University ensemble plans jazz concert

WEST CHESTER » West Chester University’s Wells School of Music will continue to delight and entertain audiences with dozens of FREE virtual performances this fall. Livestream links are available by clicking on each event in the campus arts event calendar at www.wcupa.edu/arts, allowing audiences from around the world to enjoy concerts from the comfort of their own homes.

Beginning this Friday, Sept. 25 at 7:30 p.m., the link to the Wells School of Music’s esteemed Criterions Jazz Ensemble concert will be available. This concert is the first under the new Director of Jazz Studies, Jonathan Ragonese, and will be pre-recorded from Asplundh Hall in the Philips Memorial Building. This concert and other large ensemble concerts will be prerecorded to meet current aerosolization and distance guidelines for ensemble music playing.

Remaining constant is the ensemble’s signature big-band sound and their commitment to jazz standards, but audiences may also note masked instrumentalists, increased space between band members, horn covers, and plexiglass screens onstage.

Ragonese says, “It has been a tremendous thing to witness our students finding joy in music-making again. West Chester University and the Wells School of Music’s administrations have made incredible investments of time and resources to make our school and performance spaces safe for music-making.”

The program includes Oliver Nelson’s “Emancipation Blues”, John Coltrane’s “Syeeda’s Song Flute” and Thelonious Monk’s “Round Midnight” (arranged by Ragonese himself), among others.

The Criterions Jazz Ensemble concert is the first of many virtual events ontap this fall from the Wells School of Music. The calendar through the end of October also includes:

Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020 at noon

Madeleine Wing Adler Concert Series Keyboard Division Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020 at 8 p.m. Wind Ensemble Concert Andrew Yozviak, Director

Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020 at 8:15 p.m.

Symphony Orchestra Concert

Joseph Caminiti, Director

Sunday, Oct. 18, 2020 at 3 p.m.

Faculty Recital Series – the Dalí Quartet

Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020 at 8 p.m. Wind Symphony Concert M. Gregory Martin, Director

Friday, Oct. 30, 2020 at 8:15 p.m. Fall Choral Festival David P. DeVenney & Ryan Kelly, Directors