Rhapsody 100 @ UNCA Review

Check out the review of our milestone concert at UNC Asheville on Feb 4th... it was one of the most amazing concerts I've been a part of... so happy to have been part of the organizing team. Look forward to another big splash concert next year!

"Dear Members,

     February 4, 2024 will live in our collective memory as the day when the music department of the University of North Carolina Asheville was catapulted to the top of the chart of schools specializing in Jazz creation and performance. Those of you lucky enough to have been present in Lipinsky Auditorium yesterday know what I am talking about. The Rhapsody 100 concert had a full house and deservedly so. The theme - the first half of the concert commemorating the 1924 concert in which Paul Whitemen organized a classical concert with an all-jazz repertoire; the second half demonstrating the ways jazz has been transformed in the past 100 years by featuring compositions written and performed by UNC Asheville faculty members, students, and local talent. This is a big agenda for a concert, and the music did not disappoint in terms of innovation, expertise, and emotional drama.

     Every performer on the stage yesterday was totally engaged and the excitement was contagious. A huge shout-out and foot-stomping is needed for three of our AAPF members who performed yesterday and who brought the conception of the concert to life: William Bares, who organized, composed, accompanied, soloed, and served as Ringmaster for this grand event; Hwa-Jin Kim, beautiful in blue with sparkling technique and "bringing down the house" as soloist in Rhapsody in Blue; and literally Last on the program both as composer for the climatic Indigo Fantasy and for sharing with the audience his tender, spirit-invoking improvised encore, master-composer Richard Shulman.

Will people be talking about this concert in another 100 years? There's a good chance.

Karen Boyd, President of AAPF 2023-24"