April 26th, 2021
Wrapping up three planned outdoor programs over four days, large and small jazz groups will play in the open air, weather permitting.
The concert is May 5 at 7 p.m. Instead of using a mobile stage pulled onto the Green, the groups will set up on the slab to the east of the Regier Art Gallery in Luyken Fine Arts Center.
Concert-goers should bring chairs or blankets to sit on the grass on the Green’s south end, facing the fine arts center. In case of rain, the concert moves to Krehbiel Auditorium, inside the building.
On the program is a jazz combo and a large jazz ensemble.
The combo is Caleb Abbott, senior from Wichita, tenor saxophone, Eli Regier, freshman from Newton, alto saxophone, Emma Beachy, junior from Kalona, Iowa, piano, John Mark Koontz, North Newton, bass, and Brad Shores, drums.
The combo will play “I’ll Remember April” by De Paul & Raye; “Smack Up” by Harold Land; “It Could Happen to You” by Van Heusen & Burke; and “On the Sunny Side of the Street” by McHugh & Fields.
The jazz ensemble personnel are: Eli Regier and Josh Kennell, sophomore from Newton, alto sax; Caleb Abbott and A.J. Dugan, Walton, Kan., tenor sax; Bryce Wilson, sophomore from Sterling, Kan., bari sax; Jerod Kaufman, senior from Moundridge, Kan., Adam Kroeker, senior from Augusta, Kan., and Chris Strecker, sophomore from Goessel, Kan., trombone; Phillip Balzer, freshman from Hurley, S.D., Kayla Newman, senior from Sedgwick, Kan., Dan Kaufman, freshman from Moundridge, Adrian Rogers and Brad Shores, trumpet; Emma Beachy, piano; Brendan Thompson, drums; and John Mark Koontz, bass.
The jazz ensemble set is “Yearnin’” by Oliver Nelson; “Harlem Airshaft” by Duke Ellington; “Nobody’s Perfect” by Sammy Nestico; and “Isfahan” by Ellington & Strayhorn.
Joel Boettger, director of bands at Bethel, will conduct the jazz ensemble.
COVID-19 protocols are in place on the Bethel campus – face coverings are required, along with physical distancing between non-family groups.
Bethel is a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1887 and is the oldest Mennonite college in North America. Known for academic excellence, Bethel ranks at #14 in the Washington Monthly list of “Best Bachelor’s Colleges” and #26 in U.S. News & World Report, Best Regional Colleges Midwest, and earned its third-straight NAIA Champions of Character Five-Star Gold Award, based on student service and academic achievement, all for 2020-21; is Zippia.com’s highest ranked Kansas small college with the highest earning graduates; has the #10 RN-to-BSN program in Kansas according to RNtoBSN.com; and is #57 among 829 U.S. colleges and universities named by lendEDU.com as “Best for Financial Aid,” as well as #23 “Safest College Towns in the U.S.,” ranked by lendEDU.com for 2020-21. For more information, see www.bethelks.edu