POSTPONED – Music at Montauk – 3-29-2020

2020 Music at Montauk concert series kicks off March 29
Mike Conrad Trio to perform as part of Iowa History Month celebration

CLERMONT – The 2020 Music at Montauk concert series kicks off in March with a performance by the Mike Conrad Trio.

The trio features Mike Conrad on piano, Christopher Merz on saxophone and Alex Pershounin on bass cello. Their performance at the Montauk Historic Site near Clermont will follow an open house in celebration of March as Iowa History Month.

A native of Bettendorf, Conrad has toured China, played at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy, and appeared at various jazz festivals and venues all over the United States. He is a professor of jazz studies and music education at the University of Northern Iowa and has received four ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards and seven DownBeat Awards. His arrangements have been performed all around the world, including a 2014 premiere at Carnegie Hall and a performance at the U.S. Presidential Inauguration in 2013.

Merz was the 2006 recipient of the CHFA University Book and Supply Outstanding Teaching award, received the 2016 John L. Baker Faculty Development Award and was inducted into the Iowa Jazz Educators’ Hall of Fame in 2015. His recording credits include collaborations with Steve McCraven, Darius Brubeck, John Rapson and Jon Snell, as well as his own projects: Counterculture, the Chris Merz/Bob Washut Duo, The X-tet, and Equilateral. Currently, he directs the University of Northern Iowa’s jazz studies program and its award-winning Jazz Band One.

Pershounin has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe, including internationally recognized music events such as the Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, Pori Jazz Festival in Finland, Europe’s Jazz Contest in Belgium and New Orleans Jazz Fest. His performing credits include collaboration projects and appearances with world-class artists ranging from Bob Berg, Mulgrew Miller, Conrad Herwig, and Benny Golson to Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Ray Charles.

As part of the Iowa History Month celebration, the Montauk Historic Site will be open for tours with coffee, cider and cookies. Gov. Kim Reynolds proclaimed March as Iowa History Month during a ceremony at the State Capitol in Des Moines earlier this month. The State Historical Society of Iowa, which oversees the Montauk Historic Site, is offering a series of statewide events and activities throughout March. More information is available at iowaculture.gov/history/IowaHistoryMonth.

The concert series is sponsored by the Clermont Historical Society and the State Historical Society of Iowa, a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. More information is available at iowaculture.gov or 515-281-5111.

If you go:

What: Montauk Historic Site Open House and Concert
When: Sunday, March 29. The open house starts at noon; the concert at 2 p.m.
Where: Montauk Historic Site, 26223 Harding Road near Clermont
Admission: Free and open to the public

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The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs and its divisions – the State Historical Society of Iowa, including the State Historic Preservation Office; the Iowa Arts Council; and Produce Iowa, the state office of media production – empower Iowans to build and sustain culturally vibrant communities by connecting to the people, places and points of pride that define our state. The department promotes creativity as a catalyst for innovation, empowers Iowans to preserve history, and shares the stories of Iowa to connect past, present and future generations. iowaculture.gov