ESM - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Recruiting & Employment Specialist
Job Titles:
- Member of the ADMISSIONS TEAM
- Assistant Director of Admissions
Danielle is the counselor for Jazz & Contemporary Media, Musicology, and Strings, Harp & Guitar applicants.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Advancement
Job Titles:
- Professor of Music Teaching and Learning
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Tuba
Bonita Boyd has premiered numerous works, including Samuel Adler's Concerto for Flute and Orchestra (1977), Warren Benson's Five Lyrics of Louis Bogan (1978) and Concertino for Flute, Strings, and Percussion, Sonata for Solo Flute of Miklos Rosza (1983), Eclipse Musings of Augusta Reed Thomas (1998), Eric Sessler's Hammerhead for Flute and Guitar (2006), the first performance at the National Flute Association Convention of Melinda Wagner's Pulitzer Award-winning Flute Concerto (2010), and has made the premiere recordings of many others, including Roberto Sierra's Concierto Caribe (1996), Liptak Songs of Persephone (2010), and Maslanka's Duo for Flute and Piano (1997). Her recording, Flute Music of Les Six, was honored by Stereo Review in its Record of the Year Awards, and her Paganini Caprices CD was on the final ballot for a Grammy nomination. Recent releases include the premiere recording of Bernstein's Halil (chamber version), and a new CD, Quicksilver, with renowned guitarist Nicholas Goluses and guest artist, Metropolitan opera star, Katherine Lewek.
Bonita has made radio recordings with the Bavarian Rundfunk, Oslo, West Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Hague, Brussels, Australian Broadcasting, and Canadian Broadcasting networks. Among her television specials have been two PBS Television Specials as soloist, Tokyo recital debut televised on Japanese Cable Television, Santa Domingo Symphony soloist debut on Latin American National Television, and a solo debut with the Polish Radio Orchestra on live Polish National Television.
Ms. Boyd has recently been named a Lifetime Achievement Award winner by the National Flute Association, joining the ranks of such legendary flutists as James Galway and Julius Baker.
Bonita has been awarded the Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching by the Eastman School of Music, and her students occupy major orchestral and teaching posts throughout the world. She and her late husband, Christian Soderstrom, a Swedish engineer, have three sons.
Job Titles:
- Member of the ADMISSIONS TEAM
- Senior Admissions Counselor
Job Titles:
- Professor of Percussion Paul
Job Titles:
- Professor of Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media Chair, Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media Department
Job Titles:
- Professor of Piano / Director, Piano Pedagogy Studies
Job Titles:
- Instrument Office Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Director of Admissions
- Member of the ADMISSIONS TEAM
Colby is the Director of Admissions for the Eastman School of Music
Job Titles:
- Human Resource Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Musical Director
- Professor of Music Teaching and Learning
Christopher Azzara is a native of Virginia and attended public schools in Fairfax County. After receiving the Bachelor of Music degree from George Mason University (1981), he taught instrumental music in the Fairfax County Public Schools and performed as a pianist in the Washington D.C. area. He later received a Master of Music (1988) and a Ph.D. in Music Education (1992) from the Eastman School of Music. Prior to joining the Eastman faculty, Dr. Azzara was a professor at The Hartt School of Music, Dance, and Theatre of the University of Hartford, CT (1991-2002). Azzara joined the Eastman faculty in 2002 and was chair of the Music Teaching & Learning Department (then called the Music Education Department) from 2010-2018. In 2022, as an Eastman professor, Azzara received the University of Rochester's Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, which recognizes a record of distinguished undergraduate teaching and a commitment to helping less experienced faculty colleagues and teaching assistants master their craft. In 2023, Christopher Azzara was named Eisenhart Professor of Music Teaching & Learning, the oldest endowed professorship at the Eastman School of Music.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Admissions
- Member of the ADMISSIONS TEAM
Christina is the counselor for Composition, Conducting, Music Leadership, and Voice applicants.
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean of Equity and Inclusion
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Music, Teaching & Learning
Job Titles:
- Manager of Stage Operations
Job Titles:
- Human Resource & Finance Office Assistant
Job Titles:
- Ticketing & Box Office Manager
Job Titles:
- Assistant Manager of Stage Operations ( Kilbourn )
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- Photos - Welcome Reception With the Dean
- Reception With the Dean
Job Titles:
- Human Resource & Administrative Operations Director
Job Titles:
- Founder of Eastman Kodak Company
Industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak Company, established the Eastman School of Music in 1921 as the first professional school of the University of Rochester.
