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February Iowa Arts Showcase Takes Center Stage Saturday, February 8

Iowa Public Radio’s February Edition of the Iowa Arts Showcase provides a front row seat to the University of Northern Iowa’s Tallcorn Jazz Festival and Sinfonian Dimensions in Jazz with guest artist Nachito Herrera. Iowa Public Radio’s Jacqueline Halbloom sits down with Herrera to discuss his early introduction to the world of classical and jazz piano along with his experience as an educator.  

Chris Merz, UNI’s Director of Jazz Studies, also shares his experience with the Tallcorn Jazz Festival, the oldest, continually running high school jazz festival in the nation. UNI senior Jazz Studies student Nolan Schroeder, the event’s chairman, explains the significance of the festival and the opportunities offered to high school students during the competition.

Dr. Bernard McDonald, Director of Opera at Simpson College, chats about his upcoming production of Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, an American opera based on Elmer Rice’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play. The score includes the poetry of Langston Hughes. Street Scene unfolds on a sweltering day in a Manhattan tenement. The plot and Weill’s music capture the inevitable course of events and its tragic conclusion. Simpson College's  Street Scene performs February 28 and March 1 at 7:30 p.m. and March 2 at 2 p.m. 

University of Iowa’s Dr. Michael Eckert takes us behind the scenes of the Iowa Composer Forum’s Winter Festival. The Winter Festival, held on February 15 in Iowa City, is a full day of music by composers living and working in Iowa. The event features solo, chamber, large ensemble, and electronic performances at various locations throughout Iowa City. 

The February edition of the Iowa Arts Showcase also celebrates Black History Month. Celeste Bembry, UNI’s College of Humanities Arts and Sciences Student Recruitment and Retention Coordinator, recites poems and performs songs that celebrate the history and contributions of African Americans in the U.S.

…and more!

Join us on Saturday, February 8, 2014 at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. for Iowa Public Radio’s February edition of the Iowa Arts Showcase