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Improvisation specialists take Dalton stage Friday

Jan. 23, 2006

KALAMAZOO--Western Michigan University's School of Music presents a concert featuring improvisation specialists Jeffrey Agrell, horn, and Evan Mazunick, piano, at 8:15 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, in the Dalton Center Recital Hall.

The performance is free of charge and open to the public. The program will be improvised and is guaranteed to include audience participation.

Jeffrey Agrell served as associate principal horn of the Lucerne (Switzerland) Symphony Orchestra for 25 years before joining the faculty of the University of Iowa in 2000. From his varied experiences as a professional musician, teacher, clinician and award-winning author and composer, he has acquired an international reputation for his creative approach and output. He has composed many commissions for professional chamber music ensembles and his works have been recorded, published, and performed at contests, festivals, and concert stages internationally as well as broadcast on TV and radio. He teaches a unique course at the University of Iowa on "Improvisation for Classical Musicians."

Evan Mazunick is a New York City freelance pianist, improviser, composer, and Soundpainter. He is currently a member of the New York City-based Walter Thompson Orchestra and conducts Gamut, the Soundpainting ensemble he founded in 2000. He has performed with Carla Bley, Bob Mintzer, Dick Oatts, Bobby Shew, Michael Spiro, and Steve Swallow. He scored "The Checker King," a documentary aired on Cinemax in 2003, and most recently, he recorded an album of compositions for jazz sextet.

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Media contact: Kevin West, (269) 387-4678, kevin.west@wmich.edu

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