Aram Demirjian, Music Director, The Knoxville Symphony
“…The phenomenal faculty challenged and encouraged me, and I felt a true sense of validation about what I was learning and how I was growing. Mark Shapiro is an excellent instructor who teaches to the unique needs of each individual student, while also fostering a sense of community among the conductors. He took time to get to know me as a person, pushed me outside of my comfort zone (particularly in regard to score reading at the piano!), was patient and gave me the tools I needed to overcome challenges I faced in my conducting at that time. My only regret about my EAMA experience is that I was only able to attend for one summer. My career has happily kept me busy enough that I cannot commit to a month in Paris(!), but if I could, I would go back every year. I’ve seldom felt more musically fulfilled.“
Beth Willer, Founder and Artistic Director, Lorelei Ensemble
“…My experience with EAMA was the jolt I needed to dive more courageously into the world of contemporary music as a conductor. I was particularly shaped by the pedagogy of Mark Shapiro and Phiip Lasser, encouraging me to look at the score with a macro and micro lens.
Just months after my return, I founded Lorelei Ensemble, premiering works by three EAMA colleagues and including a performer from the program. To this day, my experience at EAMA continues to shape my own pedagogy as a teacher of young conductors and musicians, and as an advocate for new music in the vocal ensemble sphere.”“
Steve Lewis, Music Director, Midwest Chamber Ensemble
“My two summers at EAMA were the most important of my musical life. In my training before EAMA, theory, ear training, and other elements of musicianship, were always presented in isolation from each other, so that’s how I thought of them. But at EAMA, our classes in solfège, harmony, and counterpoint were focused on how all the elements of music interact.
Harmony class was the real trifecta of musicianship: we wrote, we sang, we played everything, and that’s how it all came together for me. My musical awareness increased dramatically and the difference that’s made when I’m on the podium is impossible to overstate. Whether in a rehearsal or performance, “the nuts and bolts” of a piece are always there, leaving more time for the real art: making music.“