Spring Music Fest - NVC Music Faculty Recital

The Aaron Prado Sextet presents
Great Jazz Composers: Duke, Monk & Mingus



NVC MUSIC FACULTY RECITAL

The Aaron Prado Sextet will explore the music of three great jazz composers: Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, and Charles Mingus. Ellington wrote thousands of great jazz pieces, from miniatures to suites and large scale concert pieces. Monk’s angular style brought compositional focus to the modernity of bebop. Mingus was obsessed with the blues and the power of counterpoint to build elaborate jazz vehicles for improvisation. This program of original arrangements has been created and curated by NVC faculty Dr. Aaron Prado especially for the 2025 Spring Music Festival. Don’t miss it!

Featuring
Dr. Adrian Ruiz, trumpet
Richard Oppenheim, alto saxophone
Jason Galbraith, tenor saxophone
Dr. Andrew Bergmann, bass
Brandon Guerra, drums
Dr. Aaron Prado, piano

Date: Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Time: 7:00pm
Location: Palmetto Theatre
Admission: Free

RSVP for this event & be entered to win a limited-edition signed pearl metallic poster!! 

Dr. Aaron Prado is a pianist, composer, arranger, educator, and radio personality based in San Antonio, Texas. He earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts in piano performance from the UT Austin Butler School of Music in 2014. From 2003-2009, Prado served as Music Director and announcer at Trinity University’s jazz radio station – KRTU 91.7FM. He currently hosts “Aaron Prado Presents” – airing Sundays 2:00-4:00 p.m. In 2011, Prado premiered his “San Antonio Jazz Suite” – a large-scale composition for big band, string quartet, and narration depicting the history of San Antonio. In 2015, Prado published a book of transcriptions of solo recordings by jazz pianist Bill Evans (published by Hal Leonard). In 2018, Prado received the Paul Elizondo Grant for the Performing Arts from The Artist Foundation of San Antonio to compose “The Hero’s Journey.” In 2019, Prado released two CDs “Live at Jazz, TX” with his sextet and a trio album of original music titled “And Now…”
Prado teaches music at Northwest Vista College and directs the Vista Jazz Ensemble.

Reception following the performance is sponsored by Friends of the Arts at VISTA.