Lately, Nazareth has been bustling with new and exciting changes. One of these changes is the opening of the Jane and Laurence Glazer Music Performance Center, lovingly known as “Glazer” for short. Glazer was incredibly anticipated by the music department as, up until now, all of our concerts were held in Linehan Chapel. This is a beautiful setting for concerts, but the acoustics are just not made for larger ensembles like the band and orchestra. The main performance space in Glazer, Beston Hall, can seat up to 550 people and features new technology college facilities don’t usually have, such as adjustable curtains for the acoustics of individual ensembles.
Although there have been music rehearsals in the hall since the beginning of the semester, the Glazer Performance Center opened to the public on September 22nd with the Grand Opening Gala. This gala included student performances, food, and the dedication of the new building. On the afternoon of the 23rd, there was an encore gala open to Naz students and families, which I had the opportunity to attend.
The concert started with the new chairperson of the music department, Dr. Mario Martinez, speaking about the opening of the new building and the dedication of the music department. His speech was heartwarming and helped solidify the importance of music in our lives, as well as the importance of the Glazer Performance Center. He spoke about how valuable music is to the world, and how Nazareth provides degree programs in music that will give back to our specific community. The symphony orchestra and choir performed at this event, and it was so wonderful seeing my friends and fellow musicians up on the new stage (which is about as big as Carnegie Hall) playing such beautiful music. The ensemble played some classic orchestral pieces, including a piece by Beethoven, a jazzy medley of Duke Ellington songs, and a country tune which is coincidentally inspired by my home state of North Dakota. The most special part of this concert, however, was the premiere of a piece called Peregrinations, We Dare to Dream by Naz alum Jack Allocco. Peregrinations was written for symphony orchestra, choir, and jazz ensemble. The piece was incredible to listen to, it had several movements, each one completely different from the last, but they all transitioned together so beautifully. Jack Allocco also featured our saxophone studio in the piece; they had an enormous solo which blew me away.
Overall, the concert was beautiful and it made me really proud of being a part of Nazareth’s music department. Having a building such as this on campus, especially one that is open to the city of Rochester and other ensembles that aren’t Nazareth-based, is really important. I believe that music is one of those areas of life that should be accessible to people from all walks of life in every capacity and being able to rehearse and perform in a hall such as the Glazer Performance Center really opens up that opportunity to myself, as a member of the Nazareth community, and the rest of the Rochester community as a whole.