Han Lash | Composer
Han Lash | Composer
Eastman School of Music welcomes back composer Han Lash ‘04E for a Spring residency from March 13-17, 2023. The annual Howard Hanson Visiting Professor of Composition Residency includes a range of performances and masterclasses, all over the course of one week, including three events that are free and open to the public on March 14, 15 and 16.
“Han Lash is an eminent composer of works in their distinctive and unique voice, influenced by professional activities as a harpist and dancer,” shares Robert Morris, professor of composition who taught Lash during their time at Eastman. “Han is in touch with the rituals of classical music, creating pieces that are traditional in some respects, but then transforms them in ways that are both compelling and surprising.”
Hailed by The New York Times for writing music that is “striking and resourceful . . . handsomely brooding,” Lash is an American composer whose music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall, Lincoln Center, and Chicago Art Institute, among other prestigious venues. They have held teaching positions at the Mannes School of Music and Yale School of Music and is currently an associate professor of music in composition at Indiana University. Lash received a BM in composition from Eastman, artist diplomas from both the Cleveland Institute of Music and Yale and went on to receive a PhD in composition from Harvard.
Schedule of Events:
Tuesday, March 14 at 3:00 p.m. in Hatch Recital Hall
- Concert featuring music by Han Lash
- Performers: Han Lash, harp; Jaewon Jun, violin; Hannah Esquivel, viola; Danny O’Connell, cello; Arden Ingersoll, bass; Caleb Borick, piano; Benjamin Krutsch, voice; Chun-Hsin (Cynthia) Liu, piano
- Momenta Quartet performing string quartets by Han Lash and Robert Morris
- Performers: Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin; Alex Shiozaki, violin; Stephanie Griffin, viola; Michael Haas, cello
- Composition Symposium with Han Lash
As part of Eastman’s Centennial celebrations, Lash was commissioned to write a piece that was performed by the Eastman Chorale titled Canticum Psalmi Falsum (Sing-Psalms are False) (2021). In February 2022, Lash took part in a virtual series called “Conversations with Composers,” which provided behind-the-scenes commentary on the various Centennial Commissions prior to their premieres. Facilitated by the Dean of the Eastman School of Music, Jamal Rossi, Lash spoke with Dr. William Weinert and student performers. You can watch their conversation here.
Though that discussion took place just last year, Lash is excited to return to their alma mater in person; “It means so much to me to be returning home to the Eastman School of Music as the Howard Hanson Visiting Professor. My experience as an undergraduate at Eastman was profoundly formative.” Lash continues, “I think back to my extraordinary mentors with such gratitude. I have so much fondness for this wonderful institution and its faculty who nurtured and challenged me during my studies. I cannot wait to return for my week residency, reconnect with the composition department, and meet the students who are currently in the program. It is such an honor to have been invited back!”
This residency is sponsored by the Howard Hanson Institute for American Music and the Eastman Institute for American Music.
Media only: Lauren Sageer, Assistant Director of Public Relations and Digital Content,
(585) 451-8492, lsageer@esm.rochester.edu
About Han Lash:
Han Lash’s music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall, Lincoln Center, the Times Center in Manhattan, the Chicago Art Institute, Tanglewood Music Center, The Aspen Music Festival & School, among others. In 2016, Lash was honored with a Composer Portrait Concert at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre, which included commissioned works for pianist Lisa Moore and loadbang. In the 2017-2018 season, Lash’s Piano Concerto No. 1 “In Pursuit of Flying” was premiered by Jeremy Denk and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; the Atlantic Classical Orchestra debuted Facets of Motion for orchestra, and Music for Nine, Ringing was performed at the Music Academy of the West School and Festival. Paul Appleby and Natalia Katyukova premiered Songs of Imagined Love, a song cycle commissioned by Carnegie Hall, in 2018, and in 2019, Lash’s chamber opera, Desire, premiered at Miller Theatre to great acclaim. Lash’s Double Concerto for piano and harp was premiered by the Naples Philharmonic, and Forestallings, a musical response to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major, was premiered by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Lash’s double harp concerto, The Peril of Dreams was premiered by the Seattle Symphony in November 2021, with the composer as one of the featured soloists. Han Lash’s music is published exclusively by Schott Music Corporation (New York).
About Eastman School of Music:
The Eastman School of Music was founded in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman (1854–1932), founder of Eastman Kodak Company. It was the first professional school of the University of Rochester. Mr. Eastman’s dream was that his school would provide a broad education in the liberal arts as well as superb musical training.
More than 900 students are enrolled in the Collegiate Division of the Eastman School of Music—about 500 undergraduates and 400 graduate students. They come from almost every state, and approximately 23 percent are from other countries. They are taught by a faculty comprised of more than 130 highly regarded performers, composers, conductors, scholars, and educators. They are Pulitzer Prize winners, Grammy winners, Emmy winners, Guggenheim fellows, ASCAP Award recipients, published authors, recording artists, and acclaimed musicians who have performed in the world’s greatest concert halls. Each year, Eastman’s students, faculty members, and guest artists present more than 900 concerts to the Rochester community. Additionally, more than 1,700 members of the Rochester community, from young children through senior citizens, are enrolled in the Eastman Community Music School.
About the University of Rochester:
The University of Rochester is one of the nation’s leading private research universities, one of only 62-member institutions in the Association of American Universities. Located in Rochester, N.Y., the University gives undergraduates exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty through its unique cluster-based curriculum. Its College, School of Arts and Sciences, and Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are complemented by the Eastman School of Music, Simon School of Business, Warner School of Education, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, School of Nursing, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, and the Memorial Art Gallery.
Original source can be found here.
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