Students at the Frost School of Music will get additional inspiration from many of the extraordinary artists appearing on the Frost Music Live! concert series beyond hearing them in performance. Ten of the Signature Series visiting artists will also teach masterclasses on campus, giving students an intimate learning experience with these exceptional musicians.
Here's a look at the outstanding visiting artists teaching this year. (Frost School professors and departments will share details in advance of each masterclass.)
Classical saxophonist Timothy McAllister
September 20 – Masterclass
September 21 – Performance with the Frost Symphony Orchestra
Hailed as "a virtuoso" (The New York Times) and "a titan of contemporary music" (The Cleveland Plain Dealer), contemporary soprano saxophonist Timothy McAllister is a singularly accomplished musician and influential advocate of new music. McAllister has premiered over 250 works by contemporary composers, including major works by John Adams and John Corigliano (whose "Triathlon" he'll play with the FSO); performed with great orchestras around the world; and recorded over 50 albums. McAlister, the soprano chair of the famed PRISM Quartet, is also a dedicated educator who's taught at the Eastman School of Music and the Interlochen Center for the Arts. He's currently Professor of Saxophone at The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance.
Seraph Brass
September 26 – Masterclass
September 27 – Reading Session
September 26 – Performance
Trumpet soloist Mary Elizabeth Bowden founded Seraph Brass a decade ago to showcase female brass players and highlight musicians from marginalized groups in their membership and repertoire. Praised for their "staggeringly high caliber of performance" (Textura), Seraph Brass has commissioned multiple new pieces and toured the world. Members have performed with top orchestras in the U.S. and Europe, and on tour with pop singer Adele. They're also dedicated music educators, whose workshops range from traditional technique instruction to entrepreneurship.
Pianist Boris Berman
September 28 – Masterclass
September 29 – Performance
A superb Russian-born and trained classical pianist, Boris Berman has accumulated a dizzying series of accomplishments since leaving the Soviet Union in 1973. He's performed solo and with major orchestras and chamber groups in fifty countries, while his recording repertoire extends from highly acclaimed recordings of all Prokofiev's solo piano works to John Cage and Debussy for children. A dedicated teacher who's taught masterclasses worldwide, he authored the acclaimed book "Notes From a Pianist's Bench," and currently heads the piano department at Yale School of Music.
Soprano Lindsay Kesselman
October 4 – Masterclass
October 6 – Performance with the Frost Wind Ensemble
Two-time GRAMMY nominee Lindsay Kesselman is known for her warm spirit, collaborative ethos, and ability to communicate intimately with audiences. She is a passionate advocate of contemporary music who has commissioned or premiered over 100 works, collaborating with symphonies, wind ensembles, opera companies, and new music ensembles around the United States. Kesselman is an Assistant Professor of Voice and Choral Performance at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her workshops go beyond vocal technique to cover a wide range of artistic and career topics, such as interdisciplinary collaboration and harnessing vulnerability in performance.
Trumpeter Sean Jones
October 7 – Masterclass
October 8 – Performance with the Frost Jazz Orchestra
A giant of jazz trumpet, Sean Jones has been the lead trumpeter of Wynton Marsalis's Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra; recorded or performed with jazz icons like Illinois Jacquet, Jimmy Heath, Nancy Wilson, Dianne Reeves, and Marcus Miller; and is the former chair of the Brass department at Berklee College of Music. A bandleader, composer, educator, and activist dedicated to community engagement, Jones is the artistic director of the NYO JAZZ Program of Carnegie Hall, for outstanding teenage jazz musicians; and a member of the Baltimore Jazz Collective, a consortium of jazz musicians, composers, and community advocates.
Classical guitarist Hao Yang
October 26 – Masterclass
October 25 – Recital
The Chinese-born Hao Yang is a virtuoso, innovative young classical guitarist who's performed at Carnegie Hall and other major venues and guitar festivals. The winner of multiple competitions, Yang is one of just 25 musicians with Astral Artists, a Philadelphia non-profit that mentors extraordinary young classical musicians.
Trombonist and composer Wycliffe Gordon
November 20 – Masterclass
November 21 – Performance with the Frost Studio Jazz Band accompanying "Within Our Gates" for Silent Film Night
A veteran of the Wynton Marsalis Septet and original member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Wycliffe Gordon has performed with a dizzying range of jazz and pop artists, from David Sanborn, Dianne Reeves, Dizzy Gillespie, Arturo Sandoval, and Lionel Hampton to Paul Simon, Anat Cohen, and Natalie Merchant. He's a former Professor at the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music, and has been artist-in-residence at numerous institutions worldwide. Gordon has been commissioned by groups ranging from Harlem's famed Apollo Theater to children's choirs, often for historical or commemorative occasions. His score for "Within Our Gates" is one of two Gordon was commissioned to compose for historic Black films.
Saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Scott Robinson
Date TBD - Masterclass
January 31 – performance with The Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra
A master of every saxophone, Scott Robinson is also famed for playing multiple instruments, from clarinet, flute, and trumpet to rare, obscure instruments like the sarrusophone (a double-reed woodwind.) Robinson has played on over 275 recordings with artists ranging from Ron Carter and Paquito D'Rivera to David Bowie and Henry Mancini Institute Artistic Director Maria Schneider. He's also a master improviser; Schneider says Robinson's "level of mastery and expressivity are in a category all his own."
Dover Quartet
February 10 – Masterclass
February 10 – Performance with the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra
February 11 – Chamber coaching
Called one of the greatest string quartets of the last century by BBC Music Magazine, the dynamic young Dover Quartet is a two-time GRAMMY nominee who've won numerous major competitions and honors. They've collaborated with Emanuel Ax, the Esther String Quartet, and vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth and premiered works by Mason Bates and Steven Mackey's theatrical-musical work Memoir. The Dover Quartet builds on tradition while integrating cutting-edge digital engagement and new technology with the help of its faculty residency at Philadelphia's renowned Curtis Institute of Music.
Jazz vocal group New York Voices
February 15 – Masterclass
February 14 – Valentine's Day performance with Frost Jazz Vocal Ensembles
The beloved, internationally famed jazz vocal quartet New York Voices comes to the Frost School as part of their farewell tour, as they prepare to retire after 38 years of jazz vocal fireworks. Frost School students will have a rare chance to learn from "The Four and Only" (as Paquito D'Rivera dubbed them).
Composer Jeff Beal
Date TBD – Masterclass
April 18 – Performance with The Henry Mancini Insitute Orchestra accompanying "The General" for Silent Film Night
Five-time Emmy-winning composer and jazz musician Jeff Beal has composed scores for major films, directors, and television series, including Ed Harris's "Pollock" and Lauren Greenfeld's "The Queen of Versailles," as well as Netflix's "House of Cards" and HBO's "Rome" and "The Newsroom." (He also composes for dance companies and a range ofmusic groups.) Known for his Americana scores, humor, and ability to illuminate narratives and emotion with music, Beal orchestrates, conducts, mixes (and sometimes performs on) his own scores. The HMI Orchestra plays his score to bring new life to Buster Keaton's 1926 comic masterpiece "The General."
