TWO GUEST ARTISTS HIGHLIGHT NMU JAZZ FESTIVAL

Monday 6, 2009
                 Pianist Bill Carrothers and Grammy-nominated composer and arranger Fred Sturm will be featured at Northern Michigan University’s 13th Annual Jazz Festival on Friday, April 17. They will offer free clinics during the day and participate in the festival’s evening concert with the NMU Jazz Band, under the direction of Mark Flaherty.

The concert is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. in Kaufman Auditorium. Tickets are $10 for the general public, $6 for non-NMU students and $5 for NMU students. They are available at all NMU EZ Ticket locations.

            Carrothers has played venues throughout the U.S. and Europe, including the Village Gate, the Knitting Factory, Birdland and Blues Alley. He headlined the prestigious Rising Star Tour throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Carrothers has been a leader on 15 recordings, all of which have received critical acclaim. 

            Sturm is the director of jazz and improvisational music at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music. He is a frequent guest conductor of professional jazz ensembles and radio orchestras in Germany, Italy, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. He received the 2003 ASCAP/IAJE Commission in honor of Quincy Jones, a 1997 Grammy nomination, and his collegiate ensembles have been cited as America’s best nine times by Downbeat.

Carrothers will present two educational clinics at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. and Sturm’s clinics are scheduled at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. All sessions will be held in Reynolds Recital Hall. They are free and open to the public.

            High school and middle school ensembles from throughout the region will participate in master classes, performances and jam sessions.

For more information, contact the NMU music department at 227-2563.

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