NEW ORLEANS – Loyola University and The House of Blues have partnered to launch Uptown: Downtown, a student-run concert series that will be a recurring event each semester at the French Quarter venue.
The event series kicks off Thursday, November 19, 2015, at 8:00 p.m.
House of Blues spokesperson, Mark Roberts, said, "The Loyola School of Music Industry Studies is such a special place. We are inspired by the talent, creativity and ambition of its students. House of Blues wants to provide an opportunity for those talented individuals to pursue their areas of focus al the next level. We want to provide them a broader platform to perform, promote, market and produce events. We are very pleased to work with this very special group of students and faculty as we launch Uptown: Downtown."
Musicians performing in the student showcase are all Loyola students, and a vast majority are students in the brand-new Popular and Commercial Music program in Loyola's College of Music and Fine Arts. The Popular and Commercial Music major, launched in August, is a bachelor's degree program in Loyola's acclaimed Music Industry Studies department, which aims to prepare students for entrepreneurial success in creative professions. The program places primary emphasis on musical ability and live performance, and students in the program are required to take courses in music industry studies, music technology, business and theory, as well as band/ ensemble classes and private music lessons. Quickly becoming known on campus as "The School of Rock," the program demands that prospective students audition for admission, be proficient on an instrument, and participate in a student ensemble.
“What finer place than New Orleans to have this new program,” Sandy Hinderlie, professor of music and coordinator of Popular and Commercial Music at Loyola, said. “The city is a recruiting tool. Students have the opportunity to perform —and perform frequently — in New Orleans because we have such a vibrant live music scene and rich heritage.”
Uptown: Downtown will consist of five, diverse 30-minute performances, under the direction of Hinderlie, an accomplished jazz and blues pianist and producer, and Lo Faber, a Loyola instructor and founding member and front man for the New York-based jam rock band God Street Wine. Performances will cover a range of genres — rap, R&B, rock, pop, and funk — and include covers of familiar and well-loved songs, as well as student originals.
The highly anticipated event, which is open to students from other universities and the public, will be student-managed, student-marketed and student-operated and is expected to become a new tradition at Loyola.
Tickets for Uptown: Downtown are $5 and are available here
