[music]
[Joel Seligman] One of the great stories of the University of Rochester is the central
part that music has played in our development.
[music]
Today's graduates are exceptionally well prepared to embark on careers as artists, teachers and musical entrepreneurs. And what
a wonderful prospect that is. As Virgil Thompson once put it, "I've never known a musician
who regretted being one." Like George Eastman, I can't imagine a world without music. The
world needs your art, needs your music more now than ever. You have a rare gift and you
will make us all proud. [Jamal Rossi] So here we arrive. We're at this crossroads where
we reflect back on the past year, or the past four years and we think ahead to the future.
So my message to you today is to let you know that you graduate with more than a degree,
and more than an education. You graduate with the power to transform the world. If we desire
for society to care about music and specifically classical music, then we have a responsibility
to make a difference in society. You need to make a difference in the communities where
you live and with the people with whom you interact. When people experience the difference
you make and your music makes in their lives they will care very much about making sure
that music continues to thrive. Use your music to enrich society and society will show up
and support your music.
[music]
I hope you leave here with much more than you ever thought you would get when you came
But I want you to think back a moment to when you decided to come
to Eastman. I'll bet you didn't come with the end goal of getting a degree. I believe
you came to pursue your dreams.
[music]
[Kimberly Anne Merrill] We are always learning and always seeking to better our craft. This is typical of an Eastman musician.
And as students of the school, we are constantly trying to reconcile technical accuracy of the music with the fact
that it has to mean something, not just to us, although that's necessary too, but to
the listener, to the audience. They have to understand that it means something as well.
For the past four years we've invested ourselves. We've all taken that extra solitary time
in the practice rooms, sacrificing time with others for our music. But we have also taken
the time to interact with our peers, with our colleagues, with our esteemed and incomparable
teachers, and with our audiences. This informs how we play and sing. As graduating Eastman
students, we know that what we have learned at this school empowers and readies us to
reach others and help them find their own meanings in what we love so much.
[Samuel Hope] Graduation days mix reflections and rejoicings, thanksgivings, expectations and
questions about what's next. Graduates disperse and leave colleagues and face the aloneness
that occurs when one is just about to open an important set of doors for the first time.
Journeys back and forth between togetherness and aloneness are basic conditions in music
and musical life. Your studies have enabled you to make these journeys at increasingly
sophisticated levels to make togetherness and aloneness serve and enrich each other.
You have those special powers to connect people to the glorious mysteries of music in ways
that you will see and in ways that you will see not. The overall situation you face will
be bigger than your gifts, preparations and capabilities, and bigger than all of our rejoicings,
thanksgivings, and expectations. This is where the questions come in. What's behind all
those doors that are in the spaces ahead? Well, no one knows for sure, but both doors
and answers will be different for each of you. May the lessons of music, obvious and
embedded, continue to reveal their multiple powers to each of you; may they inspire your
minds, spirits and decision-making as doors open over a lifetime to the great work of
creative action that lies ahead. A production of the University of Rochester. Please visit
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