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| Monk Jazz Competition Semifinalists Announced The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz will present its 20th annual Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition and a Tribute to Herbie Hancock, sponsored by Cadillac and GMAC Financial Services, in Los Angeles on October 27-28, 2007. The Competition will feature 10 of the world's most outstanding young jazz trumpeters who will travel to Los Angeles from all corners of the globe to compete for major scholarships and prizes. The Semifinals will be held on Saturday, October 27th at Schoenberg Hall on the campus of the University of California - Los Angeles (445 Charles E. Young Drive). The Finals will be held on Sunday, October 28th at the Kodak Theatre of the Hollywood & Highland Center (6801 Hollywood Boulevard), where three finalists will vie for a $20,000 first place scholarship, $10,000 second place scholarship, and $5,000 third place scholarship. This year's semifinalists are Ambrose Akinmusire (California), Maurice Brown (Illinois), Jean Caze (native of Haiti), Philip Dizack (Wisconsin), Josh Evans (Connecticut), Vitaly Golovnev (Russia), Tobias Kaemmerer (Wisconsin), Nadje Noordhuis (Australia), Michael Rodriguez (Florida), and Charles Porter (Florida). The Competition, compared in stature to that of the classical Tchaikovsky and Van Cliburn Competitions, is the most prestigious jazz competition in the world, and is widely known for discovering the jazz stars of tomorrow. It has launched the careers of pianists Marcus Roberts and Jacky Terrasson, saxophonist Joshua Redman, and vocalists Jane Monheit and Tierney Sutton, to name a few. These artists and dozens of others from past Competitions have forged successful careers as performing and recording artists as well as music educators. They have earned worldwide respect and media attention while helping to preserve and perpetuate America's legacy of jazz. Each year the Competition shines the spotlight on a different instrument. Past Competitions have featured the saxophone, trumpet, trombone, guitar, vocals, piano, bass, and drums. This year's young aspiring jazz trumpeters will perform for an illustrious panel of judges, including renowned jazz trumpeters Herb Alpert, Roy Hargrove, Quincy Jones, Hugh Masekela, Clark Terry, and Terence Blanchard, Artistic Director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance. Following the three finalists, the audience will be treated to a special performance of the winning composition of the 2007 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Composers Competition winner Petros Sakelliou (Greece), sponsored by BMI. The $10,000 Composers Award is presented annually to the young, aspiring composer who best demonstrates originality, creativity, and excellence in jazz composition. The 2007 Composers Competition is devoted to jazz compositions that feature the trumpet. BMI is one of the world's largest performing rights organizations, representing the works of Thelonious Monk and more than 350,000 composers, songwriters, and music publishers in all genres of music. The second half of the evening will feature a star-studded Tribute to music legend Herbie Hancock with performances by some of the greatest musical artists of all time, including Sting, Joni Mitchell, Chris Botti, Chaka Khan, Al Jarreau, George Benson, Nancy Wilson, Wayne Shorter, Terence Blanchard, Clark Terry, George Duke, Roy Hargrove, and many others. Rickey Minor will serve as Producer and Music Director for the event. The Competition will be taped as a documentary for Black Entertainment Television and the BET J cable network (formerly BET Jazz). The documentary will include performances by the semifinalists, backstage interviews with the finalists and judges, and footage from the post-Competition reception. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Jazz News :: home page |