URI music ensembles commence spring performance schedule on Feb. 22

Concert slate will also include special jazz performance featuring URI alumni

James Bessette 

The University of Rhode Island Jazz Big Band will perform during
the Voices in Jazz festival March 5 and will hold a special
concert on April 25 where for the first time University alumni
will take the stage with the band for an all-star show—all at the
URI Fine Arts Center Concert Hall. (URI Photo/Nora Lewis)

The University of Rhode Island Concert Band and Wind Ensemble both intend to send audiences into unique musical mindsets on Sunday, Feb. 22, at 3 p.m. to help kick off the Music Department’s spring semester concert schedule.

The Wind Ensemble and Concert Band, under the direction of URI Director of Bands Brian Cardany, will take the stage at the URI Fine Arts Center Concert Hall, 105 Upper College Road, on the Kingston Campus. The Wind Ensemble concert will center around the theme, “Atmospheres,” set to transport audiences into an aesthetic world.

Pieces to be performed for “Atmospheres” are “Steampunk Suite” by Erika Svanoe, “Diamond Tide” by Viet Cuong, “Catalyst” by Adrian Sims, and “Wild Nights” by Frank Ticheli.

The Concert Band will perform “Liberty Bell” by John Philip Sousa, “Mystery on Mena Mountain” by Julie Giroux, and Steven Reineke’s “Into the Raging River.” Victor Sanchez, a URI graduate assistant, will conduct the Concert Band’s rendition of David Holsinger’s “A Childhood Hymn.”

The Wind Ensemble and Concert Band will also perform live on Sunday, April 26, at 3 p.m. at the Fine Arts Center. Details of that show will be unveiled at a later date.

The annual Voices in Jazz festival will be kicked off by the URI Jazz Big Band, directed by URI Director of Jazz Studies Emmett Goods, on Thursday, March 5, at 8 p.m. at the URI Concert Hall. This year’s festival will welcome guest composer Le’Andra McPhatter, a jazz pianist and organist who founded the Journey Music Academy and Journey Online organizations to cultivate the next generation of musicians.

The band will perform multiple originals and standards by McPhatter—who is an artist in-residence at URI for the first half of the spring semester—mixing jazz grooves with Latin flavor.

The She-Boop Swing Orchestra, She-Bop Junior Swing Orchestra and the JazzHers will return to URI to once again perform in Voices for Jazz on Sunday, March 8, at 3 p.m. in the URI Concert Hall. About 40 young female student jazz musicians within these ensembles will also perform and interact with McPhatter during the event.

On Saturday, April 25, at 2 p.m. at the URI Concert Hall, the Jazz Big Band will hold a special performance where, for the first time, University alumni formerly with the Jazz Big Band will return to campus and put on an all-star show for the community. The show will recognize the 30^th anniversary of URI’s jazz program and Joseph Parillo, music professor emeritus, who launched the program.

“It will be a powerful moment to see both the alumni who started the jazz program here at URI and the current students continuing that tradition all on one stage,” Goods said. “It’s going to be an exciting time to have the jazz alumni back at URI.”

The Symphony Orchestra will conclude the spring performance schedule on Wednesday, April 29, by taking the audience to a period a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. The show, which starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall under the direction of URI Director of Orchestral Studies Luis Viquez, will feature Lili Boulanger’s “D’un matin de printemps” and scores from the film “Star Wars.”

The concert will also feature the winners of URI’s annual Concerto Competition (Katarina Hatch, flute; Aidan McCrillis, trombone) and Orchestral Composition Competition (Collin Klampert). URI students Victor Sanchez and Keith Brown will also conduct pieces during the April 29 performance. On Feb. 26, the URI Symphony Orchestra will hold the opening performance of the College Orchestra Directors Association National Conference. The conference will be hosted by the University from Feb. 25, through March 1.

Tickets for these concerts can be purchased in advance through Eventbrite or in-person at the box office an hour prior to the performance. All events will be held at the Fine Arts Center, 105 Upper College Road, Kingston. Tickets are $15 for general admission, $10 for seniors, and for students, faculty and staff. Children 12 and under are admitted free.

The spring lineup will also present numerous smaller concerts, including student recitals and combo and ensemble performances. Check out the full events listing for upcoming concerts.