Press Release: The Big Broadcast

DATELINE: February 6, 2012

MOUNT HOLYOKE JAZZ ENSEMBLES PRESENT 7TH ANNUAL “BIG BROADCAST” ON SUNDAY, MARCH 4.

South Hadley, MA--The Jazz Ensembles of Mount Holyoke College will travel back in time to the 1940s for the 7th annual and all-new presentation of The Big Broadcast!, to be held on Sunday, March 4, 2012 at 2PM and 7PM in Chapin Auditorium on the campus of Mount Holyoke College, on Route 116 in South Hadley, MA.

Mount Holyoke College Music faculty member Mark Gionfriddo originally created The Big Broadcast! for a small cabaret group he directed, and incorporated it into the concert season at Mount Holyoke College.

“Students and I researched live radio broadcasts of the 1940s: the big band swing music, the radio serials and the commercials of the day”, said Gionfriddo. “We incorporate all of these elements into our production to give the audience the feel of an authentic radio variety program on a fictitious station named WJAZ".

Brian Lapis, chief meteorologist of WWLP-22 News, returns to the Big Broadcast for his fifth season as WJAZ announcer and emcee “Fred Kelley”.

Mark Gionfriddo, as WJAZ Maestro “Matt Morgan”, directs the students of the Mount Holyoke Big Band, Vocal Jazz, and Chamber Jazz Ensembles, who will perform well-known tunes from the swing era, including music by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, and Glen Gray, among others.

Mark Gionfriddo (“Matt Morgan”) is well known to area concertgoers as pianist, accompanist, composer, arranger, and musical director. His versatility and knowledge of many musical styles has brought him together with a wide range of popular and classical artists through the years, among them Mitzi Gaynor, Liberace, Al Martino, Anna Moffo, and Garrison Keillor. A native of Holyoke, MA, Mark started piano studies at the age of four, began performing at six, and directed his first musical project at twelve. His adventures while assistant conductor on board Cunard's MS Royal Viking Sun brought him around the world to 30 countries. Mark received his Bachelor's Degree in Piano from Skidmore College and Masters Degree in Accompanying from UMASS/Amherst. He has been based at Mount Holyoke College, since 1986 where he is a Senior Instructor in Jazz Piano, Director and Founder of the Mount Holyoke College Jazz Ensemble, and Music Department Staff Accompanist. In 2006, Mark conducted the MHC Big Band during two episodes of the popular public radio quiz show “SaysYou!”

Brian Lapis ("Fred Kelley") joined the 22News Storm Team in 1996. He got his start in broadcasting at the age of 15 at radio station WILI, in his hometown of Willimantic, CT. He's worked as a radio on-air talent for stations in Hartford, CT; Philadelphia, PA; Syracuse, NY; and Providence, RI. Brian has a Bachelor's degree in Television Radio Film Management from Syracuse University. In addition he holds a certificate in Broadcast

Meteorology from Mississippi State University.

Cheryl Cobb, Lecturer in Music at Mount Holyoke College, will be featured as a sound effects artist in the second act radio play. Gionfriddo’s student producers are Miriam Cantor-Stone ’MHC’12, Wendy Mellin ’MHC’12 and Emily Moner ’MHC’13. Moner and Linn Jennings MHC’12 serve the ensembles as coordinators of the vocal and instrumental jazz groups.

The Big Broadcast! sponsors include: Mount Holyoke College, Loomis Communities, The Republican/MassLive, New England Public Radio, WFCR and WNNZ.

Tickets are general admission. $20.00 premium front and center seating; $15.00 regular seating; $8.00 seniors and students. Tickets are available at Odyssey Bookshop (9 College Street, South Hadley, MA at The Village Commons), and The Northampton Box-Office (76 Main Street, Northampton, MA). For phone orders: 413-586-8686 or 1-800-THE TICK. For online orders: www.nbotickets.com.

Tickets will also be available at the door, subject to availability, one hour before each performance.

Chapin Auditorium is on the campus of Mount Holyoke College.

For directions to Mount Holyoke College:

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/about/directions.html

For a campus map: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/campusmap/

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