Concert life at the Eastman School in the 1980s continued much as it had after Freeman's arrival and his decision to withdraw funding for Ruth Glazer's Great Performers Series, and after the decision of the Rochester Philharmonic to cease offering an artist series in the Eastman Theatre. But the priorities and budget realities of the school and the orchestra were not the only reasons why Rochester was suddenly not finding itself with opportunities to hear the best of music from the world's most distinguished artists and ensembles. Such concerts were becoming increasingly expensive to sponsor for everyone. Moreover, international artists were less likely to play the smaller venues. The era when they traveled by rail and found it perhaps convenient to perform in Rochester when they were on their way from New York to Chicago and the Mid-West was long over. International performers now traveled by air, and it was far easier to fly from New York to Chicago without having to stop in Rochester, or anywhere else in between. There was less incentive and less interest in playing the smaller venues, even when those venues could afford the high fees increasingly expected by top performers.

In spite of such changes, however, a few very interesting guest performers began to be included in the yearly offering of recitals in Kilbourn Hall, sometimes as part of the official “Kilbourn Series,” at other times simply as special events. Among these were the Austrian pianist and scholar Paul Badura-Skoda (b.1927), who performed at Eastman in Kilbourn Hall on February 28, 1979, and the Swedish baritone Håkan Hagegård (b.1945), who presented recitals on March 18, 1980, and February 22, 1983. The Dutch harpsichordist, Gustav Leonhardt (1928–2012), who was such a leading proponent of performing on period instruments, appeared at Eastman on April 18, 1981, and again April 15, 1985. Anner Bylsma (b.1934), who was a major figure in the baroque cello movement, came to Rochester for a Kilbourn Hall concert on November 9, 1982. The Austrian-born Canadian pianist Anton Kuerti appeared for a recital on September 29, 1981.