EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan State University Jazz Orchestra I, directed by Rodney Whitaker, will perform with guest artist Bobby Carcassés at 7:30 p.m. March 16 at Demonstration Hall.
In addition to the concert, Carcassés, a multi-instrumentalist who will be in residence at MSU the week of March 12-16, will offer a music workshop, a seminar presentation and an art exhibit with an associated talk. The residency is sponsored by the College of Music, the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
Carcassés, who has been an active musician for more than 50 years, is originally from Jamaica and grew up in Cuba where he developed an eclectic interest in music ranging from opera to jazz. Early in his career, he performed with some of the best Cuban vocal quartets at the Tropicana, a well known cabaret in Havana, and spent a year in Paris where he played with the legendary Kenny Clarke and Bud Powell. Returning to Havana in the 1970s, he played nightclubs and acted in television and movies. He is also a painter and exhibits his own work around the world.
Considered one of the top proponents of jazz in Cuba, Carcassés launched the Jazz Plaza Festival in Cuba in 1978. Now called the Havana International Jazz Festival, the event has expanded to include all of the main concert halls in downtown Havana as well as impromptu jam sessions in the streets.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for seniors; students with ID and those under 18 are admitted free. Tickets are available at the door; at the MSU College of Music, 102 Music Building, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday–Friday, (517) 353-5340; and online at music.msu.edu/events/. Other events are free and open to the public.
MSU Residency Schedule for Bobby Carcassés
March 12:
Art exhibit and talk
4:30 p.m., Room 304 Snyder Hall, Residential College in the Arts and Humanities
Bobby Carcassés talks about "Cuban Jazz Art," an exhibit of his art works on display March 12-16 on the second-floor hallway of the RCAH.
Music Workshop
9:30 p.m., Room 120 Music Building, College of Music
Afro-Cuban Music Workshop
March 14
Seminar Presentation
3 p.m., Room 201, International Center
"Jazz and Identity in Cuba: Bobby Carcassés's Fifty-Year Music Career"
Presented by the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies' Seminar Series
March 16
Concert
7:30 p.m., Demonstration Hall
Bobby Carcassés with Jazz Orchestra I, Rodney Whitaker, director
This visit and residency is in preparation and accordance with a new MSU study abroad program to Cuba titled "Culture and Sustainable Development in Cuba." The program, which runs from May 7 to June 10, will expose students to Cuba's rich culture.
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