HPAC Opening Night 2008!

Kick off of the 2008-2009 season

The kick off to the 2008-2009 season will keep your toes tapping with swinging jazz tunes performed by Lake Effect Jazz, and your favorite Broadway show tunes performed by Andrews University students and alumni, Sunday, September 14, 2008, at 7p.m.

This free concert is an upbeat concert geared to provide an exceptional concert experience to Southwest Michigan and get the 2008-2009 Season off to an thrilling start.

The Lake Effect Jazz Big Band was created in 2000 to perform classic and contemporary big band jazz arrangements in a concert setting. It is modeled after the famous, hard-swinging jazz big bands of the 1950s, and is dedicated to preserving classic jazz big band sounds, while bringing recent jazz releases to the public ear as well.

The Director of The Lake Effect Jazz Big Band is Christopher Keech, well-known in the area as a jazz saxophonist and instructor. Originally from Hartford, Michigan, Christopher received his Associate of Arts degree from Lake Michigan College, and received a Bachelor of Science degree from Western Michigan University, where he majored in Jazz Studies. He has performed with jazz greats John Lewis and Jimmy Heath, and pop artists The Captain and Tennille, Michael Bolton, and The Temptations.

Carey Pearson, alum of Andrews University, and fellow Andrews alum and student, Kristi Straw and Chloe Lewis are performing music from Phantom of the Opera, Fiddler on the Roof, Guys and Dolls, Oliver!, Les Miserables, The Secret Garden, and Pirates of Penzance.

No tickets are required for Opening Night 2008! For more information please call the Box Office at 269.471.3560.