The full-time and affiliate faculty members teaching in the Metropolitan State University of Denver Department of Music are gifted musicians as well as instructors, steeped in diverse musical traditions from around the world.
This summer, many of them will have an opportunity to show off their chops in a series of free concerts at Denver’s Levitt Pavilion, an outdoor all-ages amphitheater in Ruby Hill Park.
“In the Music Department, we have a very large number of faculty, students and alumni who are performing as part of Levitt’s free concert series,” said Elizabeth Macy, Ph.D., associate professor of Ethnomusicology. “We’ve got a strong MSU Denver presence on the stage this summer.”
Four Levitt Pavilion events will have representation from faculty members and alumni in the MSU Denver Music Department, she said.
The first show, set for Sunday, features the Boulder-based Mokomba Ensemble. The group will open for Kutandara, a group that fuses ancient African music traditions with indie pop, rock, jazz, gospel, classical and world-folk influences.
Mokomba is led by Adjei Abankwah, an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Music and director of the department’s African Drum and Dance Ensemble. Abankwah was a principal dancer and choreographer with The National Ghana Dance Ensemble for 11 years. He is also an accomplished musician and composer.
On June 30, The Good, the Bad and the Devine, featuring MSU Denver faculty members Dave Devine and Shane Endsley (along with alums Tania Katz and Shawn King), presents Ennio Morricone’s “Spaghetti Western” film scores.
Devine, a guitarist, and Endsley, a trumpeter, teach in the Jazz and American Improvised Music program. The opening act that evening is the Enmanuel Alexander Trio, led by guitarist Alexander, also an MSU Denver alumnus.
The third annual Viva Southwest Mariachi Festival will take place Sept. 20. The event features national touring artists La Santa Cecilia with the 2024 Mariachi Estelares de Colorado, Colorado’s All-State Youth Mariachi Ensemble, opening. The group features MSU Denver student musicians and is directed by Lorenzo Trujillo, Ed.D., J.D., an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Music and a practicing attorney.
Trujillo started playing mariachi and traditional Southwest Hispanic music as a teenager with the Mariachi Alegre and the Southwest Musicians. He began teaching at MSU Denver in 2015, becoming the first professor to teach a mariachi program at the University. The event, one of two that occur each year, is co-sponsored by the Latino Cultural Arts Center.
Macy will take part in a Sept. 22 concert headlined by Denver-based Gamelan Tunas Mekar, a community ensemble under the direction of Balinese composer and Artist-in-Residence I Made Lasmawan and family. Lasmawan’s middle son, I Made Tangkas Ade Wijaya, co-directs the ensemble and is an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Music, where he directs Gamelan Manik Kusuma, a student ensemble.
Gamelan is the traditional music of Bali and other parts of Indonesia, Macy said. “It’s an ensemble of instruments that are constructed and tuned together.” The group performs at music festivals, schools and private events locally and internationally.
“A lot of alumni and faculty members are part of the community ensemble,” said Macy, who serves on the organization’s board. Other University-affiliated members include alumni Aaron Burris-DeBoskey, Jakey Wherry, Ashley Stitt, Geoffrey Banninger and Laricca Siregar. Student Adrianna Newport is also a member of the group.
The Levitt Pavilion’s free concert series has a mission to showcase major, emerging local and international artists. Learn more on the organization’s website.