Jazz pianist Mark Lomanno returns to his hometown for his first live performance in the New England area in over ten years. "Shared History" is an ongoing project that explores the musical and cultural connections of the African Diaspora on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. This concert—in the superb Tupelo Music Hall—will be recorded live and will feature music from Brazil, the Canary Islands, Cuba, and the United States—a reflection of Mark's musical, academic and personal travels over the last decade. In the coming year, the same project will be performed in Georgia, New York, Texas, Virginia, and in the Canary Islands. Mark Lomanno: A New Hampshire native, Mark has been performing professionally for over 15 years. His most recent recording, available in March 2011, is Tales & Tongues, with Le Monde Caché, a San Antonio-based jazz group that plays Brazilian, Afro-Latin and Jewish diasporic repertoire. As a student at Londonderry High School, he participated in New Hampshire Jazz AllState, UNH SYMS, and was nominated for the 1997 All-Eastern Jazz Orchestra. While living in New York City, he managed a Harlem jazz club and performed widely, including shows at Enzo's, the 55 Bar, and the Jazz Standard. He has premiered several compositions by the electro-acoustic composer Dr. Matthew McCabe, and his performances of works by Ignacio Cervantes and Manuel Saumell are featured on the 2007 documentary, Cuba: Rhythm in Motion. Mark Lomanno is a PhD candidate in ethnomusicology and Livingston Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a Master of Arts Degree in Jazz History and Research from Rutgers University-Newark and Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Music and Latin Literature from the University of Richmond. He has completed fieldwork and performed in Cuba and Brazil, and is currently living in the Canary Islands, conducting research for his dissertation project on local jazz cultures. In addition to reviews and feature articles published on the website jazz.com and in Jazz Improv magazine, he has forthcoming publications in the edited volume, Jazz In Its Time; the journal African Music; the Greenwood Encyclopedia of Latin Music; Grove Dictionary of American Music; and Facts on File’s Encyclopedia of the Caribbean. Limited seating; reserving tickets in advance via email (mjl@marklomanno.com) recommended
General: $15; Students: $10; chi