The Eastman School of Music's Phiharmonia is teaming up with some prestigious alumnae in a New York City production this fall.
The student orchestra will take the stage with at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. They're performing a modern opera drawn from the letters of Georgia O'Keeffe, the American artist.
The composition was written by Pulitzer Prize winner and Eastman graduate Kevin Puts, who wrote it to be performed specifically by a fellow Eastman alum, renowned soprano Renee Fleming.
Dean Jamal Rossi says this is a special concert, and not just because so many Eastman students and former students are working together.
"What particularly excites me is the fact that the Eastman School of Music was really conceived to be America's music school, and to promote American music. I believe with this commission we have forged a new path to continue this tradition."
Before the show in New York, the ensemble will perform the composition in Rochester as part of the Eastman Presents Series, which is something Fleming says she's particularly excited about.
"Doing a world premiere here for the first time, with an illustrious composer as he is, and then also doing it New York is a real feather in the cap of the Eastman School and for me as well."
The New York City performance is November 14th, 2016, and the Rochester performance is two days earlier on November 12th.
