. I am proposing a novel tuba stand that addresses the need for a custom solution while remaining accessible to all levels of performers. This grant will provide me with partial monetary offset, facilitating the design and physical manufacture of a prototype for market.

Ted Ekstrand: QuinTed Community Recital

jdunn — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 19:23:01 +0000

“QuinTed” will be performing an outreach concert in conjunction with Rochester Museum and Science Center (RMSC). The concert will take place in the planetarium and will feature space and star themed music arranged for brass quintet under the stars of the planetarium. As a part of this performance, we will commission an Eastman student composer, Nathanael Kumar, to write a new 12-15 minute multi-movement piece for brass quintet themed around space. This new commission will be made with the visual capabilities of the RMSC planetarium in mind and played alongside familiar pieces such as Holst’s “The Planets” and music from Star Wars. Our program will be targeted toward 6-12 year olds and will both introduce them to brass instruments and teach them about space.

Nathanael Kumar: BM Degree Recital

jdunn — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 19:20:57 +0000

Alongside Rochester’s Scandinavian Heritage Society (SHS), Nathanael presented a promotional concert featuring Scandinavian selections from his degree recital. This concert was held at a local church in October, helping Nathanael forge connections beyond the “Eastman bubble” and motivating attendees to visit campus for his November degree recital. Nathanael maintained connection and interest through reminders and social media content posted semiweekly, discussing and performing excerpts of the music, until my his degree recital.

Lexi Kunz, Percussive Arts Society International Convention

ayoung69 — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 15:48:16 +0000

Percussionist Lexi Kunz won a Special Opportunity Grant to attend the 50th anniversary of the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC). The conference allowed Lexi to build relationships, make new professional connections, take a mock audition, and learn about the multiple facets of the percussion industry. “Attending PASIC50 was life-changing, and I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to do so. I gained networking skills and a fresh perspective that will help my future business and leadership endeavors.”

Jane Vourlekis, Suzuki Unit 1 Training

ayoung69 — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 15:30:11 +0000

Recent ESM masters graduate Jane Vourlekis won a Special Opportunity Grant to pursue Suzuki Unit 1 training with David Strom, a Suzuki trainer based in Northern Virginia. Jane was able to attend weekly virtual classes with other violin and viola students. She plans to use this certification to develop her career as a teacher and an arts leader in the community and foster each student’s growth as a whole person, in addition to their musical growth.

Strings, Harp, Guitar: Mike Block

jdunn — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 13:40:34 +0000

David Ying coordinated a visit with cellist Mike Block. Mike gave a talk about his musical career performing in alternative styles, creating educational camps and experiences and marketing musical and cello related products. Additionally, Mike spent time at the IML meeting with students individually and sharing insights on his journey. Thanks to IML for helping to bring a musician like Mike to help our students at Eastman!

Olly Bangia: Arts Empowering Life Summer Residency

arubin7 — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 20:24:03 +0000

With their Special Opportunity Grant, Olly Bangia attended the 2025 Arts Empowering Life Summer Residency in Boston, MA. They learned from renowned faculty members and connected with chamber percussionists from across the US, as well as recorded in a professional recording studio and observed the mixing and mastering of his own recordings. Bangia also collaborated with new musicians to put together a chamber music concert at the end of the week-long festival, and attended panel discussions with accomplished percussion professors from around the country. Bangia says, “This experience gave me insight I didn’t know I needed, whether it was in panel discussions, the experience of professionally recording in a studio, and the musical collaboration with percussionists from all over the country. This has been a great opportunity to learn about many aspects of being a musician in the professional world!”

Julian Stuart-Burns: Toward a Distant Spring

arubin7 — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 20:14:29 +0000

As a graduate student in composition at the Eastman School of Music, Julian Stuart-Burns staged a concert titled “Toward a Distant Spring” featuring chamber works with strings which played with just intonation and microtonality in unique ways. Stuart-Burns was mentored by ESM faculty member Dr. Daniel Pesca on this project and collaborated with friends Ko Muramatsu, Johnny Macmillan, and Logan Barrett. Stuart-Burns says “I am so grateful for the opportunity to have staged this concert and have received such useful feedback. Thank you for giving me this chance to explore new techniques and new sounds!”