Jazz Concerts at Purchase College

The Purchase College Conservatory of Music will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its acclaimed Jazz Studies program by presenting two exciting concerts in a collaboration with The Performing Arts Center (The PAC), featuring students from the highly competitive program. Curated by Director Seth Soloway, the program is part of the Jazz Series at The PAC.

Kicking off the series will be a tribute to Leonard Bernstein featuring arrangements by Jazz Studies head Pete Malinverni performed by saxophone master Joe Lovano on December 1. The series will continue on March 30 when acclaimed jazz vocalist Cyrille Aimeé, an alumna of the Jazz Studies program, will perform with professors and other alums.

“It’s an honor to celebrate such an important milestone for Jazz Studies at Purchase,” said Pete Malinverni. “We are thrilled to invite the public to check out our students, who are among the next generation of jazz greats, performing with some of today’s leading talents.”

Seth Soloway said, “I am excited about the return of our Jazz at the Center Series with these unique concerts, which can be seen only at The PAC. There is a lot to celebrate this year. Along with the return of the Series, it is the 25th anniversary of the renowned Jazz Studies program at Purchase College. The magic of these concerts is the melding of touring artists, our talented faculty, and our gifted students all coming together for a truly one-of- a-kind event.”

Tickets are available online at www.artscenter.org, or by visiting or calling the box office at 914.251-6200, Wednesday-Friday from 12-6 pm.

CONCERT SCHEDULE

Joe Lovano Plays Bernstein

December 1, 8pm

$13.75-62.50

This is the 100th anniversary of the birth of American legend, Leonard Bernstein, and tributes abound. But, at Purchase, we have the talents on board to present perennial poll winner and Jazz star Joe Lovano as headliner in a concert featuring homegrown arrangements of The Maestro’s music by pianist and Head of Jazz Studies at Purchase College, Pete Malinverni, and featuring performances by some of our award-winning faculty and rising stars from among our Jazz Studies students. Be on hand for this singular celebration!

“Pete Malinverni doesn't seem capable of playing a dishonest line,” observed Down Beat Magazine in a four-star review of one of his fifteen recordings as a leader. He has received performance and composition grants from the NEA, the Meet the Composer Fund, The Jazz Composers’ Collective and Symphony Space, among others, and has written for and recorded in the solo piano, piano trio, quartet, quintet, gospel choir and big band formats in addition to arranging and producing recordings for several others. Each of his recordings, most recently “Heaven,” has been released to excellent notices in Jazz and general publications and he continues to receive heavy radio airplay, several of his recordings having resided in the Top Ten nationally.

Hailed by the New York Times as “one of the greatest musicians in jazz history,” Grammy Award winning saxophone giant Joe Lovano has distinguished himself for some three decades as a prescient and path finding force in the arena of creative music. Since 2009, Lovano’s main vehicle for his exploration has been Us Five, a dynamic young band—which features drummers Otis Brown III and Francisco Mela, bassist Esperanza Spalding, and pianist James Weidman. The band’s most recent release, the Grammy Nominated “Bird Songs” is an exploration of the Charlie Parker songbook that breaks the mold of Bird tribute records. In 2011 the JJA (Jazz Journalist’s Association) named “Bird Songs” Recording of the Year and named Us Five the Small Ensemble of the Year. It was also the Downbeat editor’s pick for Album of the Year.

Jazz at The Center Spectacular with Cyrille Aimeé

March 30, 8 p.m.

$13.75-62.50

Perhaps you've noted the white-hot trajectory of Jazz star Cyrille Aimeé. Well, did you know this French-born, Dominican-raised phenomenon began her musical life in America right here at Purchase? As part of the celebration of the Jazz Studies program's 25th anniversary, Cyrille comes back, leading a band of alums and professors in what will be a scintillating evening of music. Mark your calendars now!

Winner of the Montreux Jazz Festival’s Vocal Competition, The Sarah Vaughn International Jazz Vocal Competition, and finalist in the Thelonious Monk Vocal Competition, Cyrille Aimeé is – in the words of Will Friedwald of The Wall Street Journal – “One of the most promising jazz singers of her generation.” In the same feature, Froedwald declared Aimeé and Celile McLorin Salvant to be “astonishing creative singers, with a brilliant sound, fresh ideas, impeccable rhythm and an overall approach that honors tradition without being shackled to the past.”

25 Years of Jazz

The performance-driven curriculum strives to emphasize the practical, bringing “the street into the classroom.” With world-class performance and rehearsal facilities, the program enjoys an acclaimed reputation among today’s leading institutions. Jazz majors are mentored by some of the most well respected jazz artists on the scene today, including Malinverni, Todd Coolman (acoustic bass), Jon Faddis (trumpet), and David DeJesus (conductor), among many others.

Also coinciding with the 25th Anniversary, we will be launching an effort to raise funds for a Friends of Jazz Endowed Scholarship Fund. All gifts will go to scholarships for students in the Jazz Studies program. Purchase maintains a strong commitment to the idea that any student talented enough to succeed in a program as competitive as Purchase Jazz should not be impeded by an inability to pay.

For more information on the 25th Anniversary Celebration, including alumni portraits, videos, and information about how to contribute to the scholarship fund, visit the Jazz at 25 website.

About Purchase College, SUNY

Purchase College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) network of 64 universities and colleges, was founded in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. His aspiration for Purchase was to create a dynamic campus that combined conservatory training in the visual and performing arts with programs in the liberal arts and sciences, in order to inspire an appreciation for both intellectual and artistic talents in all students. Today, Purchase College, SUNY is a community of students, faculty, and friends where open-minded engagement with the creative process leads to a lifetime of intellectual growth and professional opportunity. For more information about the College, visit www.purchase.edu.

About The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College

THE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, PURCHASE COLLEGE (The PAC), a four-theatre complex, is the major professional, non-profit arts presenter in the Southeastern New York–Southwestern Connecticut region. The Center presents a broad range of performances that engage, challenge, and educate as well as entertain, offering music, dance, theatre, film, comedy, and family programming to audiences from Westchester and the surrounding communities.

Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY, is located 28 miles northeast of New York City at the Connecticut border. The College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY), is an institution of public higher education encompassing the liberal arts and sciences, professional training in the performing and visual arts, continuing education, the Neuberger Museum of Art, and The Performing Arts Center. www.artscenter.org.