KINGSTON, R.I. – September 13, 2012– “Winds Across the State,” the first University Artist Series concert of the 2012-13 season, will feature wind faculty artists from both the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College performing on Sunday, Sept. 23 at 3 p.m., presented by the URI Music Department. Four days later noted local jazz vocalist Kim Trusty and special guests will perform with the URI Alumni Big Band in a concert celebrating URI’s Kim Trusty Jazz Scholarship, on Thursday, Sept. 27 at 7:30pm. Both concerts will be held in the URI Fine Arts Center Concert Hall, 105 Upper College Road, Kingston, with admission at $10 general public, $5 students. Tickets will be available at the box office on a first-come basis starting 45 minutes before each concert.

Susan Thomas, flute, Jane Murray, oboe and English horn, Kelli O’Connor, clarinet, and Jamie Thorne, French horn, all URI faculty artists, will be joined by RI College faculty artists Mary Ellen Kregler, flute, and Denise Plaza-Martin, oboe, performing a mix of contemporary and classic chamber works on the 23rd. URI’s Brian Cardany and RIC’s Robert Franzblau will conduct. The program will include: Dixtour by Georges Enesco, Divertissement by Emile Bernard, selections from Carmina Burana by Orff, and selections from Mozart’s Gran Partita.

Special guests to be announced, including members of Kim Trusty’s band, will share the stage with the 17-member URI Alumni Big Band on the 27th in a night designed to celebrate the URI scholarship in Trusty’s name and honor the popular jazz singer, who is recovering from a stroke suffered in June. Returning to their alma mater to perform in the Alumni Big Band will be Dave Drapeau and Chris Gagnon, alto saxes, Greg Dudzienski and Ben Shaw, tenor saxes, and Brendan Carniaux, baritone sax; Chris Depot, Andrew St. George, and Ryan Mott, trombones, with Joe Livolsi, bass trombone; Tom Kirinsky, Seth Bailey, Mark Souza, and Dan Healey, trumpets; and rhythm section Alex Curnow, guitar, Joe Godfrey, piano, Steve Johnson, bass, and Paul DiMartino, drums.

The URI and RIC wind faculty artists all are active performers in addition to their teaching responsibilities. Thomas, Murray, Kregler and Plaza-Martin play in the RI Philharmonic Orchestra, with Thomas and Murray holding Principal seats in their instruments.

An award-winning soloist who has performed with many New England orchestras, Thomas is also a founding member of the Block Island Ensemble, a prize-winning woodwind quintet. Murray is Principal in her instruments for the Festival Ballet Providence and several other New England area orchestras. A soloist with regional orchestras and a performer in noted festivals around the U.S., she was the featured oboist at the Newport Music festival for ten years.

Kregler, who has performed throughout the U.S., Europe, the Bahamas, and China, also plays Principal Flute with the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra, the Rhode Island Wind Orchestra, and performs the Festival Ballet Providence. Plaza-Martin can be seen performing throughout New England at such venues as Bank Boston Pavilion, the Rhode Island Civic Center, the Providence Performing Arts Center, and the Newport Music Festival.

O’Connor and Thorne were both members of the United States Coast Guard Band and performers with the Radiance Quintet based in CT, which O’Connor helped to found. Both are members of other orchestras –O’Connor plays Principal Clarinet in the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra and Salt Marsh Opera, and is a member of the Connecticut Orchestra. Thorne, who previously performed in Ohio, still performs regularly in NJ and PA with the Garden State Philharmonic and others.

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.