Sean Jones, Duquesne University music professor and a trumpeter with Jazz at Lincoln Center, will provide music workshops for the first of a series of cultural events planned at the White House on Monday, June 15.
First Lady Michelle Obama invited Jones, along with jazz experts Wynton, Branford and Ellis Marsalis, to kick off the White House Music Series, which is an initiative designed to demonstrate the importance of arts education and renew artistic creativity while showcasing artists performing, educating and interacting with young people.
About 150 youths, middle and high school instrumental students from sponsoring organizations, will participate in Monday’s event. Sponsors include Jazz at Lincoln Center, Duke Ellington School for the Performing Arts, Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, Levine School of Music, New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, SITAR Arts Center, Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, and WPAS Capitol Jazz Project.
The Jazz Studio workshop themes will include American history and jazz, the syntax of jazz, the blues experience and jazz, and Duke Ellington and swing. After the workshops, Mrs. Obama will give remarks. The event will end with a concert.
Similar events focusing on country and classical music are planned at the White House for this summer and fall.
