Jazz and Classical Music Featured at Santa Monica College

By Lookout Staff

March 30, 2018 -- The Santa Monica College Music Department will present a series of concerts in April that include a benefit for the school's applied music program, concert organizers announced this week.

All events, except for the benefit concert, take place in performance spaces at the SMC Performing Arts Center at 11th Street and Santa Monica Boulevard.

The concerts kick off with a performance by the SMC Jazz Band with conductor Frederick Keith Fiddmont on Sunday, April 8 at 4 p.m. in the Music Hall.

The ensemble will perform "jazz band arrangements from the masters, as well as contemporary works from aspiring composers and arrangers," organizers said.

Guest artist Lynne Fiddmont will join the band to perform music by pop artists including Stevie Wonder and Nora Jones. Tickets are $10.

On Thursday, April 19 at 11:15 a.m. in the Music Hall artist and cultural activist George Lepauw will perform piano works by Bach and Debussy.

Lepauw, who is executive director of the Chicago International Movies and Music Festival and the founder of the International Beethoven Project, "uses music and the arts to inspire and bring people together," organizers said.

The concert is free, and complimentary tickets are available at the SMC Music Office in Room 211 of the Performing Arts Center.)

On Friday, April 20 at 7 p.m. the Dave Tull Quartet will present a jazz concert in the Music Hall.

"Renowned for 30 years as a world-class jazz drummer, Dave Tull has also built a reputation in the past 10 years as a great jazz singer, songwriter, and bandleader," organizers said.

The concert is part of the SMC Spring Jazz Series. Tickets are $10.

The benefit concert for the applied music program will take place Friday, April 27 at 7:30 p.m. at New Roads School, 3131 Olympic Boulevard.

"Some of SMC’s most gifted music students perform under the direction of Brian Driscoll to support the SMC Music Department’s distinctive Applied Music Program, dedicated to fostering the development of outstanding instrumentalists, vocalists, and composers, organizers said.

Tickets are $10.

For tickets and information (unless otherwise noted), visit www.smc.edu/eventsinfo or call (310) 434-3005 or (310) 434-4323.