The Fredonia Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Nick Weiser will be joined by the Fredonia Vocal Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Mr. James Harrington when Rockefeller Arts Center presents “Commencement-Eve Pops 2024: A Big Band Musical Tour of America” on Friday, May 17 at the State University of New York at Fredonia.

From Glenn Miller’s St. Louis Blues and Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” to Nat King Cole’s “Route 66” and Gladys Night’s “Midnight Train to Georgia,” hundreds of songs have been written about famous American cities, states and places.

Rockefeller Arts Center’s 2024 Commencement-Eve Pops will cover these tunes and more with “A Big Musical Tour of America” on Friday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m. in King Concert Hall.

The concert will feature the 17-piece Fredonia Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Nick Weiser and the Fredonia Vocal Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Mr. James Harrington on a musical tour of America that spans from north to south and from sea to shining sea.

Dr. Weiser has been the architect and director of the Jazz Studies curriculum at the State University of New York at Fredonia since the program began in 2017.

Mr. Harrington is an assistant professor of Voice at the School of Music, where he has taught classical, musical theater, and jazz students since the Fall of 2021.

Rockefeller Arts Center Director Jefferson Westwood serves as producer for the Commencement-Eve Pops. He said the “rough idea” of a concert based on tunes about U.S. cities and states developed slowly over a number of years as he looked through printed and online catalogs of big band charts.

“It actually came into more focus as Dr. Weiser and I were finalizing the repertoire for our 2022 Commencement-Eve concert, ‘A Salute to the Big Apple,'” he said. “Once we had a cluster of well-known tunes, we started looking aggressively for other compositions to complete the program. This led to the inclusion of ‘Stars Fell on Alabama’ and ‘Midnight Train to Georgia.”

Rockefeller Arts Center’s Commencement-Eve Pops is a tradition dating back 30-plus years.

The goal of the 2024 edition is to once again provide an enjoyable evening of musical entertainment.

“I’m always happy when audience members tell me how impressed they are with the quality and professionalism of our student performers,” Mr. Westwood said.

Tickets are available online 24/7 at fredonia.edu/tickets. Tickets may also be purchased on Monday, Wednesday or Friday by phone at 716-673-3501 or in person at the Campus Ticket Office in the Williams Center.

“Commencement-Eve Pops: A Big Band Musical Tour of America” is a DFT Communication Pops Series event presented as part of the 2023- 24 Lake Shore Savings Season at Rockefeller Arts Center.