Winning arrangements to be played by the Jazz Surge during final Jazz Masterworks Series performances of the season
TAMPA, FL - Fred Stride of Vancouver, B.C., Canada, and David Peoples of Memphis, Tenn., are the top winners in the University of South Florida's first International Jazz Arranging Competition. Stride and Peoples won in the “open" and “young artists" categories, respectively. Cash prizes will be awarded in each category, in the amount of $2,500 to Stride and $1,000 to Peoples.
The competition, sponsored by the USF Center for Jazz Competition, has drawn national attention for its tribute to the compositions of the late saxophone icon Michael Brecker, who passed away in January following a long fight with Myelodysplastic Syndrome and leukemia. More than 40 big-band arrangements, by composers representing six countries and three continents, were submitted to the competition.
Stride's arrangement of “Peep" and Peoples' arrangement of “Never Alone" will be performed by Chuck Owen and the Jazz Surge, April 21-23 at venues in the Tampa Bay area and Orlando. New commissions by acclaimed jazz composers Vince Mendoza and Gil Goldstein will also be heard on the program, titled “A Tribute to Michael Brecker."
The concerts are the final performances of the season for the Center for Jazz Composition's Jazz Masterworks Series, in the School of Music at the USF College of Visual & Performing Arts.
Submissions to the International Jazz Arranging Competition were made in two categories - open (no age restrictions) and young artist (30 years of age or younger by 6/1/07) - and were evaluated by a guest panel of esteemed composers.
The winners are as follows:
Open Category
Winner: Fred Stride, “Peep," Vancouver, Canada
Honorable Mention: Michael Titlebaum, “Misterios Delta City," Valley Cottage, NY
Honorable Mention: Jeremy Levy: “Slings and Arrows," Burbank, CA
Young Artist Category
Winner: David Peoples, “Never Alone," Memphis, TN
Honorable Mention: Sean Foley, “Outrance," Denton, TX
Honorable Mention: Daniel Mester, “The Naked Soul," Budapest, Hungary
The concerts:
* April 21, 7:30 p.m., Palladium Theater, 253 Fifth Ave. N., St. Petersburg; (727) 822-3590; www.mypalladium.org
* April 22, 7:30 p.m., Rollins College, Orlando; (407) 646-2000; www.rollins.edu
* April 23, 8 p.m., USF Theatre 1, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa; (813) 974-2323
Ticket prices range from $10 to $30. For more information, visit http://CenterForJazzComp.Arts.usf.edu
Those wishing to honor Michael Brecker can make donations in his name to The Marrow Foundation's Time is of the Essence fund. For details, visit www.themarrowfoundation.org
The University of South Florida is among the nation's top 63 public research universities and one of 76 community engaged universities as designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. USF was awarded more than $310 million in research contracts and grants last year and is ranked by the National Science Foundation as one of the nation's two fastest growing universities based on federal research and development expenditures. The University offers 217 degree programs at the undergraduate, graduate, specialty and doctoral levels, including the doctor of medicine. The University has a $1.6 billion annual budget, an annual economic impact of $3.2 billion, and serves 44,038 students on campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota- Manatee and Lakeland. USF is a member of the Big East Athletic Conference.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
