The Mile High Jazz Band Association and the Brewery Arts Center present pianists Alexander Tutunov, Lisa DeSpain, and Tristan Selzler in a Piano Summit on Sunday, August 4, 1:30 to 4:15 p.m. at the Brewery Arts Center Performance Hall, 511 W. King Street, Carson City. Admission is free.
This special event, part of the 2013 "Jazz & Beyond: Carson City Music Festival," is for music fans and musicians of all ages who want to hear and learn about American popular piano music, including the Gershwin era, musical theater, and jazz. The piano summit is supported with public funding through a grant from Nevada Humanities.
Alexander Tutunov Professor of Piano and Artist in Residence at Southern Oregon University, performs in Europe, China, Mexico, and the United States as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra, and on radio and television. He has performed George Gershwin's Concerto in F with orchestras and Rhapsody in Blue in symphonic and solo piano versions, and his focus at the piano summit will be the Gershwin era. Dr. Tutunov is a magna cum laude graduate of the Central Music School of the Moscow Conservatory and University of North Texas, with a doctoral diploma with honors in concert performance from the Belarusian State Conservatory.
Lisa DeSpain is a leading composer and performer on the American music scene, known for her tasteful blending of jazz, classical, American folk and theatrical music. Her works have a definitive “American” sound. She studied with some of the greatest masters in jazz and American musical theater including Ellis Marsalis, Eliane Elias, Manny Album, Stephen Flaherty, and Maury Yeston and has won many awards and honors. She holds a degree in Music Composition from the University of North Texas and a Masters in Jazz Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music.
Tristan Selzler, a graduate of the Jazz Studies Program at University of Nevada, Reno, is music instructor at the Davidson Academy of Nevada. He performs and teaches music throughout the Reno-Tahoe-Carson City area, and plays organ for the Reno Aces. He founded the Reno Jazz Syndicate in 2007 to promote live, creative music and the art scene of Reno. For the Piano Summit, he will perform works illustrating American popular music from 1890s ragtime through today.
Jazz & Beyond includes more than 60 performances and events throughout Carson City, through August 2 through 18. Festival sponsors include Mile High Jazz Band Association, Carson City, For the Love of Jazz, Nevada Commission on Tourism, Carson City Convention and Visitors Bureau, Nevada Arts Council, Nevada Humanities Brewery Arts Center, Carson City Historical Society, Lake Tahoe Media Group, and private donors. For details and a complete schedule of events, see JazzCarsonCity.com or call Mile High Jazz Band at 775-883-4154.