NewsSubscribe

Concerts to feature trumpeter Eric Berlin and the award-winning Jazz Ensemble I

AMHERST (MA) – In early October, the UMass Department of Music & Dance will present concerts by two of their top musical ensembles.

On October 6, the UMass Wind Ensemble, the University’s premiere wind and percussion group, will present their first concert of the fall semester at 7:30 p.m in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall. Directed by Matthew Westgate, the Wind Ensemble will be joined on the program by the New England Brass Band, a 30-piece British-style brass ensemble under the direction of Stephen Bulla. The concert will feature trumpet soloist and UMass faculty member Eric Berlin performing Joseph Turrin’s The Sounding of the Call with the Wind Ensemble and Anthony Plog’s Trumpet Concerto No. 3 with the NEBB. Also on the program is Dukas’s Fanfare pour précéder La péri  (Matthew Sypek, graduate conductor), Peter Graham’s Harrison's Dream, and an original composition by Bulla titled Heather Ridge Sketches.

On October 13, the UMass Jazz Ensemble I, the top jazz ensemble at UMass Amherst, will make its fall debut at 7:30 p.m. in Bowker Auditiorium. The group, which is led by director Jeffrey W. Holmes, was recently named the top Blues/Pop/Rock Ensemble by Downbeat magazine, one of six Student Music Awards received by the UMass jazz program this year. The program will include new student works plus compositions by Earl MacDonald and Steely Dan, in honor of the late Walter Becker. Joining Jazz Ensemble I on the October 13 program will be the UMass Chapel Jazz Ensemble, led by Thomas Giampietro, which will perform works by legendary arrangers/composers Benny Carter, Duke Ellington and Oliver Nelson.

Tickets are $10 for the general public, $5 for students, seniors & children, and free for UMass students. Tickets may be purchased at the Fine Arts Center Box Office, by phone at 413-545-2511, or online at www.fineartscenter.com/musicanddance.