Two university chamber ensembles, a concert pianist from New York City, a Celtic band, and a jazz ensemble are the featured performances for Ohio University Southern’s 2015-1016 Community Concert Series. All performances will be in Ohio University Southern’s Collins Center Bowman Auditorium on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. with the exception of the Tuesday, Dec. 1 performance by concert pianist Alina Kiryayeva, which will take place in the Riffe Center Mains Rotunda. All performances are free and open to the public.

The series opens on Thursday, Oct. 22 with Baird Winds, which is the Morehead State University School of Music and Theater faculty woodwind quintet-in-residence. They will perform chamber music written and arranged for wind instruments.

On Thursday, Nov. 5, the Marshall University Trombone Ensemble will perform music spanning several genres and styles written and arranged for trombone ensemble. The group is directed by Dr. Michael Stroeher, professor of trombone at Marshall, and features music majors from Marshall’s School of Music and Theater.

The trombone ensemble performs several times a year both on and off campus including performances in theaters and public schools in several West Virginia cities.

Tuesday, Dec. 1 features nationally and internationally acclaimed pianist Alina Kiryayeva from New York. A native of the Ukraine and Juilliard School of Music graduate, Ms. Kiryayeva has claimed top prizes in several international piano competitions in the USA and has also performed throughout Europe, Mexico and Japan. Her program, titled “Moving Pictures,” consists of classical works featured in cartoons such as Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry. She will also perform holiday favorites.

Back by popular demand, our traditional St. Patrick’s Day show on Thursday, March 17 features a performance of hand clapping, toe tapping Celtic and folk music played on traditional instruments by the ever-popular Appalachian Celtic Consort from Charleston, WV.

On Thursday, April 14, the Stolen Moments Jazz Quintet will conclude our 2015-2016 Community Concert Series. Also from Charleston, West Virginia, this jazz group regularly performs music for all types of social occasions throughout southern West Virginia and the tri-state. Their repertoire includes jazz and blues standards, ballads, and a variety of dance music including cha-chas, tangos, mambos, fox trots, and waltzes.

The Community Concert Series was founded over 20 years ago by Gail Thornton, formerly an academic counselor at Ohio University Southern, and is now overseen by Dr. Pat McCoy, Senior Lecturer in Fine Arts at Southern.

The original mission of the series was to forge a strong connection between the Southern Campus and Ohio University’s Athens campus by featuring student and faculty performers from the Ohio University School of Music. Since then, the series has expanded its scope to include a mixture of local, regional, and nationally recognized solo performers as well as a variety of performing ensembles representing a multitude of musical styles and genres.

Local performers who have recently performed on the Community Concert Series range from OU Southern faculty and staff to local middle and high school choral groups. Notable regional performers who have performed on the series include the legendary jazz pianist Bob Thompson from Charleston, West Virginia and Mo’ Mojo, a nationally recognized zydeco band from Akron. The Capital Trio from Albany, New York and the Tiberius String Quartet from Romania highlight the nationally and internationally acclaimed performing groups who have performed on the Community Concert Series.

For additional information regarding this year’s Ohio University Southern Community Concert Series including dates, times, and locations, visit the Ohio University Southern web site by copying and pasting the following link into the browser: https://www.ohio.edu/southern/events/community-concert-series.cfm.