MUSIC

San Jacinto College is hosting free concerts in September. San Jacinto College (SJC) will host musical and dancing performances, as well as educational seminars during September that will showcase student, faculty, and other musicians. All events are free and open to the public, and will be staged at the Central and North campuses.

The Central Campus events will be held at the Dr. Monte Blue Music Building, 8060 Spencer Hwy., in Pasadena. The North Campus events will be held at the Dr. Charles Grant Fine Arts Center, 5800 Uvalde Road in the North Channel area.

Friday, Sept. 16 – The North Campus will welcome lively flamenco dancing accompanied by rhythmic guitar and percussion when Solero Flamenco (pictured) performs at 12 p.m. as part of the College’s “Fine Arts Fridays” series. SJC music professor Jeremy Garcia, and singer-dancer Irma La Paloma headline the Solero Flamenco troupe, which features some of the region’s finest flamenco music and dancing.

Garcia holds a bachelor’s degree in classical guitar performance from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and a master’s from Southern Methodist University. Studying the works of great Spanish composers such as Manuel de Falla and Isaac Albéniz paved the way for his transition to flamenco guitar. He furthered his professional experience by taking workshops with Maestro Juan Serrano, Juani Serrano, Richard Marlow, and Valdemar Phoenix. In the flamenco community, he is known as Jeremías El Valiente. His CD, “Baile del Sol,” features all original music, and he performed as a soloist with the Fort Bend Symphony and with the Brazosport Symphony in a performance of Joaquín Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez.” In 2009 he was an invited artist at the Dallas Flamenco Festival. Garcia is founder and director of the guitar program at SJC South.

Friday, Sept. 23 – The University of Houston Moores School Concert Chorale, under the direction of Dr. Betsy Cook Weber, will join the choirs of SJC Central for a choral concert at 7 p.m. at the Central Campus. Prior to the concert, Weber will lead a rehearsal and master class with the combined groups from 3 to 5 p.m.

Weber is a renowned clinician, adjudicator, lecturer, and conductor. The UH Concert Chorale has performed at national and international venues, including the 2007 American Choral Directors Association national convention in Miami, and the 2010 Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales, where they won first place in the Chamber Choir category.

“It’s an honor for us to host this fine group and their director, Dr. Weber,” commented Dr. Paul Busselberg, SJCC choir director. “We’re thrilled to not only to hear them perform on our campus, but also to learn from them, as Dr. Weber leads our combined groups in the master class and the evening concert.”