Montreal jazz group to visit UW-Stevens Point
3/21/2017

​Nomad (photo credit: Elias Touil)

 

A Montreal-based jazz group with ties to Stevens Point will perform at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point next month.

Nomad, co-led by Stevens Point native Mike Bjella, will perform a concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 5, at Noel Fine Arts Center room 221. The group will also lead a master class on improvisation for UW-Stevens Point jazz students at 4 p.m. at the same location that day. Both the masterclass and the concert are free and open to the public. 

Bjella, a composer who plays saxophone and clarinet, is the son of Steven Bjella, a professor and coordinator of strings at UW-Stevens Point.

Nomad mixes jazz, rock and free improvisation. Formed at Montreal's McGill University in 2012, the group includes six musicians from across North America. In October, the sextet released a second CD, "As We Are," which captures the energy and spontaneity of live shows as well as displaying each member's compositional and improvisational voice.

A fixture in the Montreal jazz and contemporary music scene, the group performs regularly at the Resonance Café and Casa Del Popolo. They have also appeared at the Toronto Jazz Festival, toured the Canada's three eastern providences and Ontario and are currently touring in the United States and Canada.

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