News
SMC Arts Tour Concludes at Beckwith
Published on May 19, 2025 - 1 p.m.
Southwestern Michigan College Performing Arts’ spring high school tour played its lucky seventh concert May 17 back in Dowagiac at Beckwith Theatre.
Seven is considered special and is associated with luck, completion, perfection and spiritual wisdom in contexts as diverse as seven days in a week, seven colors in a rainbow and the seven continents.
As a finale, the intimate Beckwith’s acoustics make musicians and singers alike shine, as Director of Bands Mark Hollandsworth’s Jazz Ensemble and Director of Choral Activities David Carew’s Choral Scholars proved.
Ucelli Canori (Italian for “Songbirds”), a women’s vocal ensemble, opened the program with the bluesy “Lineage” by Andrea Ramsey and a romantic German song by Clara Schumann featuring pianist Christine Seitz.
Vocal solos followed by Lauren Lovell of Watervliet, who also plays clarinet in Symphonic Band and tenor saxophone in Jazz Ensemble, and Madison Sutherland of St. Joseph. Sutherland, who also plays clarinet in Symphonic Band, will transfer to Elmhurst University outside Chicago to continue her music studies.
The Jazz Ensemble opened with the 1939 jazz standard “In a Mellow Tone” by Duke Ellington, showcasing Aliya Leavitt of Paw Paw on trombone and Madison Packer of Lawton on trumpet.
Fast-forwarding a few decades, the band then performed 2006’s “Mosaic” by jazz saxophonist Bob Mintzer, 72, who has fronted the Yellowjackets and the WDR Big Band in Berlin and performed with the Buddy Rich Big Band.
“I had a chance to meet him once in Chicago,” Hollandsworth said. “This chart was out of print, so I e-mailed him and he sent it to us.”
“Mosaic” featured alto saxophonist Isaiah Morris of Elkhart and tenor saxophonist Joseph Rizzo of Niles.
A Count Basie tune was followed by “What I Needed” featuring the saxophone section, which also includes Payton Payne of Bridgman on alto saxophone, Diego Cervantes of New Buffalo on tenor and Jasmin Garcia of Hartford on baritone, plus drummer Logan Petruska of Edwardsburg, who is entering the U.S. Marine Corps.
Payne, who played oboe in Symphonic Band, will transfer to Hollandsworth’s alma mater, Eastern Michigan University.
An ensemble featured Leavitt singing and playing keyboard with Morris on alto saxophone and Gavin Dibble of Constantine on bass.
Ezra Embril of Three Rivers divides his time between flute and percussion.
Coby Henslee soloed on “Somewhere/Home” and Thomas Morgan reprised Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” from the May 1 Collage Concert, accompanied by Tressa Hullinger on guitar.
The Choral Scholars featured “From the Start,” a 2023 bossa nova release by Laufey, an Icelandic singer/songwriter, with Morris contributing alto saxophone.
Soprano Megan Laine was spotlighted during the Choral Scholars’ “Italian set.”
“The Human Heart” and the James Taylor ballad “That Lonesome Road” closed the choral segment.
The Jazz Ensemble returned with 1969”s “Cissy Strut” by the Meters.
Hollandsworth, alumnus Connor Vance of Western Michigan University and the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps and Packer provided trumpets (and flugelhorns) on Chuck Mangione’s “Feels so Good.”
The Jazz Ensemble closed with “The Blues Walk,” featuring Morris and Rizzo.
The night concluded with all musicians, including alumnus Hunter Schuur, Dowagiac’s choir director, packing the stage for SMC’s alma mater, “Here’s to Thee, My SMC.”
