The last Rochester Overture newsletter went out over two weeks ago, during the Rochester Fringe Festival. That’s not because we’ve been relaxing. Rochester Overture has been busy covering the abundance of events and news happening right now. Let’s recap.
The Rochester Fringe Festival concluded on Saturday, September 26. Rochester Overture covered 22 shows over the festival’s 12 days, more than any other media outlet. We were especially fortunate to have insights from two contributing writers: the always quick-witted Julia Figueras (former music director of WXXI) and film and comedy expert Sudha Brightman. With over 715 events, there were so many worthy shows. Our picks covered a cross-section of shows we thought the public would be interested in across all the disciplines showcased at the festival, and, of course, shows we personally wanted to see. We tried to cover shows with repeat performances, but we also highlighted noteworthy events and local performers even when that was not the case.
One of my personal favorite shows was Window Scrolling, at the stringed instrument shop Delmonico & Dugdale. The concept, having audiences watch a performance from the street through the store’s glass window, challenged concert conventions in an exciting, theatrical way. You can read the review and photo gallery here. Another probing show was Jessica Creane’s Tea Party at the End of the World. Because this was the first fringe festival I'd ever attended, in Rochester or elsewhere, I hadn’t been to an immersive theater show before. By immersive, I mean a show where the audience is a part of it, and it feels like an experience. At Tea Party, as the title suggests, we drank tea, but we were also guided through a personal story of loss and love and invited to consider our own stories. The beautiful show was held in the Fringe Festival’s new Garden Studio next to the Spiegeltent.
I ended Fringe with a packed Saturday, including Kid’s Day events, a performance by the talented and hilarious Paradigm Shift Dance Company, and some of Fringe Street Beat, the annual street-dance competition. Read and see some shots of the last day, with a wrap-up on the festival:
Rochester Fringe’s 15th Year Concludes
Not a week later, Rochester hosted another major event: the return of Alarm Will Sound, an internationally known, Grammy-winning contemporary music ensemble that began as students at the Eastman School of Music. The concert, on Saturday, October 3rd, was part of the University of Rochester’s Meliora Weekend. The concert offered several entry points: it was a sneak preview of the ensemble’s soon-to-be-released album New Acoustica, coming out on Cantaloupe Records on October 23, and a follow-up to the ensemble's first studio recording, Acoustica (2005), which put them on the map. It also celebrated 25 years since the ensemble formed at Eastman. We wrote a review of the concert in anticipation of the upcoming release:
Sounding the Alarm: Alarm Will Sound Celebrated 25 Years at Eastman
It would be a shame to miss local celebrations for one of America’s greatest living composers, minimalist pioneer Steve Reich, who recently turned 90. Eastman School of Music ensembles Musica Nova and the Eastman Percussion Ensemble performed a Reich concert during Fringe, but we couldn’t make it. Fortunately, Rochester’s Cordancia, a community orchestra that plays adventurous works, is performing multiple concerts of Reich’s Tehillim over the coming weekend. The concert features the nationally-known Quince Ensemble, a vocal quartet, and also has a work by MacArthur “Genius” Grant winning-composer Courtney Bryan.
Cordancia Celebrates Steve Reich’s 90th Birthday
We were also excited to hear that the documentary film “Dear Lara” would get a local showing at The Little Theatre. The film examines the unfortunate structures of abuse in classical music and is produced and narrated by virtuoso violinist Lara St. John, who claims she was sexually assaulted and raped by her former professor at the Curtis Institute of Music. The film has been making waves across North America and Europe and has prompted needed discussions about safety and responsibility in our field. I urge everyone who wants classical music to be a safer place to go see this film, which will be shown on Saturday, October 10 at 3:30 p.m. at the Little Theatre. The film will be followed by a virtual panel discussion with filmmaker St. John and oboist and activist Katherine Needleman.
Local “Dear Lara”’ Screening Confronts Abuse in Classical Music
And in a bit of great news, the Memorial Art Gallery just announced a ‘Save the Date’ for its free admission initiative: admission will be free for all starting on May 1, 2027. You can read Rochester Overture’s news item here.
But this is only a small section of the worthy things happening in Rochester right now. Off the top of my head, there are at least 15 more stories I would love us to publish about what is happening. That would include the Gateways Music Festival, exhibitions happening at the Memorial Art Gallery and Rochester Contemporary Art Center, a staged concert of Grieg’s Peer Gynt performed by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra with actor John de Lancie, and the ImageOut Film Festival, along with many great shows in our theater community, which we don’t have the capacity to significantly cover yet.
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Featured photo: Paradigm Shift Dance Company by Anna Reguero.