$20 / 8:15 doors / 8:30 start / seated
Vocalist Donna McElroy
Bert Seager on piano
Sean Farías on bass
Jorge Perez-Albela on drums
Jorge Perez-Albela
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Donna McElroy is a remarkable performer, vocalist, arranger and former Berklee College of Music professor. She arranged and sang back-up on gold and platinum releases by Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, Amy Grant, BeBe and CeCe Winans, and many others. She received a Grammy nomination for her own pop-gospel album, Bigger World, and won a Dove award for her contribution to the inspirational compilation album, Songs from the Loft. She has appeared on The Tonight Show and the Grammy Awards, received a best actress award in 1993 for the Circle Players’ performance of Nunsense, and traveled throughout the world pursuing her musical and missionary work.
Bert Seager is an internationally recognized jazz performer and composer. His seventeen compact discs have won him unanimous critical acclaim from the New York Times, Keyboard Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe and many other publications. Bert’s compositions, improvisations and teaching reflect both an inward and outward-looking view of life and music. He plays a varied program of originals, jazz classics and spontaneous music: always striving for transparency – framing each song’s improvised narrative in a playful conversation. Bert has performed and recorded with jazz numerous luminaries. He has toured with his band extensively both in the United States and internationally in China, Hungary, Bulgaria, Ecuador, Peru, Canada, Israel, Jordan, and Japan. Bert is on the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music, and has been a recipient of a National Endowment of the Arts grant for jazz. He is also a three-time winner of an extended residency in music composition at MacDowell, the artists’ colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. He is a graduate of Haverford College and earned a masters degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1984.
Sean Farias originates from the New England area where he mostly performs and teaches. He can be heard performing with an eclectic array of performers throughout that area ranging in styles from jazz, avant-garde, celtic, folk, pop/rock, and electronic. Sean has performed throughout the US, Canada, Europe and South Korea. He has also been fortunate enough to perform with many local and international artists on the cutting edge of contemporary improvised music including the likes of George Garzone, Jerry Bergonzi, Charlie Kohlhase, Bob Gullotti, Jeff Galindo, Brooke Sofferman, Laszlo Gardony, Steve Slagle and many more. In 2009 Sean recorded on the PBS documentary The Mosque In Morgantown, named Best Documentary Feature at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. Sean received his undergraduate degree in music performance from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and his master’s degree from the Longy School of Music and currently teaches at The Rivers School Conservatory.
Drummer Jorge Perez-Albela was born in Lima, Peru. In 1994, following his passion for Jazz, Pérez-Albela relocated to the United States to study at Berklee College of Music. Jorge has performed and or recorded with Grammy-winners: Maria Schneider, Danilo Perez, Ruben Blades, The Either Orchestra, Claudio Ragazzi, Gian Marco and Eva Ayllon. As well as world renowned artists: George Garzone, Jerry Bergonzi, Avishai Cohen, Daniel Blake, Tim Ray, Jorge Roeder, Donna McElroy, Sissy Castrogiovanni, Mili Bermejo, Geoffrey Keezer, Bert Seager, Claudia Acuna, Sofia Rei, Joey Blake, Tania Libertad, Bruce Bartlett, Tal Gamlieli, John Lockwood, Jason Palmer and Grace Kelly.
Pérez-Albela has performed in many prestigious stages around the world, including: The Blue Note, The Jazz Standard, The Jazz Gallery, Sweet Rhythm, Tonic, Jordan Hall, The City Winery, Scullers jazz club, The Regattabar, The Berklee Performance Center, Teatro ABC in Catania, Teatro Golden in Palermo, Art Tatum Jazz Club in Palermo, Levontin Jazz Club in Tel Aviv, The Café Central in Madrid, The Jamboree in Barcelona, The Jimmy Glass in Valencia, The Grec Festival in Spain, The Festival “Jazz en Lima” in Peru, The Panama Jazz Festival, The Dominican Republic Jazz Festival.
Jorge has been featured in WBUR's "Kind World", NPR's "Toast of The Nation", PRI/BBC "The World", GBH "Eric in the Evening" and Peruvian National TV "Sonidos Del Mundo". Jorge is a Bosphorus cymbals Artist. In 2010, Pérez-Albela joined the faculty for the Summer Performance Aspire Program at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.
Jorge proudly directed a music mentorship program for "at risk" students in Brookline, Massachusetts that begun in 1997 and benefited thousands of children for over 23 years. He has taught at The New England Conservatory, The Panama Jazz Festival, The Internal Compass Jazz Seminar in Israel, La Pontificia Universidad Catolica in Lima, The National Conservatory in Lima, Perú; The National Conservatory in Santo Domingo, The Jerusalem Academy in Israel and at the Portsmouth Dance and Percussion Festival in New Hampshire.
Jorge Perez-Albela released his first album as a leader "The Time is Now" with nine of his compositions. The opening song, "The Mirror" was chosen as a semi-finalist for the prestigious 2020 ISC International Songwriting Competition.
IG: @jorgeperezalbela