Coming Events
SPRING 2025 CONCERT SCHEDULE
All events will take place in The Houlihan-McLean Center (Mulberry Street at Jefferson Avenue) and are free of admission charge, unless otherwise noted.
On concert night, click here for a program.
Saturday, February 22, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
IN CONCERT
The Ted Nash Duo and The 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ Jazz Ensemble
(tednash.com) (scranton.edu/music)
Ted Nash is a two-time Grammy Award Winner known for his uncanny ability to mix freedom with substance, blues with intellect, and risk-taking with clarity. He is a co-founder of the New York-based Jazz Composers Collective and is recently retired from a long-standing career as a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Nash has become one of the most significant jazz composers of the 21st century. His recordings have received wide critical acclaim, appearing on the “best-of” lists in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Village Voice, and The Boston Globe. Portrait in Seven Shades, his first big band recording, garnered two Grammy nominations. His following big band album, Chakra, received critical acclaim and charted on Billboard. The 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ Jazz Band is a 28-member ensemble of big band style instrumentation, made up of 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ student musicians from majors spanning the curriculum. They perform five or more times per year, and the majority of their performances are open to the public, free of admission charge, and often feature a nationally or internationally renowned guest soloist. The primary focus of Performance Music at The 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ is its student choral and instrumental performing ensembles. Because there is no music major at the University, all enrolled 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ students (undergraduate and graduate) are eligible for membership in the University bands, choirs, string ensembles, and steel drum band with neither an audition nor enrollment fee required for membership. Hundreds of students participate in the ensembles each year.
(additional educational event scheduled; email music@scranton.edu for information)
Friday, February 28, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
IN RECITAL
Peter Evans, trumpet (with Ron Stabinsky, piano)
(peterevanstrumpet.com)
Peter Evans is a composer, trumpet player, bandleader and educator based in New York City. For 20 years, Evans has been pushing the boundaries of creative music in formats as divergent as solo trumpet improvisation, symphony orchestras, jazz ensembles, noise/electronic music, and through-composed works. He has been the recipient of awards and commissions worldwide including the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 2022. Additionally, he has released 20 albums of original music including the critically acclaimed Ghosts, Lifeblood and Being & Becoming. A prolific composer and performer, Evans tours regularly with his groups Being & Becoming, SYMPHONY, and Forever 21, as a soloist and collaborator with some of the leading lights of modern music. Ron Stabinsky is probably best known as a member of the notorious bands “Mostly Other People Do The Killing” and the reunited rock band “Meat Puppets”. He has the distinction of performing as a classical solo and orchestral pianist, a straight-ahead jazz musician, occasionally a rock musician, and regularly as an accomplished free improviser. In addition to solo piano improvisation, he enjoys working on music in stylistically diverse situations throughout the United States and Europe with a variety of other musicians and ensembles.
(additional educational event scheduled; email music@scranton.edu for information)
Wednesday, March 5, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
GENERAL RECITAL
91Â鶹ÊÓƵ Performance Music student musicians in solo, duo, trio, small ensemble performances
(scranton.edu/music)
Student musicians from Performance Music at The 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ will perform solo, duet, trio, and small group/chamber ensemble renditions of various repertoire. The primary focus of Performance Music at The 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ is its student choral and instrumental performing ensembles. Because there is no music major at the University, all enrolled 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ students (undergraduate and graduate) are eligible for membership in the University bands, choirs, string ensembles, and steel drum band with neither an audition nor enrollment fee required for membership. Hundreds of students participate in the ensembles each year.
Saturday, March 8, 2025, 7:30 pm.
IN RECITAL
Jeremy Ajani Jordan, piano
(jeremyajanijordan.com)
Critically acclaimed as “a clear technical virtuoso”, “a rare talent”, and “a true Wunderkind,” Chicago-born Jeremy Jordan burst onto the music scene at age 9 playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in a live televised performance. He later made his solo Carnegie Hall debut performing Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, and Wagner. After winning the 2006 Steinway Concerto Competition playing the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 1, Jordan delivered acclaimed performances with the Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra and concerto performances and recordings with the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. Jordan has also performed to thunderous applause in appearances at the United Nations Arts Council, the American Liszt Society, Concertgebouw, Tokyo Opera City, Prague’s Rudolfinum, and Chicago’s Ravinia Festival. He also tours extensively as a chamber musician and composes solo piano music, chamber music, orchestral music, and electronic music. Jordan holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees on the Van Cliburn and Irene Diamond scholarships from The Juilliard School.
