Lavender Jazz, All-Campus Band team up with fourth graders for Nov. 18 concert

Lavender Jazz performs at downtown Goshen's First Friday event in October.
Lavender Jazz performs at downtown Goshen’s First Friday event in October.

Concert: Goshen College All-Campus Band & Lavender Jazz Fall Concert
Date and Time: Friday, Nov.18, 2016, 7:30 p.m.
Location: Goshen College Music Center’s Sauder Concert Hall
Cost: Tickets: $7 adults, $5 seniors/students, available online at https://www.goshen.edu/tickets or by calling (574) 535-7566. GC faculty/staff/students free with valid ID.
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Goshen College’s All-Campus Band and Lavender Jazz ensemble will perform in a joint concert on Friday, Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m in Goshen College Music Center’s Sauder Concert Hall.

The bands will be joined by the Prairie View Elementary Recorder and Ukulele Ensembles, made up of fourth graders who are part of the new El Sistema program.

We’re looking for short prose pieces in the memoir genre, though might consider publishing extraordinary poetry submissions that fit this theme as well. Submissions should be under 500 words (and poetry should fit on one page).

Submit pieces to Maggie Weaver (margaretw8@goshen.edu) by Wednesday, Nov. 23.

Submissions will be judged by visiting professor Ellah Wakatama Allfrey.

The All-Campus Band is conducted by José Rocha, associate professor of music, and features wind musicians from across campus, both music majors and non-majors, and includes faculty and staff.

Lavender Jazz is Goshen College’s big band jazz ensemble, and is directed by Chris French, adjunct professor of music.

Tickets for this concert are $7 adults, $5 seniors/students, online at goshen.edu/tickets or by calling (574) 535-7566. Goshen College faculty/staff/students are free with valid ID.

José Rocha, DMA, is associate professor of music at Goshen College and director of the Goshen College Symphony. He is a sought-after conductor and cellist in the United States and Mexico. Strongly committed to music education, Rocha has taught and directed middle school and high school orchestras in Florida, Texas, and Mississippi for the past 15 years. Rocha made his Carnegie Hall Debut leading the Johnston Sinfonia Orchestra in 2014. Rocha has enjoyed a diverse musical career, conducting and performing with Ray Price, Glenn Frey, Frank Sinatra Jr., Marvin Hamlish, Ray Charles, and Johnny Mathis among others. His orchestral experience includes membership in the Southwest Florida Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Savannah Symphony, Symphony of South East Texas, and the Strauss Symphony of America. Rocha holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Houston, and Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the University of Florida.

A versatile instrumentalist, Chris French is an accomplished clarinetist, saxophonist, and flutist. He received B.M. and M.M. degrees from the Juilliard School. While in New York, he was principal clarinetist of the National Orchestra of New York, and studied with Leon Russianoff, Joe Allard, Charles Russo, and Warne Marsh. After briefly playing with the Orquesta del Estado de Mexico, he returned to Los Angeles (where he grew up) and pursued a career as a symphony orchestra and recording studio musician. In addition to Goshen College, Mr. French is also on the faculty of Indiana University South Bend and St. Mary’s College. He plays regularly with classical and jazz performing groups in Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois, and has been featured soloist with many of the Michiana music ensembles. Mr. French has played at the Elkhart Jazz Festival for the past 10 years.