The Mike Tomaro Quintet to Perform at Pitt Jan. 19

PITTSBURGH-The Mike Tomaro Quintet will perform "American Popular Song: From Gershwin to Sting" at the University of Pittsburgh as part of the Heinz Chapel Pittsburgh Artists Series. The performance will take place at 8 p.m. Jan. 19 in Heinz Memorial Chapel, Fifth and Bellefield avenues, Oakland.

The Mike Tomaro Quintet comprises the top jazz musicians in the Pittsburgh area. The group presents an array of music, including jazz, reworkings of great American classic standards, and original compositions by Tomaro, the ensemble's leader and the chair of Jazz Studies at Duquesne University.

Tomaro, a composer and arranger, has performed with such diverse artists as Nancy Wilson, Rosemary Clooney, Ray Charles, Michael Feinstein, Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Mathis, Terence Blanchard, Louis Bellson, and Terry Gibbs, and the groups Dizzy Gillespie Tribute Big Band, New York Voices, Woody Herman Orchestra, and the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. Locally, he has performed with guitarist Joe Negri, the Pittsburgh Symphony, Pittsburgh Ballet, and Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, as well as leading his own groups.

Tomaro's music has been performed by jazz greats Nancy Wilson, Randy Brecker, Mike Stern, Ernie Watts, Bobby Shew, Claudio Roditi, New York Voices, and Al Vizzutti.

Other upcoming Pittsburgh Artist Series performances are Daphne Alderson (Feb. 14) and Robert Sutherland Lord and Roger Zahab (March 16).

Admission is $12 with the exception of the Feb. 14 Valentine's Day Concert, which is $20.

For more information, call 412-624-4157 or visit www.discover.pitt.edu/chapel.

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