Dillard Center for the Arts Jazz Ensemble to perform at annual Midwest Clinic
Dillard Center Arts Jazz Ensemble.
Submitted by Nadine Drew
Dillard Center for the Arts (DCA) Jazz Ensemble has been invited to perform at the 66th annual Midwest Clinic: an International Band and Orchestra Conference on December on Dec. 19 – 22, 2012, at McCormick Place West in Chicago, Ill. The DCA Jazz Ensemble will perform as a demonstration band for an open rehearsal, led by Wynton Marsalis, on Friday, Dec. 21 at 11 a.m.
Wynton Marsalis has been described as the most outstanding jazz musician and trumpeter of his generation and as one of the world’s top classical trumpeters, a big band leader in the tradition of Duke Ellington, a brilliant composer, a devoted advocate for the Arts and a tireless and inspiring educator.
“The Midwest Clinic affords Jazz at Lincoln Center great visibility within the music industry, and as the 2012 First Place winner of our Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition, it is only fitting that the Dillard Center for the Arts Jazz Ensemble work with Mr. Marsalis at this prestigious conference,” stated officials of the Lincoln Center.
While in Chicago, the DCA Jazz Ensemble will tour the city and attend clinics, exhibit halls and visit with students from collegiate music schools at the conference. They will also per-form in front of thousands of other musicians, educators and evaluators. “This is a great honor for our music program,” said Christopher Dorsey, director of the DCA Jazz Ensemble. “We’re excited to represent the best of school music programs.” The Midwest Clinic is the world’s largest instrumental music education conference, annually drawing approximately 16,000 attendees to Chicago from all 50 states and as many as 40 countries. It is held every December in downtown Chicago. Its goal is to raise the standard of music education, develop new teaching techniques and hold clinics, lectures and performances for the betterment of music education.
