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April 3,
2006
Contact: Gordon Ovenshine:
724-738-4854; gordon.ovenshine@sru.edu
A KALEIDOSCOPE ARTS FESTIVAL EVENT
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SRU CHAMBER
SINGERS TO PERFORM APRIL 22 IN BUTLER WITH JAZZ GUITARIST JOE NEGRI
OF ‘MISTER ROGERS NEIGHBORHOOD’
SLIPPERY
ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University Chamber Singers and
jazz guitarist Joe Negri, known to millions of children as Handyman
Negri on PBS’s “Mister Rogers Neighborhood,” will
collaborate for an April 22 concert of jazz standards at Covenant
Presbyterian Church in Butler.
The concert,
conducted by SRU’s Kevin Smith, associate professor of music,
begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $5, available at the church, 230
East Jefferson St. The collaboration is part of SRU’s April
19-30 Kaleidoscope arts festival.
The first half of
the concert will include jazz standards such as Duke Ellington
compositions. After intermission, the groups will perform
“Mass of Hope,” written by Negri. SRU students will
solo.
"Mass of Hope" originated 25 years ago as a
simple folk mass for a small jazz group and a solo singer,
according to Negri’s Web site. Lorenzo Malfatti, the
former head of the vocal department at Chatham College, encouraged
Negri to expand the piece, transforming it into something more
sophisticated.
Negri has recorded several CDs and written a
guitar book on improvisation, and his new CD is called
“Uptown Elegance.”
Concert
proceeds will benefit music SRU music scholarships and
Kaleidoscope.
#PN, PgN,
PR
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