Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra Takes the Stage at HPAC

This weekend, the Hylton Performing Arts Center's Merchant Hall will be filled with the sweet and smooth sounds of some of the most beloved music of the 20th century, when the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra takes the stage on Saturday, April 7 at 8 p.m. Featuring some of the Washington, D.C. area’s finest jazz musicians, the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra, led by Artistic Director Jim Carroll, is known for its outstanding and insightful interpretations of jazz favorites.

Joining Met Jazz is renowned trumpet player and vocalist Byron Stripling, who teams up with this esteemed ensemble from Northern Virginia for a performance of stunning interpretations of revered jazz standards, Broadway classics and popular Hollywood music that defines "The Great American Songbook." 

The artistic director of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, Byron Stripling’s impressive range on the trumpet, striking tone and his gift for combining many influences into his own style have made him an in-demand artist with some of the most prestigious pops orchestras on the planet. Stripling has played and recorded with the likes of Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck, Billy Eckstine, Clark Terry, Buck Clayton, Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole, Lena Horne, the Count Basie Orchestra, the Woody Herman Orchestra, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band and the Boston Pops Orchestra under John Williams and Keith Lockhart.

An accomplished actor and singer, Stripling was chosen in a worldwide search to star in the lead role of the Broadway-bound musical “Satchmo,” and has also appeared in “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” television series.

Stripling studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. and the Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Mich., and often guest lectures and conducts seminars at music schools around the country.

Jim Carroll’s illustrious career includes performances at Carnegie Hall, the White House, the Kennedy Center, Royal Albert Hall and the Apollo Theatre. A versatile performer, Carroll has performed with Michael Jackson, Nancy Wilson, Maynard Ferguson, Billy Taylor, Woody Herman and His Thundering Herd, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra (as a charter member) and many others. Active as an educator, he is the director of the Jazz Studies program in George Mason University’s School of Music. 

Tickets for this performance are $24, $32 and $40 and can be purchased online at hyltoncenter.org, by phone at 888-945-2468 or by visiting the Hylton Center box office, open Wednesday through Saturday, 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. This performance is Family Friendly: tickets are half price for youth through grade 12 when accompanied by an adult. A pre-performance discussion will be held one hour prior to the performance in the Hylton Center’s Buchanan Partners Art Gallery.

Novant Health is the 2011-12 Season Sponsor of Hylton Presents at the Hylton Performing Arts Center. 

WPFW 89.3 FM - Pacifica Radio is the media sponsor for Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra at the Hylton Performing Arts Center.