CHESTERTOWN, MD—Washington College kicks off its new Premier Artist Series, part of the larger Washington College Concert Series, on Thursday evening, September 5, with a free outdoor concert of original compositions by the Next Wave Jazz Ensemble, one of the U.S. Navy’s premier big bands. 

The family-friendly concert will take place in Martha Washington Square, outside the Gibson Center for the Arts, at 6 p.m. The College will provide free lemonade, cotton candy, popcorn and Rita’s Ices.  There will be seating available, but guests are encouraged to bring their own chairs and blankets, as well. 

Next Wave comprises 17 talented musicians under the leadership of Chief Musician Joe McCarthy on drums. Regularly booked for jazz festivals and educational conferences throughout the country, the band performs traditional jazz by past greats such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Stan Kenton, as well as works by contemporary composer/arrangers including Maria Schneider, Bob Curnow and Darryl Brenzel, plus pieces written and arranged by band members, themselves.  

The Washington College Concert Series continues the next day, Friday, Sept. 6, with the season’s first 12@Hotchkiss series offering, a performance by award-winning Brazilian guitarist Rogério Souza Silva, accompanied by a quartet of musicians. The free concert begins at noon in Hotchkiss Recital Hall, second floor of the Gibson Center for the Arts.

Silva is a seven-string guitarist, composer and arranger from Rio de Janeiro known for his exciting interpretations of samba and choro, a highly improvisational form often described as “the New Orleans jazz of Brazil.” He has performed extensively across several continents with some of the greatest artists in Brazilian popular music and has recorded nine CDs, six of them with his innovative choro group Nó em Pingo D’Agua.

Later in the month, on September 19, at 6 p.m. in Decker Theater, Gibson Center for the Arts, the College presents a book talk and banjo performance by Stephen Wade, author of The Beautiful Music All Around Us. Wade will mix music from his CD “Banjo Diary” with stories from his nearly two decades of field research in the American South. In researching his 2012 book, he tracked down living witnesses and participants from the landmark field recordings of Southern music made in the 1930s and 1940s through the Library of Congress. A dynamic and deeply informed presenter, Wade shares his insights about the evolution of traditional tunes as they pass through the creative hands and instruments of mostly unsung performers. 

Free and open to the public, this event is co-sponsored by the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and is part of the 2013 Chestertown Book Festival.

To learn more about all the events in the 2013/14 Washington College Concert Series visit www.washcoll.edu.  Below is a quick look at the events scheduled through the end of the fall semester:

October 1 – The Artistry of Afro-Cuban Bata Drumming, book talk and performance by professor and percussionist Kenneth Schweitzer, 5:30 p.m., The Egg, Hodson Hall Commons, free.

October 4 –  The 12@Hotchkiss series presents Cellist Dan Shomper and Pianist Grace Eun Hae Kim, noon, Hotchkiss Recital Hall, free.

October 17 – Ensemble Galilei - First Person: Seeing America, a multi-media production that combines traditional and new music with actor narrations and projected photographs from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, tickets $20 (adults) and $15 (seniors, students over age 12, and WC faculty/staff), Washington College students free with valid ID.

November 1 – 12@Hotchkiss presents the Capital Reeds woodwind trio, noon, Hotchkiss Recital Hall, free.

November 11 – A Veteran’s Day performance by The Jazz Ambassadors of the United States Army Field Band, 7:30 p.m., Decker Theatre, free (email concertseries@washcoll.edu for tickets). 

November 22 – Student Chamber Music Concert, noon, Hotchkiss Recital Hall, free. 

November 23 – Joint concert by the Washington College Chorus & String Orchestra, 7:30 p.m., Decker Theatre, tickets $10 (adults), $7 (seniors and WC faculty/staff), and $5 (non-WC Students & Children over 12). Free for Washington College students with valid ID. 

December 2 – Honors Solo and Chamber Student Recital, 7:30 p.m., Hotchkiss Recital Hall, free. 

December 5 – Concert by the Washington College Jazz Ensemble & Symphonic Band, 7:30 p.m., Hotchkiss Recital Hall, free.