join the mailing list! add | remove

Thursday August 28th, 2003

Dave Brubeck jazzes up Friends of the Arts Summer Festival

Legendary jazz icon Dave Brubeck and his Quartet played a memorable concert for the Friends of the Arts (FOTA) Long Island Summer Festival on Saturday, August 9. Brubeck performed on a 9-foot Baldwin SD10 Concert Grand, as have students who participated in the FOTA Summer Jazz Ensemble Workshop. The Summer Festival is among the region's most popular and prestigious musical events, and concerts are presented at the Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park in Oyster Bay, a former Gold Coast estate of unparalleled beauty.

photo courtesy of Norm Harris

A household name in jazz, Brubeck is proof that creative composition and popular success can go together. Brubeck was featured on the cover of Time magazine on Nov. 8, 1954 and has been gaining momentum for almost five decades. His joy in performing and his daring improvisations continue to challenge and excite new generations of musicians and listeners.

Brubeck, a longtime Baldwin artist, has entertained world leaders and performed before eight U.S. Presidents and at the 1988 Moscow Summit honoring the Gorbachevs. He is the recipient of four honorary degrees, the BMI Jazz Pioneer Award, and the 1988 American Eagle Award presented by the National Music Council. In 1996 he was inducted into the International Jazz Hall of Fame and received a National Medal of the Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1999. His contributions to music as both a pianist and composer over the past 50 years have been honored by a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Friends of the Arts (FOTA) is a not-for-profit organization whose mission to enrich cultural life on Long Island is achieved through presentations of world-class performances and stimulating educational programs for young people.

For more information on the Long Island Summer Festival, go here.