Department of Music

• Saturday, February 21st, 2009
• Old Cabell Hall
• 8:00pm
• $15 / $8 students / 5 ARTS$

The Free Bridge Quintet will welcome three of their esteemed fellow faculty members to share the stage as the McIntire Department of Music continues celebrating its “Year of Jazz” with a concert on Saturday February 21st at 8:00pm in Old Cabell Hall.

Guitarist Mike Rosensky, vocalist Stephanie Nakasian and trombonist Nathan Dishman will be the featured guest artists for the Free Bridge Quintet’s spring semester concert. “We’re very excited to be able to showcase the wealth of talent we have here on the performance faculty at U.Va.,” said Free Bridge bassist Peter Spaar. “One of the best-kept secrets in this community is the world-class level of musicians we have teaching in the basement of Old Cabell Hall. We hope this concert will help to change that.”

Mike Rosensky has been teaching and performing both classical and jazz guitar at U.Va. since 1994. His jazz style has been profoundly influenced by his work with the late renowned guitar pioneer Emily Remler with whom he studied prior to receiving his degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Mike is co-founder of the Rosensky-Decker Quartet which has been a fixture at Miller’s on Wednesday nights for the past ten years. Besides private guitar instruction, he also teaches a class in fretboard harmony and is co-director of the Jazz Chamber Ensembles at U,Va. Mike also founded the New York- based New Music Chamber Ensemble, Ekko!

Internationally acclaimed jazz vocalist Stephanie Nakasian is better known abroad than she is in her own backyard. Just a partial list of her credits includes performances with such jazz vocal legends as Jon Hendricks, Annie Ross, Bobby McFerrin, Sheila Jordan and Bob Dorough. In addition she has released five CDs, published a book on jazz singing titled “It’s Not on the Page!” made numerous television and radio appearances both nationally and internationally, and performed at such high-profile jazz venues as the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Kool Jazz Festival. Besides private vocal instruction, Stephanie also occasionally teaches an academic class at U.Va. titled “Great Ladies of American Song”.

Nathan Dishman is one of the newest additions to the performance faculty at U.Va. A native of Charles City, Iowa, Nathan is in his first year as the principal trombonist for the Charlottesville University Symphony Orchestra. In August of 2007, Nathan was one of twelve international tenor trombone participants selected by Joseph Alessi, principal trombone of the New York Philharmonic, to take part in the prestigious Alessi Seminar in Albuquerque, New Mexico.His jazz experience includes performances at the Montreux Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Paris Jazz Festival, and the International Association of Jazz Educators conference. He has performed on stage backing up artists such as Robin Eubanks, Ray Anderson, Rich Perry, Nicholas Payton, Eric Reed, and Karrin Allyson.

Each of the guest artists will be featured individually with the quintet during the course of the concert but there will also be a lot of instrumental mixing and matching. “Part of the fun of this concert is having three new voices to add to our sound.” said FBQ pianist Bob Hallahan, “We plan to really open things up as the concert progresses, sort of like the old ‘Jazz at the Philharmonic’ jam sessions.”

Along with Spaar and Hallahan, the Free Bridge Quintet includes Jeff Decker on reeds, Robert Jospe on drums and John D’earth on trumpet. Tickets are $15 general admission, $8 for students, and 5ARTS$ for UVA Students. Tickets are available at the Cabell Hall Box Office at 924-3984