‘6:30 Thursdays’ begins this week with jazz musician

GREEN BAY – The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay opens its Fall Concert schedule this Thursday, Oct. 1, with “Melodic Mastery,” a concert featuring the San Francisco-based jazz flugelhornist, composer and recording artist Dimitri Matheny.

Matheny’s performance at 6:30 p.m. in the Weidner Center’s Fort Howard Hall is part of the UW-Green Bay Music program’s “6:30 Thursdays” concert series, designed to connect campus and community to music in meaningful ways. Composers, performers and arrangers perform their work, offer commentary and lead discussion about diverse musical styles and the fact there are often multiple, varied ways to approach any given piece of music.

630Poster_17x11 Matheny attended the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He and his Matheny Group have built a reputation on the jazz club and festival circuits, and he continues to be in demand as a studio musician and live performer, either on his own or as a band member for various national acts.

A student of jazz legend Art Farmer, Matheny advocates a lyrical, melodic approach to jazz, in contrast to the chord scale and pattern-based methods most recently in vogue. “Your solo is an opportunity to express something entirely new and profoundly personal,” Matheny says. “Create your own melody. Tell your own story. Sing your own song! This is no time for plugging in recycled, memorized material.”

Backing up Matheny during his Oct. 1 campus visit will be UW-Green Bay alumnus Ben Hogan on the drums, local instructor Jordan Christiansen on the piano and UW-Oshkosh music instructor Andrew Sachen on the double bass.

The 2015-16 “6:30 Thursdays” series features a wide array of musical styles and guest artists, including jazz, classical, contemporary, and “third-stream” music blending jazz and classical. All 6:30 Thursday events in the Fort Howard Hall are free and open to the public. Donations are welcome. Following Matheny’s performance, remaining 2015  concerts are:

  • Oct. 15 — “The Music Trance”
    Pianists Sylvia Hong and Michael Rector
  • Nov. 5 — “Travelogue”
    Marimba/clarinet duo Transient Canvas
  • Nov. 12 — “Piano Per Diem: 30 Piano Pieces in 30 Days”
    Pianists Holly Roadfeldt and Michael Rector perform compositions by Michelle McQuade Dewhirst
  • Dec. 3 — “Dragons, Stones and Circuses”
    Compositions by David Colson to be performed by UW-Green Bay faculty and friends

The 1923 Fund is the generous sponsor of the 2015/16 season of 6:30 Thursdays. Contact Linda Parins, Parinsl@uwgb.edu or 920-465-2944 for more information or funding opportunities.