WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY MUSIC PROFESSOR FEATURED IN PREMIERE WORK WITH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

David Demsey of Wayne, a William Paterson University professor of music and a member of the American Saxophone Quartet, will be featured with the quartet in a world premiere with the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Leonard Slatkin on January 24, 2001 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

The work, "Rhythm of the Americas: Music for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra," was written for the ensemble by the well-known jazz composer and performer Bob Mintzer. The piece will be premiered as part of a weeklong engagement with the National Symphony Orchestra; subsequent performances are scheduled for January 25 and 26.

Demsey, coordinator of William Paterson’s internationally acclaimed Jazz Studies Program, is equally at home on the classical and jazz stages. He performs with the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera. A member of the American Saxophone Quartet since 1993, he is featured on the groups latest recording, "Spanning the River." Demsey has premiered numerous solo and chamber works for saxophone as well as newly discovered songs by George Gershwin and Alec Wilder.

The New York City-based quartet comprises Demsey, alto saxophone; Albert Regni, soprano saxophone; David Carroll, tenor saxophone; and Lino Gomez, baritone saxophone.
The Quartet recently released a new compact disk, "The Clarinet Commission Project," containing works for saxophone quartet and clarinet. The Clarinet Commission Project produced several diverse collaborations: the premiere of a multi-movement quintet work by jazz arranger/composer Mike Holober; an all-Latin concert featuring the premiere of a new work composed by and featuring jazz saxophonist/clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera with the Quartet; a premiere by Argentine composer Gabriel Senanes; a new work by Bernard Hoffer featuring Ron Odrich; and the premiere of a four-movement saxophone quartet by jazz composer Jim McNeely.

Composer Mintzer is best known as a multi-instrumentalist. He is leader of his own large jazz ensemble, a member of the group Yellowjackets, and is an international big-band composer. Maestro Slatkin was attracted to the quartet project by Mintzer’s outstanding ability and crossover connections.

William Paterson University is a flagship of jazz education. For more than 25 years its internationally known Jazz Studies Program has offered a true jazz environment in which students study firsthand with an artist/teacher faculty composed of world-class, New York-area professionals. The program has created and fostered the nationally acclaimed Jazz Room Series of concerts each fall and spring and the summer Jazz It Up! Festival. Both programs are designed to make jazz more accessible to the community and draws thousands of jazz fans to the University’s campus.

# # #

1/23/02
For Further Information, contact:

Mary Beth Zeman, Director, Public Relations 973-720-2966