The Rogers State University Jazz Band will hold its second concert of the year, titled “Feels Like Spring,” on Wednesday, April 25.
The concert, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 7 p.m. in the Will Rogers Auditorium on the RSU campus in Claremore.
“Our first concert performance went extremely well,” said Joe Cernuto, RSU band director. “We had somewhere between 50 and 75 people in the audience, and I was thrilled about that. My hope is that our second performance gets even more attention.”
The concert will feature both familiar and unfamiliar pieces for the band, Cernuto said. Selections will include classics like “God Bless the Child,” the famous vocal standard by Billie Holliday, interpreted for the Big Band and featuring the trombone, and “Basie Straight Ahead,” a Count Basie standard composed by Sammy Nestico. The band also will perform “Hymn for 9/11,” by Rick Lawn, a reflective and hopeful retrospective about September 11 and its aftermath.
The concert also will feature the premiere of a new, original composition by RSU student and jazz band member Robert Kiefer titled “Fake Gold.” Kiefer is a junior from Tulsa.
In addition, the jazz band will host an inaugural Audition Day for music scholarships from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 7. Current RSU students and incoming freshmen will be eligible for scholarships for participating in the band program next year.
For more information on the concert, auditions or scholarships, contact Cernuto at (918) 343-7723 or [email protected].