NEWS RELEASE

Nov. 7, 2011

Steve Rottinghaus, Baker University public relations director, (785) 594-8330 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

University to be host to jazz festival

Baldwin City, Kan. — The 14th annual Baker University Invitational Jazz Festival, featuring the Baker Jazz Ensemble, will be Nov. 17-18 at Rice Auditorium on the Baldwin City campus. The concert on Nov. 17 and the daylong competition on Nov. 18 are free and open to the public.

The Baker Jazz Ensemble and guest artist Eric Koppa, a tenor saxophonist from Madison, Wis., will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17. J.D. Parr, professor of music, will direct the concert. Koppa, a graduate of Western Michigan University, is an award-winning jazz artist who has performed the past 12 years around Chicago and southeastern Wisconsin.  He has led his own bands during that time and also performs regularly with Clyde Stubblefield, Kyle Henderson, the Madison Jazz Orchestra and the Prohibition Orchestra of Chicago.

On Friday, Nov. 18, Koppa and four professional jazz musicians from the Kansas City area will adjudicate 19 high school bands all day at Rice Auditorium. All the bands will receive a rating from the judges and a clinic conducted by one of the jazz artists. Outstanding soloists will be announced after the competition.

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