ISSUED: 5 February 2018
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Middle and high school students from Berkeley and Jefferson counties will show off their musical skills and participate in clinics on Saturday, February 17, during Shepherd University’s Jazz Festival. The daylong festival will include performances that are free and open to the public. All performances will take place in the Frank Center Theater.
Charles Town Middle School, Harpers Ferry Middle School, Shepherdstown Middle School, and Jefferson High School will perform from 9-11 a.m. Musselman High School, Washington High School, Wildwood Middle School, and Spring Mills High School will perform from 1-3:30 p.m. The festival will conclude with a performance at 5 p.m. by the Shepherd University Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Kurtis Adams, associate professor of music.
Each participating band will also work with one of Shepherd’s clinicians, who include Adams; Dr. Mark Cook, professor of music; Kevin Pace, adjunct music professor; and Kevin Woods, a trumpeter and composer from Bellingham, Washington.
Woods is active as a performer, educator, composer, and arranger. He serves as director of jazz studies at Western Washington University. Woods also leads the Kevin Woods Quartet and the Malmo, Sweden-based Woods/Axelsson Quartet.
The Shepherd University Jazz Ensemble has performed throughout the East Coast and Europe. The group has played in Switzerland, Italy, England, and France. In the United States, the Jazz Ensemble has been featured at the Longwood, Blue Ridge, and East Coast Jazz festivals, as well as regional festivals throughout Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey.
For more information about the Shepherd University Jazz Festival performances or other department events, call 304-876-5555 or visit www.shepherd.edu/music.
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