Opening Night 2009!
Date:     Tuesday - Aug 4, 2009
Contact: hpac@andrews.edu

Sunday, August 23, 2009, 7p.m.
Free Admission

Opening Night 2009! kicks off the 2009–2010 season at the Howard Performing Arts Center on Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 7 p.m. This concert features Lake Effect Jazz Big Band of St. Joseph, Mich., as well as a program of classical favorites under the direction of violinist and Andrews University alum, Lucy Lewis.

Opening Night is an annual free concert that serves as a gift to the community and the beginning of a new season. Lake Effect Jazz Big Band will perform well-known and fun numbers such as Down by the Riverside, How Sweet It Is, Isn’t She Lovely, and many more!

The first half of the program will be classical pieces orchestrated by Lucy Lewis, currently a violin and viola instructor at Southwestern Michigan College, Lake Michigan College, and the Citadel Dance and Music Center. Lewis graduated from Andrews University in May 2007 and 2008 with Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance, Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Studies and a minor in Bilingual Education as well as Bachelor of Music in Music Education. She completed her student teaching under Roberta Guaspari, who was made famous after the Grammy award-winning movie “Music of the Heart” was written about her. She will begin her master’s in Violin Performance this fall at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

This portion of the program will include cello, piano, clarinet, flute, oboe and violin music as well as music by a string quartet and vocal numbers. Lewis describes it as “filled with exquisite gems from the classical repertoire that you won’t want to miss!”

Following this classical treat, Lake Effect Jazz Big Band will take the stage. The band was created in 2000 to perform classic and contemporary big band jazz arrangements in a concert setting. It is modeled after the famous, hard-swinging jazz big bands of the 1950s, and is dedicated to preserving classic jazz big band sounds, while bringing recent jazz releases to the public ear as well.

The director is Christopher Keech, well known in the area as a jazz saxophonist and instructor. Originally from Hartford, Mich., Christopher received his A.A. from Lake Michigan College, and received a B.S. from Western Michigan University, where he majored in jazz studies. He has performed with jazz greats John Lewis and Jimmy Heath, and pop artists The Captain and Tennille, Michael Bolton, and The Temptations. For more information, please call the box office at 269-471-3560.