About the WP Music Department
Christopher Dylan Herbert, baritoneCharity Wicks, piano
Grammy-nominated baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert, and renowned pianist and musical directror Charity Wicks perform works by Robert & Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Nico Muhly, John Link, and Jason Robert Brown.
General Admission: Free
Buy your tickets now to the Best of the Best of the William Paterson University Music Department! This scholarship fundraiser features music from every area of William Paterson music, from percussion to pop, from jazz to choral, from brass to the big finale. Help current and future students by purchasing tickets, attending, and clapping harder than anything you’ve ever clapped for in your life.
$25- General public$20- WP faculty, staff and alumni$10- Students
Nava Dunkelman and Payton MacDonald, percussion
Original Songs by this New Jersey-based independent alternative folk band.
Widely respected trumpeter and WP jazz alumnus Freddie Hendrix kicks off the celebration of the Jazz Studies Program’s 50th year with his exciting band, including fellow WP alum Bruce Williams, saxophone; Steve Carrington, saxophone; Brandon McClure, piano; Joseph Lapore, bass; and McClenty Hunter, drums. Hendrix graduated from William Paterson in 1996, and since then has built a solid reputation through his work with the Count Basie Orchestra, Christian McBride Big Band, Jimmy Heath Big Band, Rufus Reid Quintet, Oliver Lake Organ Quintet, Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys, and the NBC Tonight Show with Stevie Wonder, among many others. He is one of the most highly regarded and busiest trumpeters on the national jazz scene, and we are proud to feature him in his first Jazz Room appearance as a leader.
Reserved Seating: $15 General Public • $12 WP community & senior citizens • $8 Non-WP students • WP Students admitted free with ID • $5 additional charge on show day per ticket
This concert is preceded by a Sittin’ In meet-the-artist session one hour prior to performance in Shea Recital Hall 101.Free to all ticket holders. Audience members have a chance to meet and interact with that day’s artist in a question-answer format.
Compositions by WP Student and Faculty composers! Featuring the World Premiere of WP Professor and Coordinator of Theory, David J. Weisberg’s Variations Sonata for solo piano, performed by WP Professor of piano and new music, Carl Patrick Bolleia. Q&A with the composers and performers to follow. WP New Music Series, Carl Patrick Bolleia, Director
This event is Free Admission and open to the public
WP Pianists perform their original composed transcriptions of music from a range of styles including Gospel, Top 40, Opera, Musical Theater, Sacred Music, the Disney Songbook, and more! Selections from J.S. Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier Book I round out the program, celebrating the 300th Anniversary of this monumental contribution to keyboard literature.
Directed by WP Piano & Keyboard Studies, Carl Patrick Bolleia, Coordinator
WP Voice students and pianists perform Spanish-language art songs and arias.With pianists Hannah Comia, June Marano-Murray, and Charity Wicks
Percussionist Jose Madera is steeped in the history of Latin jazz. He is the son of Jose “Pin” Madera, the first arranger for the Machito Orchestra, He spent 31 years with the Tito Puente Orchestra, going on to become a musical arranger and director of the Orchestra. His long career has connected with such legends as Willie Colon, Fania All-Stars, Joe Farrell, Eddie Palmieri, Celia Cruz, and Dizzy Gillespie, as well as R&B and pop legends such as Diana Ross and James Brown. This concert brings Madera’s arranging and percussion artistry together with the students of the WP Latin Jazz Orchestra, led by veteran faculty member Chico Mendoza.
The Fragility of Time is a work by Pulitzer Prize Composer Finalist James Romig for solo electric guitar, commissioned and performed by Matt Sargent and completed in 2022. The Fragility of Time comprises two complete cycles of a 13:14:15 ratio, resulting in a pair of identical rhythmic palindromes that divide the composition into two equal parts. The Fragility of Time calls for an unprocessed amplification that allows for subtle shading of dynamics, micro-variations in articulation and timbre, intervals of silence, and an introspective, contemplative mood. WP New Music Series, Carl Patrick Bolleia, Director
New York City based all-female flute, clarinet, and piano trio dedicated to connecting diverse audiences through innovative programming.
