An Evening with Kenny Werner & Eugene Friesen

April 29, 2024

Come out to Potash Hill on Saturday, May 18 at 7:30 pm to hear pianist and jazz legend Kenny Werner and Grammy Award-winning cellist Eugene Friesen live at Serkin Recital Hall. The concert is part of Werner and Friesen’s “Joy in Marlboro” musical retreat for professional musicians, taking place on campus from May 16-19. A suggested donation of $20 will be accepted at the door.

Individually acclaimed for their distinctive playing styles and approaches to improvisation, Werner and Friesen will be joined by an ensemble of cellos in the premiere of “Cantus Vermonti,” a collection of new and ancient chants featuring the duo’s spontaneous harmonies, solos, and musical reflections. The evening will showcase Friesen and Werner’s inventive and lyrical approach to performance described by Friesen as “improvisation you actually love.” The duo will also perform original compositions and jazz standards in solo and duo format.

Kenny Werner is an American jazz pianist, composer, and author renowned for his groundbreaking philosophy of “Effortless Mastery” in music. With a career spanning several decades, he has established himself as a leading figure in the world of jazz, earning acclaim for his innovative approach to improvisation and composition. Vermont-based Eugene Friesen is a Grammy Award-winning recording and concert artist with the Paul Winter Consort, on the faculty of Berklee College of Music since 1999, Artist-in-Residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, and author of “Improvisation for Classical Musicians” Berklee Press/Hal Leonard 2012.