EEA to host free Music Masters Jazz Ensemble Concert, Dec 2

East End Arts is thrilled to announce the Music Masters Fellowship Jazz Ensemble Concert, led by professional guitarist Steve Salerno, which will take place on Tuesday, December 2 at 7 p.m. at the Suffolk Theater, located at 118 E. Main Street in Riverhead, NY. Members of the community are invited to attend this free concert event. We thank generous sponsors Içim and Mark Miller for their support of this program, as well as the Suffolk Theater for graciously providing the performance space.

Ensemble leader and mentor, professional guitarist Steve Salerno is an active performer of both jazz and classical music. He has performed across the globe with many of today’s top musicians. The ensemble is made up of eight students from high schools across the East End, who participated in East End Arts’ 2014 Music Masters Fellowship Program, which was an intensive full-scholarship, nine-week jazz ensemble workshop. These eight selected students have had the incredible opportunity to work under the guidance of this professional, and have been given training in professional rehearsal and performance skills through this program. For more information, visit http://www.eastendarts.org/programs/music-masters.html

The group will perform:

Cantaloupe Island (Funk/Latin) by Herbie Hancock;
So What (Up Modal Swing) by Miles Davis;
Freddie Freeloader (Blues) by Miles Davis;
Moten’s Swing by Bennie Moten;
Don’t Know Why (Pop/Bossa) by Norah Jones;
The Girl From Ipanema (Bossa Nova) by Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Students applied to participate in the summer and a select few were chosen to participate in this program. Applications came in from across Suffolk County and the final eight-piece ensemble includes:

Megan Brunner, piano, from Riverhead High School;
Christian Cahill, guitar, from Northport High School;
Danny Jones, trumpet, from Riverhead High School;
Joe Kelly, electric bass, from Mattituck High School;
Ben Mancini, alto saxophone, from Riverhead Middle School;
Ryan Mancini, alto saxophone, from Riverhead High School;
Sam Mancini, guitar, from Riverhead High School;
Sophia Dupuis, vocals, from Riverhead High School.
The ensemble has been rehearsing Monday evenings since the end of September in East End Arts’ Carriage House rehearsal space, preparing for this final concert.

More about the Music Masters Fellowship Program

The Music Masters Fellowship Program was created with the goal of providing local students with one-on-one learning opportunities with masters in the music field, and to encourage student pursuit of post-graduate education. The program employs master performers and composers in rock music, jazz, world music and classical music to mentor small groups of talented high school students from Eastern Long Island. Through one-on-one learning opportunities with masters in the music field, the students are given training in rehearsal and performance skills, in addition to recording, marketing, composition and songwriting. They leave with life-long friendships, as well as portfolio materials to assist them in future endeavors, including their pursuit of post-graduate education. Participating students are selected based on application and performance sample. By creating this exciting and enriching program for the students, East End Arts is the catalyst for an expanded sense of opportunity and possibility throughout the academic year.

The pilot program, which took place during the spring of 2011, was mentored by Corky Laing, drummer and songwriter from “Mountain,” and “West, Bruce & Laing”; the second program, which took place in the spring of 2012 was mentored by singer/songwriter Lauren Kinhan of New York Voices and JaLaLa. The 2013 program was led by the young and incredibly gifted Nico Olarte-Hayes, a professional cellist and conductor, who is an alumnus of the very prestigious Perlman Music Program, which is under the direction of the world renowned master violinist Itzhak Perlman.

For more information about Steve Salerno, visit http://www.eastendarts.org/school/music-masters.html#salerno-bio.

For more information about the Music Masters Fellowship Program, contact the East End Arts School at 631-369-2171 oreducation@eastendarts.org.

East End Arts, established in 1972, is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit arts organization, and operates a School of the Arts, an Art Gallery, and presents a variety of events and programs to promote the arts year-round. Proceeds from all events, sales, classes, donations, and memberships benefit the mission and commitment to building and enriching our community through the arts by way of education, support, advocacy, and inspiration.