KINGSTON, R.I. – November 9, 2012– In perhaps the most widely varied offerings of the fall music season, the University of Rhode Island’s Music Department will host four concerts Nov. 16 to Nov. 20 that encompass jazz, opera, chamber music, and shows by the URI Marching Band. All events will be held in the URI Fine Arts Center Concert Hall, 105 Upper College Road, Kingston. Admission is $10 general public, $5 students, except for the Chamber Ensembles Concert, which is free.

The Ram Marching Band leads off on Friday, Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. with its annual pass-in-review concert, performing its entire 2012 season repertoire. This includes its classical music show (Toccata and Fugue in D minor by Bach, Beethoven Symphony No. 9, and Holst’s Jupiter), and a Beatles show. The drum line and color guard will be featured. Dr. Brian Cardany, URI’s Director of Athletic Bands and Assistant Director of Bands, will conduct.

On Sunday, Nov. 18, at 3 p.m., URI’s Opera Theatre will perform two comic one-act operas, Mozart’s The Impresario and Pasatieri’s Signor Deluso, as well as an excerpt from Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, which is based on the Sean Penn movie. The Mozart one-act will feature sopranos Leah Kenney and Olivia Mathis as the two opera divas who arrive for an audition at the same time. Also in the cast are tenor James Malerich and bass-baritone Andrew Gribbin. The Pasatieri work, based on Moliere’s Sganarelle, has a village full of characters who misconstrue everything that happens. Sopranos Rebecca Cunha, Celia Tafuri, and Jaclyn Brush, tenor Ryan Casperson, baritone Devon Morin and bass-baritone Andrew Gribbin will perform. In the Dead Man Walking excerpt, Christopher Davey sings the title role of John DeRocher, a murderer on death row, and Celia Tafuri plays the religious advisor to whom he confesses. The operas will be accompanied by pianist Laura Hibbard and staged by Rene de la Garza.

The URI Chamber Ensembles perform Sunday Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. The Oboe Band, coached by Jane Murray, will play Four Oboe Encores by Graham Powning and Trio in C by Beethoven. Performers are:

Gianna Hayes, Stephanie Vanable and Lauren MacDonough, oboe, and Drew O’Connors, English horn.

The Clarinet Choir, coached by Kelli O’Connor, will play Perpetuum Mobile by Johann Strauss II (1825-1899). Madison Cardoza, Anne Veeger, Trishia Whipple, Kelli O’Connor, and Claire Leath will perform.

The Trombone Choir, coached by Gabe Langfur, will play selections from Bach’s Art of Fugue, and for something completely different, probably Hoagy Carmichael’s “Georgia on My Mind.”

The Tuba & Euphonium Ensemble, coached by Gary Buttery, will perform Toccata and Funeral in d minor by Bach/Chopin, compromised by Charles Warren, Fugaga (on a theme by Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga) by Giovanni Dettori, and Pinky and the Brain by Richard Stone, transcribed by Charles Warren. Tyler Barboza, euphonium, Zachary Friedland, euphonium and percussion, Michael Rayner, tuba, Samuel Kurzontkowski, tuba, and Gary Buttery, tuba, are the ensemble members.

The Guitar Ensemble, coached by John Dennewitz, will perform a trio piece entitled “A Little Music” by Raymond Goldstein and a quartet work entitled “Three Fantasias” based on traditional English melodies by Andrew Charlton.

On Tuesday Nov. 20 at 7:30 p.m., the URI Fall Jazz Series will kick off with the first of its four jazz concerts. Featured ensembles will be the URI Jazz Collective, directed by Mark Berney, and the “Return of the Cool” Ensemble – Music of Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, and George Russell – directed by Eric Hofbauer. Hofbauer’s group will perform arrangements by him and the ensemble: David Murphy, alto sax, Clay Nordhill, guitar, Bruce Haigst, guitar, and Dylan LaGamma, bass. Because of the unique instrumentation of the group, they play repertoire from the ‘Cool’ style of jazz which blends elements of composition and improvisation. Hofbauer says, “My group takes a post-modern take on the classic ‘cool’ style characteristics. Since we don’t have drums, everyone in the band has to be a ‘rhythmic’ type player, everyone must play accompaniment rolls, utilize lots of counterpoint, harmonize melodies etc. The sound is rich, intimate and full of personality.”

Tickets are available at the box office on a first-come basis starting 45 minutes before each concert. The URI Concert Hall is handicap-accessible, and parking is available in the lot behind the Fine Arts Center, off Bills Road.

For more information, please contact the URI Department of Music, 874-2431, or check the website: www.uri.edu/music.