Category: Music

Visiting Jazz vocalist Kathy Kosins will be giving a jazz vocal master class on Friday, March 27, from 4-5PM on the Rozsa Stage. She will work with three local vocalists, and demonstrate a variety of helpful information. This event is free and open to the public. She will be accompanied by members of the Michigan Tech Jazz Lab Band.

Ms. Kosins will perform in concert the following evening. Michigan Technological University’s Jazz Studies program presents the Don Keranen Jazz Memorial Jazz Concert with Special Guest Kathy Kosins at the Rozsa Center on Saturday, March 28, 2015, at 6:00 PM. Please note this time changed due to a possible Portage Lift Bridge Closure.

Kathy Kosins is an American singer specializing in jazz and R&B; she has shared the stage with many jazz greats, and most recently she performed with contemporary jazz legend Herbie Hancock. She is also an ASCAP award winning songwriter and modern abstractionist painter. Kosins has recorded several CDs under her own name and was first known as a singer of soul, rock, and pop singer having worked extensively with the bands Was (Not Was), Slingshot and recording artist Michael Henderson. In more recent years she has become an internationally known jazz singer; as a multi-media artist she also incorporates her painting into those live presentations. For more details: http://www.kathykosins.com/bio.php

Tickets are $13.00 for adults, $5 for youth (17 and under), and free for Michigan Tech Students with the Experience Tech fee. To purchase tickets, call (906) 487-2073, go online at rozsa.mtu.edu , or visit Ticketing Operations at Michigan Tech’s Student Development Complex (SDC), 600 MacInnes Drive, in Houghton. SDC box office hours are 8:00 AM – 9:00 PM, Monday-Friday, and 8:00 AM – 7:00 PM Saturday and 12:00 noon – 8:00 PM on Sunday. Please note the Rozsa Box Office is closed during regular business hours, and will only open two hours prior to show times.

For more details, please contact Michael Christianson, 906-487-2825, mchristi@mtu.edu.

Mu Beta Psi in conjunction with the Michigan Tech Jazz Association presents Jazz Night on the Town, on Thursday Feb. 5, from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. at the Orpheum in Hancock. There will be a $5 minimum donation at the door.

The night will be opened by one of Michigan Tech’s Jazz Groups, AstroSax, consisting of some of the best student jazz musicians at Tech. Closing/headlining the night will be Northern Standard Time, consisting of Michael Christianson on trombone and tuba and Michael Irish on guitar. Mike and Mike are both professors in the Department of Visual Performing Arts. Michael Irish is a well-known guitarist and Michael Christianson has traveled around the world, been on Broadway and played with many famous bands.

This concert supports the John MacInnes Memorial Scholarship, an award presented by Mu Beta Psi to Tech students involved in music programs.

From Tech Today.

Andrea Walvatne ’12 talks about her marriage to Kristopher Falasco ’13, whom she met in the pep band and wind symphony.

Read more at TechAlum Newsletter.

Sandy Shaw ’76 tells us about Snow Memories: The Pep Band Performance that Wasn’t in the November 18, 2014, issue of TechAlum Newsletter.

KSO to Present a Free Fall Musical Recital Thursday

The Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra will present a free fall music recital on Thursday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m. at Portage Lake United Church (PLUC). This recital’s theme, “Night at the Movies,” invites beautiful and compelling vocal and instrumental music, including performances of opera arias and art songs, a woodwind quartet, a string quartet and a premiere of a new composition.

Though tickets are free of charge, a $5 donation toward the KSO and PLUC will be accepted at the door. A reception will follow the performance.

From Tech Today.

Joel Neves, assistant professor in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, was awarded 3rd place in The American Prize in Conducting – College/University Orchestra Division. The submission included videos of him conducting the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra in Brahms, Debussy, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Shostakovich.

The American Prize is an annual national music competition for American musicians and musical organizations, ranging from opera companies to choirs to bands to composers to conductors. Joel’s division includes conductors of college and college-community orchestras.

KSO director wins award

Winning this prize is merely a side effect of all the passion Neves puts into his work. “I love music, it’s in my DNA and I love people. Being able to work with people to make music is a glorious calling. I go home happy,” said Neves. He has been conducting for 13 years now and has taken KSO to many new places during his career at MTU.

Read more at the Michigan Tech Lode, by Andrea Spencer.

Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra Fall Recital Series
Fantasies and Fairy Tales
Thursday, October 16, 2014, 7:00 pm
Portage Lake United Church

“The Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra presents a free Fall Music Recital. This recital’s theme—Fantasies and Fairy Tales—invites beautiful and compelling vocal and instrumental music, including performances of Canadian fiddle, opera arias and art songs, woodwind quartet, string quartet, piano solo, and flute solo.

There is no ticket price for the recital, but a $5 donation toward the KSO and PLUC is accepted at the door. There will be a nice reception after the performance.”

Mike Christianson (director of bands, trombone), Libby Meyer (VPA music composition, viola) and Mike Irish (director of jazz studies, guitar) were hired as members of the Wayne Newton Orchestra and performed with Wayne at the Lake of the Torches Resort in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin this past weekend. The show consisted of an 18-piece orchestra, 4 backup singers and Newton.

From Tech Today.

Two VPA Instructors to Perform at PLDL Tomorrow

Visual and Performing Arts instructors Libby Meyer and Amanda Plummer will host a Suzuki stringed-instrument performance, “Big Violins for Little People,” Tuesday, September 23, 2014, at the Portage Lake District Library, from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m.

Children will enjoy an hour of music-making, dancing and learning about what makes these instruments so much fun to play. Children of all ages are encouraged to attend. After the performance, participants will also have an opportunity to try out the instruments as part of a big violins “petting zoo.”

Library presentations are free, and everyone is welcome to attend. For more information, call the library at 482-4570 or visit Portage Lake District Library.

From Tech Today.

The Advanced Motor Sports teams proudly displayed their vehicles on a flat bead trailer while Husky Pep Band alumni pulled out their old stripes and joined current students to play traditional Pep Bad parade tunes all for the DTE Energy Cherry Royale Parade.

Read more at TechAlum Newsletter.