Guggenheim fellow and Downbeat magazine’s “alto saxophonist of the year” Rudresh Mahanthappa will be Visiting Artist-in-Residence at the College this spring semester from January to April 2012.
As part of the four-month residency, Mahanthappa will teach masterclasses and clinics with Cornish saxophonists as well as coach a handpicked ensemble comprised of Cornish jazz students. Mahanthappa will also visit select Seattle Public Schools. The residency concludes with a performance by Mahanthappa and the Cornish student ensemble on Saturday, April 7 at 8 pm at PONCHO Concert Hall presented as part of the Cornish Music Series. Information and tickets are available online.
“Cornish has always been at the forefront of innovation in the arts,” said Mahanthappa, “and I am truly excited to be a part of this long-standing tradition. Jazz is uniquely America’s art form and I can’t imagine a better place than Cornish to foster its growth.”
Mahanthappa joins a long and distinguished list of jazz artists who have served as faculty members and visiting artists-in-residence during the program’s forty-year history, a list that includes Carla Bley, Anthony Braxton, Jay Clayton, Gil Evans, Dave Holland, Art Lande, Nguyên Lê, Butch Morris, Gary Peacock, and Julian Priester, among others.
Cornish College of the Arts, founded by Nellie Cornish in 1914, is one of the nation’s premier colleges for the visual and performing arts, and the oldest, independent music conservatory on the West Coast. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Cornish’s jazz program, one of the first in the nation.
