November 21, 2018
Renowned jazz violinist Regina Carter will be performing as a special guest on Friday, Nov. 30 during the World Music Concert and Saturday, Dec. 1 during the Latin Jazz Concert in Varner Recital Hall on the Oakland University campus.
“When I was a student at OU, the big band director, Marvin ‘Doc’ Holladay, brought in guest musicians including Marcus Belgrave, Lyman Woodard, Ken Cox and Wendell Harrison, to work and perform with us,” said Carter, Oakland University’s artist-in-residence.
“The opportunities and experiences I had when I was a student at OU really helped to shape and give me a strong foundation for my career in music,” she added. “I enjoy visiting my alma mater, working with the students and playing a part in helping to carry on that tradition.”
On Friday, Nov. 30, Carter will join the Akwaaba African Ensemble, the Ngoma World Percussion Ensemble, and special guest James Isabirye to present an evening of music from Uganda. A current Ph.D. student at OU, Isabirye will share several royal music traditions from Uganda that are central to his doctoral research. The program will also include the embaire xylophone, tamenhaibuga drums, and bigwala trumpets of the Busoga kingdom as well as entenga drums of the Buganda kingdom.
The concert will begin at 8 p.m. in Varner Recital Hall. Tickets are $8 for all seats and can be purchased online at startickets.com.
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| The OU Jazz Band |
On Saturday, Dec. 1, the OU Jazz Band, Pan-Jumbies Steel Band and Ngoma World Percussion Ensemble present a program of Latin jazz featuring Carter and Miguel Gutierrez, one of metro Detroit’s top Latin percussionists.
“Well known as an innovative musician, Carter reveals the violin’s melodic side and its potential for percussive expression,” said Sean Dobbins, a celebrated Detroit-area jazz drummer and special lecturer at Oakland University. “This program and the World Music program on Nov. 30 will demonstrate her eagerness to explore musical combinations and contexts both familiar and unexpected.”
The Latin Jazz Concert will begin at 8 p.m. in Varner Recital Hall. Tickets are $8 for students, $10 for the general public, and can be purchased online at startickets.com.
Varner Recital Hall is located at 371 Varner Drive in Rochester, Mich.
For more information about these events, contact the School of Music, Theatre and Dance at 248-370-2030 or [email protected].
About Regina Carter
Born in Detroit, Carter studied at the Center for Creative Studies and the New England Conservatory of Music before transferring to Oakland University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in music in 1985.
Since then, Carter has travelled extensively throughout the world and in 2001 she became the first jazz musician and African-American to play “The Cannon,” a 250-year-old Guarneri violin once owned by Niccolo Paganini, which is kept in Genoa, Italy, and only played once a year by an individual deemed worthy.
A Grammy nominee and 2006 recipient of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, Carter is now considered the foremost jazz violinist of her generation. She has been featured with leading symphony orchestras and performed with artists as diverse as Aretha Franklin, Lauryn Hill, Billy Joel, Kenny Barron and Mary J. Blige. Her newest album, Ella: Accentuate the Positive, is a celebration of the First Lady of Song’s infectious and inclusive artistry.