Michael Burritt

Eastman School of Music

At Eastman, our passion is music. We believe that music enriches the heart, nourishes the mind, and heals the soul. We believe in the power of music to transform lives. We study music in the classroom, engage with music in the rehearsal room, live with music in the practice room, investigate and reveal music through scholarship, perform music on stages, and share music throughout the community. A favorite T-shirt logo at the Eastman School of Music (ESM) is "Eat, Sleep, Music." Music is about communication. As the great composer Gustav Mahler wrote, "If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music." In order to have something meaningful to say, a musician must lead a rich and interesting life. Toward that end, we believe in educating the whole student—not just about the techniques of music, but also through the study of humanities, by interdisciplinary pursuits, and by converging music with other arts. Eastman is an amazing community of artists, performers, composers, and scholars who are committed to preparing students for meaningful lives in music. The questions we grapple with are: What will these lives look like years into the future?, and: How can we best prepare our students to lead and shape that future? We believe that a core foundation of absolute musical excellence, enhanced by innovative initiatives like the Institute for Music Leadership, provides the formula for inspiring outstanding musicians to make a difference in the world through music. Engraved on the façade of the Eastman Theatre is the phrase, "for the enrichment of community life." We are committed to enriching life through music. If your passion is music, I encourage you to browse the pages of our web site to learn more about the Eastman School of Music, and I invite you to visit Eastman to experience the richness of our remarkable community in person. Jamal J. Rossi, Joan and Martin Messinger Dean