Performances by Warren Oree & The Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble, Po/Jazz Connection, Edgardo Cintron and The Cintron Band, Philadelphia Clef Club Youth Jazz Ensemble, To The Max Band and Joanna Gardner
PHILADELPHIA – Woodmere Art Museum in Chestnut Hill announces the extension of Experience Jazz at Woodmere, the museum’s popular Friday night jazz series. Museumgoers and music lovers are invited to stroll Woodmere’s galleries, enjoy wine and cheese, and hear live jazz performances every Friday in May and June. The museum first launched the jazz series in the month of April, as part of the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts. The response to the four-concert series was tremendous, as visitors from throughout the region flocked to Chestnut Hill to experience Woodmere. Artist descriptions and a concert schedule follows below.
Themed jazz nights for the month of May include: Jazz Classics: Ellington, Coltrane, Gershwin, Armstrong and more with Warren Oree and The Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble (May 13), Latin Jazz Night with Edgardo Cintron and The Cintron Band (May 20), and Jazz and Spoken Word with Po/Jazz Connection (May 27).
June will bring: Gershwin Night with Warren Oree and The Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble (June 3), Philadelphia Clef Club Youth Jazz Ensemble (June 10), Tribute to Fathers with vocalist Joanna Gardner (June 17, Father’s Day weekend), and Jazz meets R&B with To The Max Band (June 24).
Woodmere, Philadelphia’s premier institution for interpreting the art and culture of the Philadelphia region, has six new exhibitions currently on view. Visitors to the museum’s jazz series will have the opportunity to view new work on display throughout the museum.
Woodmere Art Museum is located at 9201 Germantown Avenue, at the corner of Germantown Avenue and Bells Mill Road in Chestnut Hill. All jazz series programs are held from 6pm – 8pm. Tickets are $20 for each performance and includes museum admission to view all special exhibitions on display. For ticket and visitor information, visit www.woodmereartmuseum.org or call (215) 247-0476.
ON DISPLAY AT THE MUSEUM
Visitors will gain a fresh perspective on the museum through four exhibitions showcasing objects from the permanent collection. Pennsylvania Impressionism and Landscape from the Collection of Woodmere Art Museum and the Promised Gift of Dr. Dorothy J. del Bueno features Impressionist and landscape paintings of Pennsylvania. Violet Oakley: The Building of the House of Wisdom includes several large-scale murals on view for the first time since receiving conservation work.
The exhibition Selections from the Charles Knox Smith Collection highlights objects from the personal collection of Woodmere’s founder. Still Life features paintings and drawings from Woodmere’s collection of still life across a variety of media. As is evident throughout the exhibitions on view, women artists are well represented at Woodmere. This is the legacy of Edith Emerson, Woodmere’s director from 1940 to 1978. Emerson was an artist herself who approached art made by women with the same seriousness as she did art made by men. Woodmere has continued to build on Emerson’s work. Women artists created all of the still life paintings on view, as well as the landscapes, portraits, and self-portraits in the Balcony Gallery.
Two exhibitions explore the artistic energy and brashly innovative spirit of Paris in the early twentieth century. Violet Oakley and the Women Artists of Paris, a second exhibition exploring the murals of Violet Oakley, offers an intimate look at the Philadelphia/Mt. Airy illustrator, muralist, and stained glass artist, while Charles Demuth in the City of Lights explores the work of one of America’s greatest modernists.
CONCERT SCHEDULE
MAY
Friday, May 13
Jazz Classics: Ellington, Coltrane, Gershwin, Armstrong and more
Warren Oree and The Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble
$20 ($15 members), 6 – 8pm
Warren Oree and The Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble have performed throughout Philadelphia and the world. Arpeggio’s repertoire includes original and standard compositions. Their music is flexible, ranging from soft, contemplative melodies, to energetic, multi-rhythmic arrangements. http://arpeggiojazzensemble.com
Friday, May 20
Latin Jazz Night
Edgardo Cintron and The Cintron Band
$20 ($15 members), 6 – 8pm
Latin Jazz Night features the talents of Edgardo Cintron and his Latin pop orchestra, The Cintron Band. A percussionist and second-generation Puerto Rican, Edgardo Cintron is known as much for his affable personality and generous spirit as for his musicianship. www.cintronband.com
Friday, May 27
Jazz and Spoken Word
Po/Jazz Connection
$20 ($15 members), 6 – 8pm
In Po/Jazz Connection, Warren Oree and The Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble bring together two dynamic art forms – poetry and jazz. The performance features poets reciting their writings and verse while the band provides musical accompaniment, weaving live music throughout the poetry on the spot.
JUNE
Friday, June 3
Gershwin Night
Warren Oree and The Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble
$20 ($15 members), 6 – 8pm
Warren Oree and The Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble have performed throughout Philadelphia and the world. Arpeggio’s repertoire includes original and standard compositions. Their music is flexible, ranging from soft, contemplative melodies, to energetic, multi-rhythmic arrangements. http://arpeggiojazzensemble.com
Friday, June 10
Philadelphia Clef Club Youth Jazz Ensemble
$20 ($15 members), 6 – 8pm
Members of the Philadelphia Clef Club Youth Jazz Ensemble will play selections from the group’s repertoire. The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts is a unique artist-founded and artist-run cultural organization, committed to the promotion and preservation of jazz music. The Clef Club provides lessons, concerts, cultural events and valuable services to musicians, enhancing the cultural presence of jazz in Philadelphia. www.clefclubofjazz.org
Friday, June 17
Tribute to Fathers
Joanna Gardner
$20 ($15 members), 6 – 8pm
Make soul singer Joanna Gardner part of your Father’s Day celebrations. The Philadelphia vocalist, who made her professional singing debut with the British music group Loose Ends in the late 80s, will sing a Tribute to Fathers.
Friday, June 24
Jazz meets R&B
To The Max Band
$20 ($15 members), 6 – 8pm
Bring your dancing shoes. To The Max brings a high energy level to performances, with a dancing brass section and choreographed singers and musicians. Playing a variety of musical genres and popular hits, the group regularly performs at parties, nightclubs, weddings, and Festivals around the country. www.tothemaxdanceband.com
Experience Jazz at Woodmere is made possible through the generous support of the Klorfine Foundation. These programs are offered in partnership with Lifeline Music Coalition, Inc.
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