Friday, April 4, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
RHAPSODY IN BLUE AT 100
featuring Dr. Frederick Hohman premiering the first full organ transcription of Gershwin’s "Rhapsody in Blue"
(frederickhohman.net)
Frederick Hohman is not only one of the most highly acclaimed organists in North America, he is also recognized as an award-winning composer of organ and choral music, a creator of organ transcriptions, a modern on-line educator, a musical instrument designer, and a classical music audio-video producer. Hohman earned the Performer's Certificate, Mus.B., M.M. and D.M.A. degrees while in the organ class of David Craighead at the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music. In 1984, he won First Prize in both the prestigious Clarence Mader and Arthur Poister competitions. This led to organ concert tours taking him throughout the USA, and to the Caribbean, Australia, the UK and Finland, to collegiate, concert and religious venues, including appearances before regional and national conventions of the American Guild of Organists (AGO), The Organ Historical Society, and The American Institute of Organbuilders. Hohman founded the recording label in 1985 and has overseen the production and release of over 300 organ and choral music titles, including 16 releases where he is also the featured artist. Hohman is the 2019 Winner of the annual American Guild of Organists' Pogorzelski-Yankee New Organ Music Composition Competition. Additionally, Hohman has provided written guidance and encouragement to aspiring organists as an adjudicator in 20 national and international organ competitions.
(additional educational event scheduled; email music@scranton.edu for information)
Saturday, April 12, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
42nd ANNUAL WORLD PREMIERE COMPOSITION SERIES CONCERT
featuring The 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ Concert Band & Concert Choir
premiering two new works by Dr. Wycliffe Gordon (H. '06) & Jennifer Krupa, with the composers conducting
(wycliffegordon.com) (jenkrupa.com) (scranton.edu/music)
Composers for this year’s 42nd Annual World Premiere Series event are Dr. Wycliffe Gordon (H. ’06) and Jennifer Krupa. Dr. Gordon has an impressive career touring the world performing to great acclaim from audiences and critics alike. The Jazz Journalists Association named him “Trombonist of the Year” a record-breaking 16 times, and he’s topped Downbeat Critics Poll for “Best Trombone” for an unprecedented seven times. His most recent awards include the “Louie Award”, the International Trombone Award and the Satchmo Award, among others. Wycliffe is a prolific recording artist and is extremely popular for his unmatched signature sound, plunger technique and unique vocals. He can be heard on hundreds of recordings, soundtracks, live DVD’s and documentaries, and has an extensive catalog of original compositions that span the various timbres of jazz and chamber music. His arrangement of the theme song to NPR’s “All Things Considered” is heard daily across the globe. Gordon is a regular guest at 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ, and a return guest to the series. Krupa, also a returning guest to the series and regular guest artist at 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ, made her professional reviewed debut in the university’s Houlihan McLean Center, performing with The Wycliffe Gordon Quintet. She has contributed original works and arrangements to a wide variety of ensembles, featured in recordings and performances across the globe. Her extensive discography spans nearly 30 recordings, with artists such as Wycliffe Gordon, Johnny Mandel, Ted Nash, Kristen Lee Sergeant, Leigh Pilzer, the Scott Silbert Big Band, the Eric Felten Jazz Orchestra, and the DIVA Jazz Orchestra. In her two-decade tenure with the United States Navy Band Commodores Jazz Ensemble, Krupa held multiple key roles, including music director, arranger, tour manager, operations and personnel manager, and trombonist. The primary focus of Performance Music at The 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ is its student choral and instrumental performing ensembles. Because there is no music major at the University, all enrolled 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ students (undergraduate and graduate) are eligible for membership in the University bands, choirs, string ensembles, and steel drum band with neither an audition nor enrollment fee required for membership. Hundreds of students participate in the ensembles each year.
(additional educational event scheduled; email music@scranton.edu for information)
Friday, April 25, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
IN CONCERT
The 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ String Orchestra (guest soloist TBA)
(scranton.edu/music)
The 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ String Orchestra is a 40+ member ensemble comprised of members of the university community from majors and departments spanning the curriculum – most of them undergraduate students, joined by a few graduate students, alumni, and members of the faculty – none of whom are music majors, who are all brought together by their mutual love of music-making. The primary focus of Performance Music at The 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ is its student choral and instrumental performing ensembles. Because there is no music major at the University, all enrolled 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ students (undergraduate and graduate) are eligible for membership in the University bands, choirs, string ensembles, and steel drum band with neither an audition nor enrollment fee required for membership. Hundreds of students participate in the ensembles each year.
