The jazz faculty of New England Conservatory’s Continuing Education and Preparatory departments will demonstrate their stylistic breadth and virtuosity at a showcase concert, Sunday, September 11 at 3 p.m. in the Regattabar. Located in the Charles Hotel, One Bennett Street, Cambridge near the Harvard Square T station, the 225-seat Regattabar is one of the most prestigious jazz clubs in New England.
Designed to build awareness of NEC’s extraordinary jazz programs for adults, teens, and children, the concert will feature some of New England’s most admired and active jazz recording artists—who also happen to teach at NEC. Pianist/Composer/Guitarist David Zoffer, chair of the School of Continuing Education (SCE) and the Preparatory School’s Jazz Department, will produce the concert. He promises additional appearances by some of NEC’s most notable alumni and students. Listeners are invited to mingle with the players after the concert to find out more about NEC’s SCE/Prep jazz department.
The entire faculty is scheduled to play as a large ensemble, and in small groups and includes: Zoffer, David Eure, violin; Gary Fieldman, percussion; Eyran Katsenelenbogen, piano; Peter Kenagy, trumpet; Adam Larrabee, guitar; Rick McLaughlin, bass; Vanessa Morris, voice and piano; Rebecca Shrimpton, voice; Brooke Sofferman, percussion; Demetrius Spaneas, woodwinds; Rick Stone, saxophone; James Stewardson, guitar; Jeremy Udden, saxophone; Wesley Wirth, bass; and Joel Yennior, trombone.
Designed for kids aged 10 through high school, the NEC Prep jazz program “is enormously successful and more thorough than anything of its kind in the world,” says Zoffer. “We have around 15 jazz combos and a full range of classes in Jazz Ear Training, Jazz History, Jazz Composition, and Jazz Theory.” Besides giving jazz combo recitals and taking courses, students also take part in masterclasses with such visiting luminaries as John Medeski, Paul Bley, David Gilmore, and Sonido Isleno. “Prep alumni have included a Downbeat Best Junior High Saxophonist and Best High School Composer, most of the Boston Jazz Composers Collective, and the most recent Cole Porter Fellow, Adam Birnbaum,” Zoffer adds. “Most of the advanced young jazz players in New England come to our program.”
The equally thorough SCE jazz program is designed for “anyone older than high school,” Zoffer explains. “It includes every level from music teachers, semi-professional players and folks preparing for a bachelor’s or master’s degree in jazz to people who have never played jazz before and many classical students. We have people of every age and occupation (college students, nine-to-fivers, professionals, retirees, parents). These people are the heart and soul of the jazz audience. They go to concerts, buy CDs, play in their communities, and raise children who actually have jazz in their lives. SCE bands have played not just at NEC but in jazz clubs such as Ryles and in local schools.”
Tickets for the Regattabar concert are $14.
For more information, visit NEC on the web at: www.newenglandconservatory.edu. For tickets, call 617-395-7757 or order online at: www.regattabarjazz.com
ABOUT NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY
Recognized nationally and internationally as a leader among music schools, New England Conservatory offers rigorous training in an intimate, nurturing community to 750 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral music students from around the world. Its faculty of 225 boasts internationally esteemed artist-teachers and scholars. Its alumni go on to fill orchestra chairs, concert hall stages, jazz clubs, recording studios, and arts management positions worldwide. Nearly half of the Boston Symphony Orchestra is composed of NEC trained musicians and faculty.
The oldest independent school of music in the United States, NEC was founded in 1867 by Eben Tourjee. Its curriculum is remarkable for its wide range of styles and traditions. On the college level, it features training in classical, jazz, Contemporary Improvisation, world and early music. Through its Preparatory School, School of Continuing Education, and Community Collaboration Programs, it provides training and performance opportunities for children, pre-college students, adults, and seniors. Through its outreach projects, it allows young musicians to engage with non-traditional audiences in schools, hospitals, and nursing homes—thereby bringing pleasure to new listeners and enlarging the universe for classical music and jazz.
NEC presents more than 600 free concerts each year, many of them in Jordan Hall, its world- renowned, 100-year old, beautifully restored concert hall. These programs range from solo recitals to chamber music to orchestral programs to jazz and opera scenes. Every year, NEC’s opera studies department also presents two fully staged opera productions at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston.
NEC is co-founder and educational partner of “From the Top,” a weekly radio program that celebrates outstanding young classical musicians from the entire country. With its broadcast home in Jordan Hall, the show is now carried by more than two hundred stations throughout the United States.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
