Alumni Blues Doctors to Perform with Jazz Band

Performance Music at The University of Scranton will welcome back some multitalented alumni for its Saturday, April 6, concert.

That evening, The University of Scranton Jazz Band will be joined on stage by The Alumni Blues Doctors, made up of Scranton graduates and Performance Music alumni Drs. Christian Adonizio ’92, Bernard J. Costello ’91, Christopher Newman ’94 and Matthew Stopper ’99.

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the University’s Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue. Admission is free, with seating on a first-come, first-seated basis.

The concert is being sponsored by the family of the late Michael Zaboski Sr., in celebration of his life and love of music. The late Zaboski’s son is University Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and External Affairs Gerald C. Zaboski ’87, G ’95, one of several Zaboski family members who have performed in the University’s choirs and bands. The late Mr. Zaboski’s grandson Gared is a 2018 graduate student who plays saxophone in the University’s jazz band, and Gared’s brother Kyle is a sophomore at Scranton.

Though the University has no music major, countless talented student musicians have played for Performance Music Conductor and Director Cheryl Y. Boga during her 38-plus years at Scranton. And it just so happens that many of those alumni happen to be physicians, she said.

All four Alumni Blues Doctors will have featured solos at the concert, according to Boga.

“They all were and remain excellent musicians. And Chris Newman continues to play professionally all over the place with orchestras and bands,” Boga said. “These are like my kids coming home. I’m so excited about this, I can’t even tell you.”

Dr. Adonizio is a board-certified hematologist/oncologist who practices at Geisinger Medical Center. He serves as the medical director for oncology innovation and analytics and the director for cancer care delivery research, as well as a clinical professor of medicine, at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine.

Dr. Costello is a board-certified surgeon who serves as dean and professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, chief of pediatric oral and maxillofacial surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and a surgeon with the Cleft and Craniofacial Center.

Dr. Newman is a board-certified internal medicine specialist who is the chief medical officer and vice president of medical affairs at Penn State Health/St. Joseph’s, and the executive director of St. Joseph’s Medical Group. A professional musician, he performs with numerous bands, orchestras and chamber music ensembles throughout the Northeast.

Dr. Stopper is a cardiologist and electrophysiologist at Great Valley Cardiology, specializing in the comprehensive treatment of cardiac arrhythmias including atrial fibrillation. He is board certified in clinical cardiac electrophysiology, cardiovascular diseases, internal medicine, nuclear cardiology and adult echocardiography.

The University of Scranton Jazz Band is a 25-member ensemble of big band instrumentation, made up of University student musicians from majors spanning the curriculum. The band performs four or more times per year, with the majority of its performances free of charge and open to the public.

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