By K.D. Norris
The fall is still a few months off but St. Cecilia Music Center is already well along in planning for its 2018-19 music season, with its first folk music concert announcement teasing another great season, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center returning, and a series of special events for Women’s History Month in March 2019 to celebrate the center’s 135th year anniversary.
But its complete jazz series line-up is out, and it is nothing short of great.
The 4-concert jazz series will feature an impressive lineup of Grammy award winning musicians including trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, the Kenny Barron Quintet, Joey DeFranceso, and the Benny Green Trio with 23-year old jazz sensation Veronica Swift.
“This year’s jazz series is also going to be phenomenal with some legends, as well as rising stars, in the mix,” Cathy Holbrook, St. Cecilia executive director, said in supplied material.
“Phenomenal” is not an overstatement when it comes to describing the series, either.
The jazz series will begin its season Oct. 11 with 10-time Grammy Award winning trumpeter Sandoval, a Cuban-born artist who burst onto the American jazz scene as a young protégé of the legendary jazz master Dizzy Gillespie, but now has firmly established his place in the jazz world.
In addition to his 10 Grammy awards, Sandoval has been nominated 19 times for a n award. He has also received 6 Billboard Awards and an Emmy Award, the latter for his composing work on the entire underscore of the HBO movie based on his life, “For Love or Country” that starred Andy Garcia as Arturo.
Following Sandoval on the jazz series will be the Kenny Barron Quintet on Nov. 1. Barron, a pianist, earned the first of his 11 Grammy awards in 1992 for Best Jazz Album with “People Time”, a duet with Stan Getz, and won most recently in 2017 for Best Jazz Instrumental Album.
DeFranceso — named as “one of the best B-3 players on the planet” by Jazz Times — will appear with his quartet “The People” on Feb. 7, 2019. DeFranceso will soon be releasing his new album, “Project Freedom”, which features him on the Hammond B-3, along with contributions on keyboards, trumpet and as a vocalist. Accompanying DeFrancesco will be drummer Jason Brown, guitarist Dan Wilson and saxophonist Troy Roberts — collectively billed as “The People.”
The final jazz series concert of the season will be the Benny Green Trio, with young jazz singer Swift, on March 7, 2019. Swift will launch her newest album release this year and the recording will feature the pianist Green and his trio. At age 23, Swift is considered one of the top young jazz singers on the scene. In the fall of 2015, she won second place at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition. In 2016, she was asked to perform a concert of her own at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center in New York City and she was a guest artist with Michael Feinstein at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
No unknown to jazz fans, Green combines “a mastery of keyboard technique with decades of real world experience playing with no one less than the most celebrated artists of the last half century,” according to supplied material.
More news on the 2018-19 season
In upcoming season news for its chamber music series and its Acoustic Cafe series, St. Cecilia has renewed three-year partnership with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the result will be concerts featuring music from Beethoven, Mozart and Mendelssohn to Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky. An expanded folk series also kicks off with the renowned Brooklyn-now-Nashville-based band The Lone Bellow.
“We are very excited about the artists coming for our 135th anniversary season,” Holbrook said. “And, we are so pleased to renew another three-year agreement with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, securing many seasons of phenomenal chamber music.”
And speaking of its 135th anniversary events, St. Cecilia announced two special events during March 2019 Women’s History Month.
St. Cecilia Music Center’s history is integrally aligned with women’s history in Grand Rapids, according to supplied material. The organization was founded in 1883 by nine Grand Rapids women and was the only organization of its kind to be run solely by women. It was through the efforts of the first women of the music center that the historic building on Ransom Avenue was erected in 1894, “and it is their original mission that St. Cecilia continues to uphold today.”
St. Cecilia Music Center’s mission is to promote the study, appreciation and performance of music in order to enrich the lives of West Michigan residents. The Center fulfills this mission by presenting visiting world-class artists in concert, providing music education for all ages through our School of Music and preserving a historic building for musical activities and community events.
“Celebrating (our) … 135th anniversary with special events during Women’s History Month in March 2019 is extremely meaningful and appropriate,” Holbrook said. “We are thrilled to honor the late Helen DeVos for the amazing vision she had for the arts in Grand Rapids and to keep her legacy alive with the continuation of the Helen DeVos Legacy Award in years to come.”
For more information on St. Cecilia and its 2018-19 season, visit scmc-online.org .
