Experience Rochester

Presented by the
University of Rochester Alumni Board

featuring
Gregg August ’87E
Nominee for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album

Sarah Brailey ’04E
Nominee for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album

Brian Giebler ’10E
Nominee for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album

Malcolm J. Merriweather ’10E (MM)
Nominee for Best Choral Performance

Maria Schneider ’85E (MM)
Nominee for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
Nominee for Best Instrumental Composition

and moderated by
Rachel Roberts ’03E
Associate Professor and Graduate Degree Program Director,
Eastman School of Music’s Institute for Music Leadership


Thursday, January 14, 2021
Noon - 1:00 p.m. (ET)
Virtual

In December 2020, there were 15 Eastman School of Music alumni and faculty who received nominations for the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc.’s 63rd GRAMMY® Awards. Every year, members of the Eastman community earn these coveted, prestigious awards—to-date they’ve earned 57 of them.

Five of this year’s nominees—Gregg August ’87E, Sarah Brailey ’04E, Brian Giebler ’10E, Malcolm Merriweather ’10E (MM), and Maria Schneider ’85E (MM)—will join us for an inspired Experience Rochester discussion about music, performance, and the essential role of art and music in their lives and in all our lives.


We kindly ask that you register in advance by clicking the "Register Here" button above. If you have a question you would like to share with our speakers in advance, please include it on your form when you register. They will answer as many of the participants' questions as time allows.

A link to join the online program will be included in your confirmation email upon registering.

Speaker bios:

Gregg August ’87E
For his Dialogues On Race, bassist and composer Gregg August recently earned a GRAMMY® nomination in the category of Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. August’s work spans classical, avant-garde, jazz and Latin jazz worlds, making him one of today’s most versatile musicians. He is an associate member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, Westchester Philharmonic, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. August is the former principal bass of La Orquestra Ciutat de Barcelona and the Brooklyn Philharmonic. He is also a member of the JD Allen Trio, having recorded nine albums with the group, as well as Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, with whom he’s won five GRAMMY® Awards. In addition, he was awarded two Grand Prizes by the International Society of Bassists for the 2020 David Walter Composers Competition in both the Chamber Ensemble and Bass Ensemble categories. August has his own record label, Iacuessa Records, and he is passionate about using music as a way to bring awareness and foster understanding about race issues.

Sarah Brailey ’04E
Sarah Brailey received her GRAMMY® Award nomination this year for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for The Prison. Brailey enjoys a diverse recording and performing career, which has included soloing in Handel’s Messiah with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, performing with Kanye West and Roomful of Teeth at the Hollywood Bowl, and recording cello and vocal soundscapes for the 2018 Fog x FLO Fujiko Nakaya public art installation in Boston’s Emerald Necklace park system. She has been hailed by The New York Times for her “radiant, liquid tone” and her “sweetly dazzling singing.” She is a featured soloist on numerous GRAMMY®-nominated albums including New York Polyphony’s Sing Thee Nowell, Wild Up’s The Pieces that Fall to Earth (Cerrone’s The Branch Will Not Break), and The Clarion Choir’s recording of Maximilian Steinberg’s Passion Week.

Brian Giebler ’10E
Brian Giebler’s debut solo album, A Lad’s Love, earned him his first GRAMMY® nomination for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album after making it onto Billboard’s Traditional Classical chart. The album has earned high praise from Gramophone, Opera News (Critic's Choice), and San Francisco Classical Voice, which notes “the beauty, sweetness, and youthful sheen of Brian Giebler’s extremely fine tenor is ideally suited for this collection of English songs.” Giebler is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he earned his master’s degree in vocal performance. He is also an alumnus of the Royal Academy of Music in London, England, holds a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from the Eastman School of Music, and was a Young Artist with the Aspen Opera Theater Center, Oregon Bach Festival, and Carmel Bach Festival.

Malcolm J. Merriweather ’10E (MM)
Malcolm J. Merriweather, a conductor and soloist, has earned his first GRAMMY® nomination in the category of Best Choral Performance for his role as baritone soloist in Moravec’s Sanctuary Road. The Dessoff Choirs album, Margaret Bonds: The Ballad of the Brown King & Selected Song (AVIE label), was also accepted into the nomination pool by the Academy. Merriweather was appointed music director of the Dessoff Choirs in 2015 and this album is the culmination of his scholarship and research surrounding the struggle and triumph of Black female composers in 20th century classical music. Given the historic and ongoing racial bias toward Black people in classical music, the world premiere recording of music by Margaret Bonds (1913-1972) is a significant contribution to the repertory. He is an associate professor, director of choral studies, and voice department coordinator at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and the artistic director of “Voices of Haiti,” a 60-member children’s choir in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, operated by the Andrea Bocelli Foundation. Merriweather earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting from the Manhattan School of Music after receiving his master’s degree from Eastman where he studied voice with Rita Shane and conducting with William Weinert.

Rachel Roberts ’03E
Rachel Roberts spearheads Eastman’s new master's degree in music leadership. Prior to this, she was the founder and director of the Entrepreneurial Musicianship Department at the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC). Roberts has held leadership positions in many organizations, including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Houston Symphony and worked with orchestras in Aspen, Detroit, South Dakota and Atlanta during the League of American Orchestras fellowship. She regularly presents workshops in North America and Europe at music conservatories, professional conferences, and as a consultant to arts and cultural agencies. She continues to perform in various chamber music settings, including as a member of the Essimar Trio, and she teaches flute, most recently as a faculty member at NEC’s Preparatory School. Roberts holds degrees from Eastman and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Education at UR’s Warner School of Education.

Maria Schneider ’85E (MM)
Maria Schneider just earned two GRAMMY® Award nominations: one for her double album, Data Lords, for Best Large Jazz Ensemble and another for Best Instrumental Composition for Sputnik. Her performances bridge a variety of musical genres from Jazz at Lincoln Center to the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra to the American Dance Festival and include collaborating with David Bowie. Schneider has received five GRAMMY® Awards, 14 GRAMMY® Award nominations, numerous Jazz Journalist Association awards, and many other honors and accolades. Schneider has testified before the US Congressional Subcommittee on Intellectual Property on digital rights; participated in round-tables for the US Copyright Office; been featured in a variety of media for her views on Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, Google, digital rights, and music piracy; and written white papers and articles on the digital economy and music.

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