Mayo Performing Arts Center to Host Emerging Artists & New Works Series

Audiences can enjoy new works, rising young talent and more in two intimate artistic showcases as part the latest installments of Mayo Performing Arts Center's Emerging Artists and New Works series. Events will be held on May 16 and June 19, respectively. General admission tickets are $25. Student ticket prices are available for $20.

MPAC's Emerging Artists and New Works series is a new, quarterly series that showcases rising young artists and newer works by established performers in an intimate artist environment. Most events are held either on the MPAC stage - with the audience sitting on stage surrounding the performers -- or in MPAC's Starlight Room. The series gives patrons the opportunity to experience these works in a whole new way, as well as to have to opportunity to speak with the artists following each performance.

Enjoy an evening of jazz with Champian Fulton with David Williams and Ben Zweig on Monday, May 16, 2016 at 7:30 pm. Performing an array of familiar American Songbook classics and forgotten gems from the Golden Age of Jazz, this hard-swinging, multi-generational trio is sure to make you smile and tap your foot. This performance is sponsored by Glenbrook Technologies, Inc.

Champian Fulton has become a world class jazz pianist and vocalist with international acclaim. Recognized as a Rising Jazz Star by the Downbeat Magazine Critic's Poll, Champian's "galvanizing presence" (The New Yorker) and her alluring musical presentation have made her "a charming young steward of the mainstream Jazz tradition." (The New York Times). David Williams' route to the top of the jazz world has been somewhat unconventional: it has taken him from Trinidad to London to New York to Washington, DC to Los Angeles and back to New York. But there is nothing conventional about brilliance, and as a bassist, that is what David Williams exemplifies. His sound is deep and resonant, his section playing seems effortless, his solos are rhythmic and compelling, and his intonation is flawless. A recipient of the NJ Governor's Award in Jazz Excellence, drummer, steel pannist, and composer Ben Zweig is an active force in the international jazz and contemporary music scenes. Ben's playing is well rooted in the American jazz tradition. His influences also include European and Indian classical music, as well as Brazilian, Cuban, and West-Indian folk traditions.

The next performance in the series is Sebastian Forster and Friends Present: Tangata Trio on Sunday, June 19, 2016 at 7 pm.

The official trio from the Astor Piazzolla Foundation, with Sara Sant'Ambrogio on cello, Galina Zhdanova on violin and Sebastian Forster on piano, performs works of Astor Piazzolla with additional piano solos by Sebastian Forster.

Born in Buenos Aires in 1975, Sebastián Forster has touched audiences and reached the souls of those lucky to hear him play live, lifting the musical experience to new levels of emotional engagement. Sebastián made his international professional debut on April 28th, 1997, in Amsterdam, with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra performing Mozart's piano Concerto #23, which was recorded live on BMG's prestige Victor Red Seal label. Since then, his international career includes tours as a soloist and recordings performing with several orchestras abroad. In 2009 Sebastián Forster ventured into accomplishing a lifetime-legacy major project of immense proportions: the recording of The 32 Complete Beethoven Piano sonatas, completed by 2012. Mr. Forster lives in Morristown, New Jersey, since 2012.

Pictured: Ben Zweig

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