2012 Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Jazz Orchestra to perform at the Kennedy Center
Renowned Composer/Arranger/Performer Mike Tomaro to lead the east coast's finest college jazz musicians

CUMBERLAND.  On January 14, 2012, this year's Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Jazz Orchestra will be taking the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

The group assembles some of the top collegiate musicians on the east coast, and is recognized as the premier collegiate honor jazz ensemble in the Mid-Atlantic region.

This year, the band is comprised of students from sixteen collegiate jazz programs in the region, and wil be led in performance by composer, arranger, and performer Mike Tomaro.   Mike Tomaro has been the Director of Jazz Studies at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA since 1997.  Prior to his appointment at Duquesne, he lived in the Washington, D.C. area for seventeen years as a member of the Army Blues Jazz Ensemble, a unit of the prestigious “Pershing’s Own” U.S. Army Band.  He also composed and/or arranged much of the Army Blues repertoire and was featured as a soloist on several of the group’s albums and CDs.  Tomaro will be premiering a commissioned work for contemporary big band at the April performance of the MACJO in Cumberland, MD.

"Students were selected for the group through a nomination and audition process in the fall and represent what is truly great and promising about the future of Jazz in America" commented event organizer David Kauffman.  "It has been exciting to watch and hear students assemble who would not likely have reason to meet network with each other and create such excellent music.  The future of jazz in our region is in good hands with these extremely talented young musicians."

The purpose of the MACJO is to provide aspiring college musicians the opportunity to perform in a premier collegiate jazz orchestra while contributing to the development of jazz audiences in Western Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic region. The group was formed in 2009 as an initiative of the Cumberland Jazz Society.  Past guest leaders of the band include Alan Baylock, Denis DiBlasio, and Scott Wendholt.

Students will be representing the following colleges in this year’s group (alphabetically) – College of St. Rose, Delaware, Frostburg, Ithaca, James Madison, Marshall, Manhattan School of Music, Maryland, Messiah, New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, Radford, Shenandoah, Towson, Virginia Commonwealth, Western Connecticut State, and University of the Arts.

The group's January performance on the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage begins at 6 p.m., with no ticket required.  The performance will also be presented live on the internet at:  http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/live/  The group will perform again this April at Windsor Hall in Cumberland as part of the Cumberland Jazz Society's "Weekend of Jazz in Downtown Cumberland".

For more information about the 2012 MACJO, please contact macjo@cumberlandjazz.com.