Parlor Music Concert: A Musical Journey through the 19th Century

For the seventh annual Parlor Music Concert, the Seward House Museum is pleased to welcome pianist Howard Spindler and tenor Pablo Willey-Bustos. From the magnificent setting of the Museum’s Drawing Room, and enhanced by its 1872 Steinway piano, the duo's performance will transport listeners across the musical landscape of the 19th century. The program will feature songs by American and European composers, as well as solo piano works.

Pianist Howard Spindler is known as an enthusiastic accompanist and chamber musician, and he is delighted to return to the Seward House today! A native Rochesterian, Howard has performed widely through the US and Germany. While in high school he earned the Eastman Preparatory Department Diploma; he then completed his B.A. at Oberlin College in Ohio, returning to Eastman for his M.A.; he pursued postgraduate studies in Essen, Germany at the Folkwang Hochschule. A piano teacher at Eastman Community Music School for 4 decades, Howard began his career as a graduate teaching assistant at Eastman. Over the years, he has taught piano, music theory, Dalcroze Eurhythmics and Solfeggio, chamber music and music history in both the community and collegiate divisions of Eastman. He is a recipient of the Jack L. Frank Award for outstanding teaching at ECMS, and he was cited by the Rochester Alumni Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon in 2011 as Musician of the Year. 

Pablo Willey-Bustos, tenor is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he received both his Bachelor and Master Degrees in Vocal Performance. Highlights of concert appearances include Handel’s Ode to St. Cecilia, conducted by Ton Koopman with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall, Bach's B minor Mass as well as the Evangelist in the St. John and St. Matthew Passions with the Voices Ensemble, and Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings as well as the title roles in Handel's Judas Maccaebeus and Joshua with the Fort Street Chorale.  Selected operatic roles include Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Oronte in Alcina, Damon in Acis and Galatea, Nerone in L'Incoronazione di Poppea, Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Narciso in Il Turco in Italia. His discography includes Bach's Lutheran Masses & Advent Cantatas with the Publick Musick Baroque Orchestra and Chorus.  He currently lives in Rochester, NY, where he is the Organist/Director of Music Ministry for Reformation Lutheran Church, as well as Adjunct Voice Professor for the Liberal Arts College of the Rochester Institute of Technology and Voice Instructor at the Eastman Community Music School. 

Admission is $20 for museum members, $25 for the general public. Space is limited. Reservations are required. A reception with the artists follows the performance.