UMass Lowell Student Musicians to Shine at ‘Showing Off!’ on March 31
03/21/2017
Media contacts: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu and Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu
LOWELL, Mass. – UMass Lowell’s instrumental and vocal ensembles will perform in concert on Friday, March 31, demonstrating the depth and reach of the university’s music programs.
“Showing Off!” will spotlight the virtuosity of student musicians who perform in the University Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, Chamber Singers, University Choir and other ensembles. The concert will offer a chance for graduating seniors to demonstrate all they have learned at UMass Lowell before they graduate in May.
Instrumental groups will play large-scale musical works spanning a range of eras and genres, interspersed with selections performed by soloists and chamber ensembles. The program will include everything from “Mallet Quartet,” a contemporary piece to be performed by the Percussion Ensemble, to the overture of Giuseppe Verdi’s 1841 opera “Nabucco,” as interpreted by the University Orchestra. The Concert Band will perform a selection from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera,” while the Jazz Rock Big Band will perform jazz standards. Many in the audience may recognize the Jazz Rock Big Band’s sound, as the group doubles as the Pep Band at UMass Lowell Division I men’s hockey and basketball games, where it performs stirring renditions of pop classics.
Among the student soloists will be Blair Leavitt of Chelmsford, a music performance major who will perform her original composition “Find Me,” which will feature her singing and playing tenor saxophone. Vocalist Ruby Sands, a sophomore from Medford majoring in music studies, will also sing as part of the Concert Band’s set.
“The audience at ‘Showing Off!’ will hear eight different ensembles with instrumentation ranging from two to 80 musicians performing classical, jazz, Latin and contemporary fusion styles. Rich with talent, the evening should prove to be a feast for the ears,” said Daniel Lutz, who will conduct the Wind Ensemble and Jazz Rock Big Band at the show. UMass Lowell’s director of university bands, Lutz is a member of the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association’s Paul Smith Hall of Fame for distinguished music educators.
Other UMass Lowell faculty members who will conduct ensembles during the event include Blair Bettencourt with the Concert Band, Mark Latham with the University Orchestra and Brian O’Connell with the Chamber Singers and University Choir.
UMass Lowell was the first public institution in the U.S. to offer a music education degree to prepare students to become music teachers. Today, the university offers students undergraduate and graduate programs in every aspect of music, including performance, business and sound recording technology. For more on these programs, see www.uml.edu/FAHSS/music/.
“The university prides itself on its diversity of music offerings and performance groups. ‘Showing Off!’ will provide a slice into the many different ways we make music every day,” said John-Morgan Bush, a Music Department faculty member who is co-producing the event with Lutz. Bush is the executive director of the UMass Lowell String Project, which provides instruction in stringed instruments such as the violin and cello to public school students throughout the Merrimack Valley.
The event will be held on Friday, March 31 at 8 p.m. at Durgin Hall at 35 Wilder St. on UMass Lowell’s South Campus. A reception before the event with the performers will be held at Allen House, 2 Solomont Way, just walking distance from the concert venue.
Admission to the concert is $15 per person; admission to the reception and concert is $40 per person. Proceeds will benefit scholarships for UMass Lowell music students. Tickets to “Showing Off!” and the reception are available online at www.uml.edu/celebratemusic. Tickets to the concert are also available at the door on the night of the show. Free parking is available across Wilder Street from the concert hall in the Wilder Lot.
UMass Lowell is a national research university located on a high-energy campus in the heart of a global community. The university offers its more than 17,750 students bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in business, education, engineering, fine arts, health, humanities, sciences and social sciences. UMass Lowell delivers high-quality educational programs, vigorous hands-on learning and personal attention from leading faculty and staff, all of which prepare graduates to be ready for work, for life and for all the world offers. www.uml.edu