For the 12th consecutive year, the Charles H. Templeton Ragtime and Jazz Festival is bringing the spirit and sounds of the late 19th and early 20th centuries to Mississippi State University’s Mitchell Memorial Library Thursday through Saturday, March 22-24.
The 2018 festival kicks off at 6 p.m. Thursday in the library’s main lobby with the 5th annual Gatsby Gala fashion show featuring 1920s apparel designed by MSU School of Human Sciences fashion design and merchandising students and modeled by MSU Fashion Board members. Internationally-renowned pianist and fifth-year festival artistic director Jeff Barnhart of Mystic, Connecticut, will provide music for the Gala.
Also at the Gala, MSU Libraries will present an MSU music student with the Keyone Docher Award, which pays tribute to the Weir native and former MSU junior music education/piano major who died in 2014 following a 13-year battle with cancer.
Admission to the Gatsby Gala is free. General admission fees range from $50 each for all other festival events to $10 each for the evening concerts, with lesser fees for senior citizens and retired MSU faculty and staff members. MSU students with current identification cards may attend free.
Parking is available at the Old Main Academic Center parking garage on Barr Avenue. Patrons also can use MSU’s S.M.A.R.T. shuttle system for transportation to and from the festival.
Daytime museum tours, informative talks, “meet the artists” segments and educational seminars will take place March 23-24 in the fourth-floor Charles H. Templeton Sr. Music Museum at Mitchell Memorial Library, located at the southeast corner of the university’s historic Drill Field.
Evening concerts featuring world-renowned jazz and blues musicians will be held at 7:30 p.m. March 23 and 24 in the mainstage theater at McComas Hall.
Tickets are available for advance purchase at http://library.msstate.edu/festival. Tickets also will be sold at the door.
Festival performers
The 2018 festival performers include:
A Southern Studies master’s graduate of the University of Mississippi, he appeared in the documentary “Last of the Mississippi Jukes,” also featuring Morgan Freeman and Chris Thomas King.
An in-demand jazz pianist, he has performed at notable festivals and venues including the Umbria Winter Jazz Festival, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and the French Quarter Fest.
In addition to MSU Libraries and the School of Human Sciences, this year’s sponsors include MaxxSouth Broadband, City of Starkville, Mississippi Arts Commission, Art Works and National Endowment for the Arts.
For more festival information, visit http://library.msstate.edu/festival, call 662-325-6634 or email [email protected].
Follow MSU Libraries on Facebook @msulibrary, Twitter @msu_libraries and Instagram @msstatelibraries.
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