Related Links: About MVNU | Music Department | Calendar of Events

The program will cover 60 years of jazz music with the big band sound of the 18-piece orchestra. Among the featured performers will be vocalists Aaron Mencer, Sarah Woodring and Lauren Clark who will sing Glenn Miller’s all time hit “Chattanooga Choo Choo.” Mencer will also sing Frank Sinatra’s “Come Fly With Me” and Woodring and Clark will solo on “At Last” and “Don’t Know Why,” respectively. Trumpeter Geoff Kasler and tenor saxophonist Kenta Gumbert will be featured on Clifford Brown’s “Daahoud.”

The Jazz Band is one of seven instrumental ensembles at MVNU. They perform fall and spring concerts and join with the other ensembles in various events including the annual May gazebo concert. Members represent a variety of academic majors and denominational backgrounds. Director Rick Brunetto is also well known to central Ohio audiences as the leader of the Rick Brunetto Big Band that performs frequently throughout the area.

Mount Vernon Nazarene University is a private, four-year, intentionally Christian teaching university for traditional age students, graduate students and working adults. U.S. News & World Report ranks MVNU in the top 50 Best in the Midwest (Baccalaureate) institutions for the sixth year in a row. With a 400-acre main campus in Mount Vernon, Ohio, and eight additional satellite Adult and Graduate Studies sites throughout the state, MVNU emphasizes academic excellence, spiritual growth and service to community and church. MVNU offers an affordable education to more than 2,600 students from 25 states and eight countries/U.S. territories.