Updated June 15, 2013
The starting time for Summer Extravaganza has been changed to 6:00 p.m.
Jazz vocalist and Broadway actress Simone, accompanied by the acclaimed Elmhurst College Jazz Band, will headline the 18th Annual Elmhurst College Summer Extravaganza on Saturday, June 15.
Members of the public are invited to bring their lawn chairs and picnic baskets to this free outdoor concert, which will begin at 6:00 p.m. on the Mall of Elmhurst College’s lovely arboretum campus. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Guests are encouraged to come early, bring friends and enjoy this early celebration of summer.
Summer Extravaganza is sponsored in part by BMO Harris Bank, whose mascot, Hubert the Lion, and his Hubert-mobile will attend the event.
As a preview to the evening, the Elmhurst College Jazz Band performed live on the WGN Midday News program on Wednesday, June 12.
Simone, daughter of famed singer Nina Simone, has had starring roles on Broadway in such acclaimed musicals as Rent and Aida. She also toured and recorded with the acid jazz band Liquid Soul, and has released two solo albums, Simone Superstar and Simone on Simone, a big band tribute to her mother.
The internationally known Elmhurst College Jazz Band, under the direction of Grammy Award winner Doug Beach, has performed around the world and twice toured Europe at the invitation of the U.S. State Department. The band has appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Northsea Jazz Festival, the Umbria Jazz Festival and many others.
DownBeat magazine, the nation’s leading jazz publication, recently chose the Jazz Band as a winner of its 36th Annual Student Music Awards. In Downbeat’s June issue, the Jazz Band was recognized in the Undergraduate College Outstanding Band Performances category.
“It is always an honor to be chosen as a winner in the DownBeat Student Music Awards,” said Doug Beach, director of jazz studies and the jazz band at Elmhurst College. “The panelists who judge these awards are some of the most respected names in jazz.”