Five-time Grammy winner Dianne Reeves is the pre-eminent jazz vocalist in the world. As a result of her breathtaking virtuosity, improvisational prowess, and unique jazz and R&B stylings, Reeves received the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for three consecutive recordings – a Grammy first in any vocal category.
Featured in George Clooney’s six-time Academy Award nominated Good Night, and Good Luck, Reeves won the Best Jazz Vocal Grammy for the film's soundtrack. Reeves has recorded and performed with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. She has also recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim and was a featured soloist with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. Reeves was the first Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the first vocalist to ever perform at the famed Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Reeves worked with legendary producer Arif Mardin (Norah Jones, Aretha Franklin) on the Grammy winning A Little Moonlight, an intimate collection of standards featuring her touring trio. When Reeves’ holiday collection Christmas Time is Here was released, Ben Ratliff of The New York Times raved, “Ms. Reeves, a jazz singer of frequently astonishing skill, takes the assignment seriously; this is one of the best jazz Christmas CD's I've heard.”
In recent years Reeves has toured the world in a variety of contexts including “Sing the Truth,” a musical celebration of Nina Simone which also featured Lizz Wright and Angelique Kidjo. She performed at the White House on multiple occasions including President Obama's State Dinner for the President of China as well as the Governors’ Ball.
Reeves’ most recent release Beautiful Life, features Gregory Porter, Robert Glasper, Lalah Hathaway and Esperanza Spalding. Produced by Terri Lyne Carrington, Beautiful Life won the 2015 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance. Reeves is the recipient of honorary doctorates from Berklee College of Music and the Juilliard School. In 2018 the National Endowment for the Arts designated Reeves a Jazz Master — the highest honor the United States bestows on jazz artists.
Dianne ReevesRomero Lubambo
Reserved Seating: Gold Circle $65 • Orchestra and Front Loge $55 • Rear Loge $45
This concert is preceded by a “Sittin’ In” meet-the-artist session one hour prior to performance in Shea Recital Hall 101.Free to all ticket holders. Audience members have a chance to meet and interact with that day’s artist in a question-answer format.
WP Percussion Ensemble
Featuring new music for percussion ensemble
Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti and Kamala Sankaram's Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers
Christopher Herbert, producer and stage directorChairty Wicks, music director
This double-bill production explores how families adapt during times of social change. Trouble in Tahiti focuses on a 1950's family in suburbia as they try to find connections amid constraining social norms. Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers challenges the idea of a of male-dominated society and considers what it would be like if girls led the world.
Performances in Hunziker Black Box TheatreThursday, April 20 at 7pmFriday, April 21 at 5pmSaturday, April 22 at 7pmSunday, April 23 at 3pm
General Admission: $20 • $10 Students and WP Community
Join us for this spring’s Jazz Room finale, our celebration of the 50th year of William Paterson University’s historic Jazz Studies Program. One of the first five jazz degree programs in the nation at its inception, the program has gone on to establish itself as one of the world’s most prestigious places to study jazz. This concert will feature a tribute to the program’s leadership by retired Director of Jazz Studies Rufus Reid and present Director Bill Charlap; the WP Jazz Orchestra with special guests; and stellar alumni from the Jazz Studies Program.
The New Music Series concludes the 2022-2023 season with the final concert celebrating the 50th Anniversary of WP Jazz and the third stream - where the styles of Jazz and Classical intersect in compositions of the 20th and 21st Century! Featuring compositions by WP Classical and Jazz Majors, including Caress The Thought by Rufus Reid, long-term WP Director of Jazz Studies (1980-1999) WP New Music Series, Carl Patrick Bolleia, Director
William Paterson University
300 Pompton Road
Wayne, New Jersey 07470
973-720-2000
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