MARQUETTE, Mich.—The 13-piece Afro-Caribbean jazz group Alex Torres y su Orquesta will perform on Thursday, Feb. 4, at Northern Michigan University. The concert is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the Great Lakes Rooms of the University Center as part of the NMU International Performing Arts Series. It is being dedicated to the memory of Susan Goodrich, who was a professor of Spanish and Portuguese at the university.

            Alex Torres y su Orquesta’s repertoire features such dance-friendly rhythms as salsa, merengue, cha-cha, Latin jazz and Puerto Rican Bomba and Plena. The band fills a room with sounds generated by a tight horn section and dynamic vocals. It is composed of trumpets, saxophone, trombone, timbales, congas, bongos, drum kit, piano, bass and percussion instruments. The group’s fifth and newest album, "Elementos," is a double CD featuring nine merengue selections and nine salsa selections.

Torres and his band are actively involved in Arts in Education programs, regularly performing and lecturing in schools and familiarizing people with musical forms originating in such countries as Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic in the hope of broadening their understanding of Latin culture. They also perform at hundreds of music festivals and events each year. The orchestra was founded in 1980 in Amsterdam, N.Y.

Tickets for the performance are as follows: students, $5 advance/$6 door; faculty/staff/seniors 60+, $13 advance/$15 door; and general public, $18 advance/$20 door.  They can be purchased at any NMU EZ Ticket outlet. The concert is being sponsored by NMU’s department of modern languages and literature through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.