James Jenkins, long-time Eastern Music Festival faculty member, works one-on-one with a student musician. Photo courtesy Eastern Music Festival |
The Eastern Music Festival
This six-week teaching and performing summer
festival for talented musicians represents a high point in
Greensboro's cultural calendar, attracting more than 50,000
audience members each summer. Equally important, the festival
has helped to keep the tradition of classical orchestral and
piano music alive in the United States and around the world by
preparing musicians, age 14 to 20, for professional-level
standards of musicianship.
The festival was founded in 1962 by music director
Sheldon Morgenstern, who sought to create a festival that would
bring together students and professional musicians in an atmosphere
of mutual respect. The emphasis would be on learning, not
performing. The festival found its home at Guilford College, which
has an excellent 1,012-seat performance hall.
The first festival opened with 75 students and a
program in band, orchestra, and piano. In 1999, renown pianist
Andre-Michel Schub became Eastern Music Festival's second permanent
artistic director. The faculty consists of outstanding musicians
selected from leading orchestras and music schools. Beside weekly
concerts, orchestra members provide masterful teaching to 200
international students, who receive individual attention achieved
from a 2.5-student-to-1-faculty ratio. Guest artists in residence
teach two master classes each week. Students have many performance
opportunities in orchestra and chamber concerts, alongside faculty,
and in piano recitals.
Documentation includes text about the festival and
its founder, 15 slides, and a 1999 program.
Originally submitted by: Howard Coble, Representative (6th District).
More Local Legacies... |
|
|
The Local Legacies project provides a "snapshot" of American Culture as it was expressed in spring of 2000. Consequently, it is not being updated with new or revised information with the exception of "Related Website" links.
Learn More About It... |
|
|
|