UNCA Music Department Wraps Up Fall Concert Season

UNC Asheville’s music department will serve up an offering of jazz, swing and holiday tunes as it wraps up the fall concert season. Concerts are open to the public.

The UNCA Jazz Ensembles and the UNCA Jazz Lab Big Band will take center stage at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, in UNCA’s Lipinsky Auditorium. Trumpeter Rich Willey, former member of the Maynard Ferguson Big Band, and tenor saxophonist Phillip Whack, a member of the Taken Back Quartet, will perform as guest artists. Concert will feature jazz standards by Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, Pat Metheny and Thelonius Monk. Admission is $5.

UNCA’s traditional holiday concert will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8, in UNCA’s Lipinsky Auditorium. Holiday classics including "In the Bleak Midwinter," "Fanfare for Christmas" and "A Winter’s Carol" will be featured. UNCA’s String Ensemble, String Quartet, Concert Band, Flute Ensemble and University Singers will perform in this annual holiday event.

Don your dancing shoes for UNCA’s annual Big Band Swing Dance at 7-9 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8, in UNCA’s Justice Center. The dance features music by the 18-piece UNCA Community Jazz Band and swing dance lessons with Eliot and Meredith Zaiken. Beginner lessons will be held from 6-6:30 p.m. followed by intermediate lessons from 6:30-7 p.m. Guests are asked to wear only soft-soled shoes to protect the gymnasium floor.

For more information, call UNCA’s music department at 828/251-6432.

Media Contacts:

• Patrick Hill, UNCA Music Department Assistant, 828/251-6432
• Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526