The series begins on Wednesday, July 6 at 8pm with an outdoor performance of the Rutgers African Ensemble featuring guest director Paschal Yao Younge, director of the World Music Center at West Virginia University. The evening of African drumming and dancing will be held at Bettenbender Plaza, next to Nicholas Music Center.
Fresh from their Blue Note appearances this April, the Rutgers University Jazz Faculty Ensemble will perform in Bettenbender Plaza on Saturday, July 9 at 8pm. The ensemble comprises Mason Gross’ own jazz greats: Director Ralph Bowen, Stanley Cowell, Conrad Herwig, Vic Juris, Tim Ries and Mike Richmond.
On Wednesday, July 13 at 8pm, the infectious rhythms of the Rutgers Percussion Ensemble will storm Bettenbender Plaza. Directed by Mason Gross faculty member She-e Wu, the concert will feature guest artist Bob Becker. Becker, a founding member of the percussion ensemble NEXUS and a Grammy award winner, specializes in multicultural percussion instruments and is considered one of the world’s premier virtuoso performers on the xylophone and marimba.
The series will conclude with the return of Metropolitan Klezmer, the group whose eclectic sounds packed the 750-seat Nicholas Music Center last summer. With a vibrant array of tango, trance and folk, Metropolitan Klezmer is sure to bring the house down at Nicholas Music Center on Saturday, July 23 at 8pm.
Nicholas Music Center is in the Mason Gross Performing Arts Center, 85 George Street (at Route 18), on the Douglass College campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Bettenbender Plaza is located next to Nicholas Music Center. Personal lawn chairs are recommended for outside events, as seating is limited. Special assistance is available for persons with disabilities. Visual and listening assistance are available upon advance request for events inside Nicholas Music Center. Artists, programs and dates are subject to change. The rain site for all Bettenbender Plaza performances is Nicholas Music Center.
For more information, call the Mason Gross Performing Arts Center ticket office at 732/932-7511 or visit our Web site at www.masongross.rutgers.edu.
About Mason Gross Presents
Mason Gross Presents is a year-round event series produced by special funding from the Mason Gross School of the Arts and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The series combines the educational and community outreach missions of the conservatory through special performances in theater, music and dance, along with visual arts exhibitions and other arts programming that enhance the educational experience of students while also bringing quality programs to the community. Participants in these events have included, but are not limited to: Andrea Quinn, F. Murray Abraham, David Parsons, Martin Puryear and many others.
About the Mason Gross School of the Arts
Founded in 1976, the Mason Gross School of the Arts is the arts conservatory of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and is home to the departments of dance, music, theater arts and visual arts. Its faculty and alumni rosters include arts professionals recognized nationally and internationally. The school’s enrollment of 625 undergraduates across four departments and 250 graduate students across three departments, combined with a faculty of 140, assures students the opportunity to work closely with accomplished artists within their fields.
About Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
A comprehensive research institution with more than 50,000 students on three main campuses in New Brunswick, Newark and Camden, Rutgers comprises one of the major state university systems in the nation. Chartered in 1766 in New Brunswick as Queen’s College, Rutgers is the eighth oldest institution of higher learning in the nation and now comprises 29 degree-granting divisions, including 16 offering graduate programs of study.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
