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Polk County Itemizer-Observer • September 30, 2015 9A
LET US ENTERTAIN YOU
Smith Fine Arts Series returns to Western Oregon University on Friday for 39th season
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — It’s that
time of year again, when
world-class music and
dance comes to the Western
Oregon University campus,
bringing a level of perform-
ances not usually offered in
Polk County.
The 39th season of the
Smith Fine Arts Series offers
a lineup of six events, kick-
ing off on Friday with
Groove for Thought.
The annual series attracts
members of the community,
students, staff and faculty.
One act, dance troupe
BodyVox, scheduled for Jan.
8, 2016, will likely bring
Portlanders down to Mon-
mouth, Coker said.
“They tour the world,” he
said. “Most of their perform-
ances are not in Oregon,
even though they are Port-
land based. It’s rare to get to
see BodyVox in the state.”
Coker starts lining up acts
for the Smith Fine Arts Series
more than a year ahead of
time, and it’s lucky he does.
A couple of his acts would be
too expensive if he tried to
book them now, he said.
Sean Jones, who wraps up
the series on June 3, 2016, is
one of those.
“I managed to get him on
the series about a year ago,”
Coker said. “Since then, his
career has skyrocketed. I’d
never be able to get him
If You Go …
What: 39th season of the
Edgar H. Smith Fine Arts Se-
ries.
Where: Western Oregon
University, 345 N. Monmouth
St., Monmouth.
When: Friday, Oct. 2
(Grove for Thought); Friday,
Oct. 9 (3 Leg Torso); Friday,
Jan. 9, 2015 (Rainbow Dance
Theatre); Friday, Jan. 8, 2016
(BodyVox); Friday, Jan. 15,
2016 (Ten Strings And A Goat
Skin); Friday, April 8, 2016
(Sara Gazarek and the Amer-
ican Metropole Orchestra);
and Friday, June 3, 2016
(Sean Jones with the Western
Hemisphere Orchestra).
Of note: All performances
start at 7:30 p.m. and take
place in Rice Auditorium on
the WOU campus.
Tickets: Season tickets for
all seven shows are $119 for
adults and $52 for students.
You can also choose five-
show packages ($99 adults,
$42 students). Individual per-
formance tickets are $25 in
advance and $29 at the door.
Student tickets are $11 per
show.
For more information:
503-838-8333; email to fin-
eart@wou.edu; online at
www.wou.edu/sfa.
again.”
Western Oregon Universi-
ty students in the Western
Hemisphere Orchestra will
back him up for the concert,
with music written by Coker.
SMITH FINE ARTS SERIES/ for the Itemizer-Observer
Groove for Thought will take the stage at Rice Auditorium on Friday at 7:30 p.m. to kick off the 2015-16 Smith Fine Arts
Series. The seven singers combine the swinging style of The Manhattan Transfer with the smooth sounds of Take 6.
Groove for Thought, Oct. 2
The seven singers of Groove for
Thought have been blowing audiences
away for longer than 15 years. Perform-
ing classic tunes in a jazz style unlike
anything you’ve ever heard, the group
combines the swinging style of The
Manhattan Transfer with the smooth
sounds of Take 6. Groove for Thought is
proud to announce the release of their
latest recording, Unnecessary Disso-
nance.
Together since 2000, Groove for
Thought began as a group of friends
that got together weekly in their living
rooms to sing a style of music that
went above and beyond what was pos-
sible in their college jazz choirs.
Many of the members of Groove are
experienced music teachers, and all
members have ties to the rich jazz edu-
cation tradition of the Pacific North-
west.
Groove for Thought has toured ex-
tensively throughout North America
and Europe, sharing their unique brand
of music with school, concert, night-
club, and festival audiences alike. Per-
formance highlights include many of
the finest jazz festivals in the United
States including the Lionel Hampton
Jazz Festival, the University of Northern
Colorado/Greeley Jazz Festival, and the
Gold Company Invitational.
Groove For Thought hopes to con-
tinue to inspire audiences with their
fun and uplifting music.
3 Leg Torso, Oct. 9
3 Leg Torso formed in 1996 as a violin,
cello and accordion trio with the mission of
creating original modern chamber music for
their unique instrumentation.
The quintet now performs original com-
positions based on an eclectic synthesis of
chamber music, tango, klezmer, latin, and
Roma (Gypsy) music.
