Jazz Quintet from Julliard School of Music Playing in Costa Rica

A JAZZ quintet from the famous Julliard School of Musicis scheduled to perform a concert at Eugene O’Neill Theaterat the Costa Rican-North American Cultural Center May 27 at7:30 p.m. as part of the “Promising Artists of the 21stCentury” program.Earlier that day, the group will perform a free concert forsenior citizens at Eugene O’Neill Theater at 10 a.m. Bothconcerts will consist of jazz standards and a few original compositions.During their weeklong stay in Costa Rica, the five musiciansare scheduled to teach classes and perform concerts forstudents at the University of Costa Rica.“I can tell you the group has been rehearsing a great dealand they are very excited about this trip,” said Gillian Brown,Julliard’s Jazz Performance Coordinator.THE group will also participate in a jam session May 25at 5 p.m. at the Eugene O’Neill Theater, which is open to participationby any Costa Rican musician. As long as a musicianbrings an instrument, they are welcome to play.The Cultural Center invited The Julliard School to participatein the “Promising Artist of the 21st Century” program.The school then picked the quintet to represent them,according to Manuel Arce, cultural director of the CostaRican-North American Cultural Center.“They play at a very high caliber level,” Brown said.The quintet is made up of a Saxophonist Jon Irabagon,Trumpeter Jumaane Smith, Pianist Aaron Diehl, Bassist IvanTaylor and Drummer Carmen Intorre.IRABAGON received his master’s degree fromManhattan School of Music and is now an artist diploma studentat Julliard. The other members of the quintet are all cur rently bachelor of music students atJulliard.The five have acquired a lot ofexperience duringtheir musicalcareers. Irabagonand Smith have bothplayed at New YorkCity’s well-knownclub, Birdland.Smith has alsoplayed at both theMontreux JazzFestival inSwitzerland and theMontreal JazzFestival in Canada.Diehl and Taylor were both namedoutstanding soloists at the EssentiallyEllington Competition in 2002, andIntorre has won the Yamaha YoungPerforming Artist Award.“PROMISING Artists of the 21stCentury” is a three-year-old interculturalprogram sponsored by theCultural Center, which focuses onmusic varying from jazz to classicaland even Broadway musicals as a wayto bring young talent from eight differentU.S. universities and have themshare their skills with the youth ofCosta Rica.Julliard is thethird school to participatein theseries.To foster culturalexchange, themusicians will bestaying with hostfamilies who collaboratewith theprogram so the visitorscan learn aboutCosta Rican culture.IN keeping with the program’sphilosophy, the ticket prices are reasonablein comparison to the highquality of the performance, Arce said.Tickets are ¢2,000 ($4.64), and¢1,500 ($3.48) for students and seniorcitizens.For more info or to make reservations,call 207-7555.