The 42nd edition of the Maplerock Jazz Festival, an educational and entertaining event that features the Ashland University Jazz Orchestra mixing with jazz luminaries and regional scholastic groups, will take place on St. Patrick’s Day this year. This Friday’s festival will be held inside AU’s Center for the Arts (331 College Ave.).
First, area high school bands are scheduled to perform in a non-competitive format from 1-4:30 p.m., at Hugo Young Theatre and the Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall. In addition to performing, the groups will take part in workshops with instruction from the guest artists. This is free and open to the public.
At 7:30 p.m., the AUJO, accompanied by special guests Rob Parton (trumpet), Christopher Burge (saxophone), Jackie Warren (piano) and Sammy DeLeon (Latin percussion), will take the Hugo Young stage. They will play a variety of selections during the program.
Tickets for the evening concert are $10 for adults, $5 for students and free for AU students and high school participants. Please note the on-line ticketing system Ashland and many other colleges and universities use is currently down, so tickets will be available at the door (cash only).
Scott Garlock, director of the award-winning AUJO and professor of music at AU, noted that the Maplerock Jazz Festival is one of the oldest jazz festivals in Ohio and is named after the process by which the region’s Indigenous people extracted maple syrup.