As principal composers, founding mem-
bers Béla R. Balogh (violin and trumpet) and
Courtney Von Drehle (accordion) provide
the core of 3 Leg Torso’s sound. They are
joined by veteran percussionist/mallet play-
er Gary Irvine, the consummate mallets/per-
cussion of T.J. Arko, and the gentleman of
the acoustic bass, Mike Murphy.
SMITH FINE ARTS SERIES/ for the Itemizer-Observer
3 Leg Torso promises an eclectic synthesis of chamber music, tango, klezmer, latin and
Roma (Gypsy) music. The group performs Oct. 9 at Rice Auditorium.
BodyVox, Jan. 8, 2016
BodyVox, currently in its 17th season, has toured extensively throughout the U.S. as well
as Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan and India. Based in Portland, and founded by Emmy
Award-winning choreographers Jamey Hampton and Ashley Roland, BodyVox has devel-
oped eight award winning films, 20 evening length shows and three operas, featuring nearly
200 original dances.
The dance troupe has three different productions available year-round and includes out-
reach in all of its touring.
Ten Strings
and a Goat
Skin, Jan. 15,
2016
M e m b e r s o f Te n
Strings And A Goat
Skin, a bilingual band
hailing from Prince Ed-
ward Island, Canada,
are having the time of
their lives as a
trad/folk/fusion trio.
Weaving the music
of the Irish, Acadian,
Francophone and Mar-
itime cultures and their
original creations with
m o d e r n a n d wo r l d
rhythms, Ten Strings
And A Goat Skin have
created a fiery, conta-
gious and unique
sound that has them in
demand and touring
extensively throughout
Canada, the United
States and Europe.
Jesse, Rowen and
Caleb highly respect
the traditions of the
music they play but are
riding the wave that is
redefining the roots of
that music.
Their original materi-
al maintains solid tradi-
tional elements, but ex-
plores rich world flavors
and textures. The re-
sults have been de-
scribed as intoxicating
and refreshing.
SMITH FINE ARTS SERIES/ for the Itemizer-Observer
BodyVox, a Portland dance troupe, performs on Jan. 8, 2016. The group seldom per-
forms in Oregon, so local fans will likely flock to Monmouth to see the show.
Sara Gazarek and the American Metropole Orchestra, April 8, 2016
Amongst a community teaming with star-
tlingly gifted young singers, Sara Gazarek
stands out as a particularly extravagant
artist. Her first two albums introduced her
singular sound and vision, steeped in the
tradition of jazz but deeply informed by con-
temporary songwriters and performers.
Born and raised in Seattle, Gazarek grew
up without much exposure to jazz. In her
early teens, she was inspired by musical the-
ater and dance, but she ended up discover-
ing and falling in love with the jazz choir at
her high school.
The director, Scott Brown, became the
first of several essential musical mentors,
and he started steering her toward great
jazz singers/musicians and classic jazz
recordings.
Gazarek didn’t discover her calling until
her senior year, when her school band flew
to New York City to compete in the Essential-
ly Ellington Competition, hosted by the Lin-
coln Center Jazz Orchestra. It was the first
year that the competition included a big
band vocal feature, so Gazarek joined the
band, and ended up walking away with the
first ever Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Founda-
tion Vocal Soloist Award.
SMITH FINE ARTS SERIES/ for the Itemizer-Observer
Ten Strings and a Goat Skin hails from Canada, and will
perform at WOU on Jan. 15, 2016.
Sean Jones and the Western
Hemisphere Orchestra, June 3, 2016
Music and spirituality have always been fully intertwined
in the artistic vision of trumpeter, composer, educator and
activist Sean Jones. Singing and performing as a child with
the church choir in his hometown of Warren, Ohio, Sean
switched from the drums to the trumpet upon his first expo-
sure to Miles Davis at the age of 10.
Heavily involved in education, Sean has recently joined
the Berklee College of Music’s distinguished faculty as the
Chair of the Brass Department. He has also taught at
Duquesne University in his adopted hometown of Pittsburgh
and at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, while regularly of-
fering master classes and clinics all around the world. Sean
also serves as Artistic Director of both the Pittsburgh and
Cleveland Jazz Orchestras and is working toward organizing
the various Jazz orchestras all over the country. Sean is cur-
rent Artist-in-Residence at San Francisco Performances and is
a member of The SF JAZZ Collective.
COURTESY OF SMITH FINE ARTS SERIES
Sean Jones will close the series in June.
COURTESY OF SMITH FINE ARTS SERIES
Sara Gazarek will sing April 8, 2016.