Eastman Presents

This is the end of the fourth year of the Eastman Presents series – how time flies! It’s come a long way from the second concert:  Arturo Sandoval, which was pathetically underattended, possibly because it was a Sunday afternoon and there was some kind of sports on TV. It seems that Eastman has learned that Sunday afternoons in the fall are not a good time for a concert; all of their current presentations are now at night. Happily, they have also decided next year to start all concerts at 7:30, instead of 8!

I have greatly enjoyed the variety of the series over the years – from symphonic concerts to jazz to Broadway divas to comedians. There’s definitely something for everyone. And while I haven’t loved every concert, I have more than once been surprised by how much I’ve enjoyed a performance I never would have attended had it not been part of a subscription purchase. In the case of this series, you really have to go to know, because there are no repeats – if you wait, it’ll be too late.

Each year, they program a “must see” for me, as if the Director of Concert Activities were in my head. The first year it was Bernadette Peters. The second, it was Kristin Chenoweth, last year, it was Kelli O’Hara (are you seeing a pattern?), and this year it was Patti LuPone. Each of them gave outstanding performances, of course! This season, the concert that surprise-delighted me was Che Malambo, an all-male Argentinian dance group that was incredible, and so much more than just dancing.

The series started out with six concerts and grew to eight in the 2016/17 season, which I felt was too many, when you consider that they are competing for audience with the other more established series, such as the RPO, Geva, and RBTL. For the 2018/19 season, which is on sale now, they have sensibly pared it back to five. This leaves time to explore some of the other wonderful Eastman concert offerings, like Dawn Upshaw, and Beatrice Rana, who was a soloist with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia – Rome in this past series. There are no Broadway divas in the lineup, but there’s something better: Pink Martini! I’ve seen them twice before, but could see them perform every year, no, every month, and not get enough. To see the complete series, go to:

http://eastmantheatre.org/events/?criteria=event_series&series=Eastman%20Presents%20Series