Pianist Tony Caramia and violinist Renée Jolles – both instructors at the Eastman School of Music – present a program exploring three rather different parts of the genius of “the dean of African American composers,” William Grant Still. Still worked in all genres of music including classical (the first African American in the US to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra, the RPO), jazz (arranging for both W.C. Handy and Artie Shaw), Broadway (playing in some of the pit orchestras), modern music (studying in New York with Edgard Varèse), and Hollywood (working in film and radio).

Still’s Three Visions is a suite in three parts for solo piano that depicts an apocalypse, an afterlife, and reincarnation. ​Tony Caramia will also play selections from Still’s mystical and elusive Seven Traceries, which were his attempt to capture seven aspects of God. 

Still’s Suite for Violin and Piano took as its inspiration three sculptures: Richmond Barthé’s African Dancer, Sargent Johnson’s Mother and Child, and Augusta Savage’s Gamin, each one by artists associated with the Harlem Renaissance.

Click here to read the program notes.

Professor of Piano at the Eastman School of Music since 1990, Tony Caramia directs the Piano Pedagogy Studies program, coordinates the Class Piano program, and teaches applied piano and beginning jazz piano.  He has released six recordings, including Hot Ivories, Nimble-Fingered Gentleman, Zebra Stripes, Brass Knuckles, Upstate Standards with trombonist Mark Kellogg, and Tribute.

Professor of Violin at the Eastman School of Music, Renée Jolles enjoys an eclectic career as soloist and chamber artist specializing in a wide variety of styles from the Baroque to the contemporary. She has premiered hundreds of works, including the American premiere of Schnittke’s Violin Concerto No. 2. In 2014, she inaugurated Eastman’s celebrated annual Holocaust Remembrance Concert series.

The Hochstein School’s free noontime Live from Hochstein concert series will be hosted by WXXI Classical’s Mona Seghatoleslami and broadcast live on WXXI Classical. Listen to the concert at WXXI-FM 91.5, WXXY 90.3, or online at https://www.wxxiclassical.org. Listen to an encore broadcast on WXXI Classical 91.5 FM at 10:00 pm the day of the concert.

* Masks and vaccination are encouraged but not required. Please note that only bottled water is allowed in the newly renovated hall.

The Hochstein School is deeply grateful to Sidney and Barbara Sobel, who have generously provided continuous underwriting of Live from Hochstein since 1993.

Live from Hochstein is also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.