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
IN CONCERT
The 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ Brass Orchestra and The 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ Singers
(scranton.edu/music)
The 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ Brass Orchestra, now celebrating its 13th season, is a fully professional 27-member ensemble, founded in 2011. Comprised of brass players and teachers from the region, membership is by invitation only. The group's performances are free of charge and open to the public, and often feature nationally and internationally acclaimed guest artists, including many of the most respected brass players of our time. The group made its debut before hundreds of appreciative audience members in June 2011 and has since garnered acclaim from both audiences and musicians alike. The 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ Concert Choir is a 45-member ensemble comprised of members of the university community from majors and departments spanning the curriculum – the vast majority of them undergraduate students, joined by a few graduate students and members of the faculty and staff – none of whom are music majors, who are all brought together by their mutual love of music-making. The primary focus of Performance Music at The 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ is its student choral and instrumental performing ensembles. Because there is no music major at the University, all enrolled 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ students (undergraduate and graduate) are eligible for membership in the University bands, choirs, string ensembles, and steel drum band with neither an audition nor enrollment fee required for membership. Hundreds of students participate in the ensembles each year.
Friday, May 9, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
IN CONCERT
The 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ Jazz Ensemble
with guest soloist Joel Ross, percussion
(iplayvibes.com)
NYC based Joel Ross, a Chicago native, has earned widespread renown as the most exciting new voice on his instrument, the vibraphone. More than a commanding improviser, he is a bracingly thoughtful composer and a bandleader. Ross auditioned for and won a spot in the Jazz Quintet where he studied under former SFJAZZ Collective vibraphonist, Stefon Harris, for two years. A graduate of Stockton’s University of the Pacific, Ross went on to study jazz at The New School where he formed his band Good Vibes. Ross has toured with the Blacktet, in which his vibraphone was the primary instrument. Ross made his recording debut as a leader on his album in December 2016 and it was released on in 2019. That same year, Ross recorded his second album as a leader, The 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ Jazz Band is a 28-member ensemble of big band style instrumentation, made up of 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ student musicians from majors spanning the curriculum. They perform five or more times per year, and the majority of their performances are open to the public, free of admission charge, and often feature a nationally or internationally renowned guest soloist. The primary focus of Performance Music at The 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ is its student choral and instrumental performing ensembles. Because there is no music major at the University, all enrolled 91Â鶹ÊÓƵ students (undergraduate and graduate) are eligible for membership in the University bands, choirs, string ensembles, and steel drum band with neither an audition nor enrollment fee required for membership. Hundreds of students participate in the ensembles each year.
(additional educational event scheduled; email music@scranton.edu for information)
WHAT YOU MAY HAVE MISSED IN FALL 2024:
Friday, September 6, 2024, 7:30 p.m.
IN RECITAL: DUO CORGANO
with David Lao Ball, organ, and Trevor Nuckols, horn
(davidballorgan.com)
Award-winning, Juilliard-trained organist David Ball is a widely acclaimed performer who has performed and recorded on many of the world’s leading concert hall and church instruments, both in the U.S. and abroad. He has been featured in Diapason and American Organist; broadcasted on “PipeDreams” and WQXR; appeared in Juilliard’s FOCUS! Festival; won the AGO/Quimby Regional Competition for Young Organists; and was named one of The Diapason’s 2017 Class of 20 under 30, a peer-selected group of young people at the forefront of the organ field. David serves as Cathedral Organist and Head of Music Ministry at Christ Cathedral in the Diocese of Orange, California (formerly the Crystal Cathedral,) where he is primary steward of The Hazel Wright Organ, the fifth largest organ in the world, and serves as Musical Director of a variety of concert series there. Trevor Nuckols performs as a leading soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral performer across the globe. The New York Times hailed Nuckols as “outstanding” and an “excellent soloist.” He has performed & recorded as solo horn of the Münchener Kammerorchester & with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has also performed as guest principal horn with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Bad Reinchenhall Philharmoniker, and the Philharmonie Salzburg. He earned his Bachelor & Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, and a Postgraduate Diploma from the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg, and has won first prize at The International Horn Society’s Premiere Soloist Competition, The Juilliard Concerto Competition, the Music Academy of the West Concerto Competition, and The IHS Barry Tuckwell Award.
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