UNCA to Hold February Concerts

UNC Asheville’s Music Department will kick off its spring concert season with a French horn recital and a jazz festival. Concerts are open to the public.

A free lunchtime concert will feature Gerald L. Welker on French horn accompanied by pianist Virginia McKnight at 12:20 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4, in UNCA’s Lipinsky Auditorium. Welker, a University of Alabama student, is a rising horn star. In 2001, he earned the top prize in the American Horn Competition Collegiate Division and in the same year was named the Yamaha Young Performing Artist. Welker’s most recent accomplishments include being named Brass Soloist of the Year by the National Federation of Music Clubs and finishing among the top five performers in the professional division of the 2003 American Competition.

UNCA’s first Invitational Jazz Festival will take place on Saturday, Feb. 21, at UNCA’s Lipinsky Auditorium. High school jazz ensembles will perform for clinicians throughout the day. The festival will wrap up with a concert by UNCA’s Jazz Lab Band at 5 p.m. The band will perform with trumpet player Byron Stripling under the direction of David Wilken.

For more information, call UNCA’s Music Department at 828/251-6432.

Media Contacts:

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