MANSFIELD, PA—The Mansfield University Jazz Festival will be held on Thursday, April 23 and Friday, April 24.
The festival will include two concerts, one featuring instrumental jazz on Thursday and the other highlighting vocal jazz on Friday. Both concerts begin at 7: 30 p.m. in Steadman Theatre. They are free and open to the public.
The MU Jazz Ensemble, under the director of Adam Brennan, will headline the Instrumental Jazz Festival Concert on Thursday. The concert will also feature one of the high school bands participating in the Festival. That band will be selected by the festival adjudicators.
This year’s adjudicators; drummer Rich Thompson, pianist Harold Danko, bassist Jeff Campbell and saxophonist Charles Pillow, will also perform during the evening concert.
On Friday, The Mansfieldians, directed by Sheryl Monkelien, and guest artist Peter Eldridge will take center stage at Steadman Theatre for the Vocal Jazz Festival Concert.
The Mansfieldians are fresh off their participation in the 2015 New York City Jazz Festival, which included a performance at the Apollo Theatre, earlier this month.
Peter Eldridge is a founding member of the vocal group New York Voices, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. They have recorded eight albums, including New York Voices Live with the WDR Big Band Cologne and Let it Snow, both released in 2013.
During the two days of the Festival, which is now in its 33rd year, the guest artists and adjudicators will interact with MU and high school students in a series of clinics and workshops.
The MU Jazz Festival is sponsored by the Mansfield University Music Department. The Jazz Ensemble and Mansfieldians are supported in part by student activity fees.