Performance Music Fall Season Begins Sept. 1

Performance Music at The University of Scranton will begin their fall season on Sept. 1 with tribute to jazz great Lester “Prez” Young.
Loren Schoenberg and the National Jazz Museum in Harlem All-Stars will present “Tribute to Prez: The Life and Music of Lester Young” Saturday, Sept. 1, at 7:30 p.m. at The University of Scranton’s Houlihan-McLean Center.
Loren Schoenberg and the National Jazz Museum in Harlem All-Stars will present “Tribute to Prez: The Life and Music of Lester Young” Saturday, Sept. 1, at 7:30 p.m. at The University of Scranton’s Houlihan-McLean Center.

On Saturday, Sept. 1, Loren Schoenberg and the National Jazz Museum in Harlem All-Stars will kick off Performance Music at The University of Scranton’s 2018 Fall schedule with the concert, “Tribute to Prez: The Life and Music of Lester Young.”

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the University’s Houlihan-McLean Center. At 6:30 p.m. , Schoenberg will give a pre-concert talk on the life and music of Lester Young.

Admission to the concert and talk is free, as it is for nearly all Performance Music programming.

At the concert, Schoenberg will lead the National Jazz Museum in Harlem All-Stars in a program celebrating the musical legacy of Young, the legendary tenor saxophonist (and occasional clarinetist) known for his work with the Count Basie Orchestra and Billie Holiday, among other artists. Nicknamed the “President of Jazz,” or “Prez” for short, Young influenced greats like Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins, and remains revered for his individual sound, style and phrasing.

According to Performance Music Conductor and Director Cheryl Y. Boga, the “Prez” tribute makes perfect sense, given the University is welcoming back the Rev. Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., for his second tenure as president.

One of the most respected musicians, bandleaders, music educators and historians in the contemporary jazz world, Schoenberg himself is making another return to the University, having performed on campus several times through the years. Boga puts the tenor saxophonist and pianist in the same rarefied company as fellow Performance Music regulars Wycliffe Gordon and Mark Gould.

“He’s one of our very favorites. It just feels like he belongs here all the time,” Boga said. “The kids love him. He makes them laugh, and they learn so much from him.”

Beyond that, she added, “Loren is an icon, a living legend of American music. His entire career has been spent making and preserving and celebrating great American music.”

The founding director and senior scholar at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, Schoenberg has performed with a long list of jazz legends, among them Benny Carter, Benny Goodman, Jimmy Heath, John Lewis, Christian McBride and Buck Clayton. From 1997 to 2005, he served as musical director for Bobby Short. In addition, he has conducted the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and the American Jazz Orchestra.

A two-time Grammy winner, Schoenberg oversaw the Benny Goodman Archives at Yale University, where he produced a 10-CD release of previously unissued Goodman recordings. He has been a faculty member at The Juilliard School, The New School, Manhattan School of Music, William Paterson University, Long Island University and The Hartt School at the University of Hartford. Also, he has lectured at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the White House, the New York Philharmonic and the Aspen Institute, where he is a fellow. A widely-published writer, his books include “The NPR Guide to Jazz.”

For further information on the concert, call 570-941-7624, email music@scranton.edu or visit scranton.edu/music. For more on Schoenberg, visit www.lorenschoenberg.com.

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