McPHERSON —  The Christian Howes Jazz Trio will appear at the McPherson Opera House at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 27. A portion of the program will include the McPherson High School Orchestra, with whom Howes will have worked in a two-day series of workshops.
Legendary guitarist Les Paul, who collaborated with Howes for 11 years, said, “It used to be you could hardly find a good jazz violinist. Nowadays there are four or five really good players, but there is nobody better than this guy.”
In August 2011, Howes was ranked as the No. 1 violinist in the Downbeat Critics Poll “Rising Stars.” In 2012, he received the Residency Partnership from Chamber Music America for his work in outreach with orchestral education programs.
Howes is committed to keeping jazz alive and well in his outreach to young players, said John Holecek, executive director of the Opera House.
“I’m a jazz lover myself,” Holecek said, “but at first I was hesitant to book Christian for fear of a low turnout. However, once he clued me in on the outreach he could do, I thought this would be a tremendous opportunity for Mac High students. For those of you who think you don’t like jazz, I’d say ‘come on down.’ You may get a big surprise.”
Tickets are available online at mcphersonoperahouse.org, by calling 620-241-1952, or by dropping by the box office.