Job Titles:
- Admissions Counselor
- Member of the ADMISSIONS TEAM
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Flute & Piccolo / Chair, Chamber Music Department
Job Titles:
- Joan and Martin Messinger Dean
- Joan and Martin Messinger Dean / Director, Howard Hanson Institute for American Music / Professor of Woodwinds
Jamal J. Rossi is the Joan and Martin Messinger Dean of the Eastman School of Music. Having served in leadership roles in music for more than two decades, Rossi has spearheaded significant collaborative educational and community initiatives and has wide-ranging experience in academic scholarship and leadership, teaching, performance, recording, and fundraising.
Prior to his appointment as Dean, Rossi served as the Executive Associate Dean at Eastman. Previous academic leadership appointments include serving as Dean of the School of Music at the University of South Carolina, and Assistant and Associate Dean of the Ithaca College School of Music.
An active saxophone soloist and chamber musician, Rossi is featured on numerous recordings, he has commissioned/premiered more than twenty compositions, and he has been a soloist with symphony orchestras and military/college/university bands. His articles and reviews have appeared in leading wind publications. A founding and current member of the Kilbourn Saxophone Quartet, Rossi was formerly a member of the Carolina and Empire saxophone quartets. Rossi earned a Bachelor of Music Education and Performance degree from Ithaca College (summa cum laude), the Master of Music from the University of Michigan, and the Doctor of Musical Arts from the Eastman School of Music.
Rossi is active with numerous national, regional, and local arts and civic organizations including the National Association of Schools of Music, the New York State Association of College Music Programs, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council, and the North American Saxophone Alliance.
Leadership
Eastman's Joan and Martin Messinger Dean is Jamal J. Rossi. His support includes Eastman's senior leadership staff and a national council.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media
Job Titles:
- Concert Office Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Finance and Administration
Job Titles:
- Jazz Studies & Contemporary Media
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Marketing & Communications
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Concert Operations
Job Titles:
- Communications Office Staff Member
- Creative and Design Manager
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Music Teaching and Learning
Job Titles:
- Communications Office Staff Member
- Executive Director of Marketing & Communications
Job Titles:
- Professor of Trombone / Chair, Woodwinds, Brass & Percussion
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Operations
Job Titles:
- Communications Office Staff Member
- Communications Administrative Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Communications Office Staff Member
- Associate Director of Web Services
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor to the Dean
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant to the Dean
Job Titles:
- Communications Office Staff Member
- Designer and Graphics Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Violin - Principal Second Violin, National Symphony Orchestra
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Trumpet
Job Titles:
- Welcome Center Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Assistant Manager of Stage Operations ( Hatch )
Job Titles:
- Director of Concert Operations
Job Titles:
- Cello - Free - Lance Musician and Instructor of Chamber Music
Job Titles:
- Manager of Instrument Services
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Musicology
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean & Director of the Eastman Community Music School
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Jazz Saxophone
Job Titles:
- Director, ESM Strategic Initiatives / Director, Institute for Music Leadership
Job Titles:
- Communications Office Staff Member
- Senior Writer & Editorial Manager
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs
Job Titles:
- Instructor of Music Teaching and Learning
Job Titles:
- Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Timpani
Job Titles:
- Joan and Martin Messinger Dean
Job Titles:
- Communications Office Staff Member
- Assistant Director of PR & Digital Content
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Music Teaching & Learning / Chair, Music Teaching and Learning
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Jazz Studies & Contemporary Music
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Music Teaching and Learning
Job Titles:
- Piano and Harpsichord Technician
Job Titles:
- Professor of Jazz Studies & Contemporary Media / Chair, Jazz Studies & Contemporary Media Department
Job Titles:
- Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media
Job Titles:
- Visiting Instructor of Horn
Job Titles:
- Jazz Studies & Contemporary Media, Piano
Job Titles:
- Professor Emeritus of Music Theory
Job Titles:
- Contemporary Media & Film Composition
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Clarinet