Violinist Meg Okura To Open 'Baby Grand Jazz' Series

Jazz violinist Meg Okura (Kevin Cody/Easy Reader / October 28, 2013)

By OWEN McNALLY, Special To The Courant
The Hartford Courant
October 31, 2013

Still celebrating record-breaking attendance figures for its triumphant 2013 "Baby Grand Jazz" concert series, The Hartford Public Library has received a grant of some $11,000 from the Charles H. Kaman Foundation that will fund the 2014 season for the admission-free, Sunday matinees. Sixteen weekly performances will be held in the downtown library's atrium, running from the opener on Jan. 5 to the grand finale on April 27.

Marking its eleventh season, "Baby Grand Jazz" opens with a performance by virtuoso violinist, composer and player of the erhu (a two-stringed bowed instrument), Meg Okura, a recording and performance artist whose Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble weaves together jazz, classical and world music to create a blend of world chamber jazz. A Juilliard-trained classical violinist who's at home in the jazz world, she has toured with such artists as Lee Konitz and Dianne Reeves and performed from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl.

Other headliners in the series will be announced as contracts are signed, says spokeswoman Donna Haghighat. All performances are one-hour and begin at 3 p.m. Some more dedicated concert-goers arrive as early as 1 p.m., when the library opens its doors on Sunday, so they'll be sure to get prime seats as close as possible to the performers.

The Kaman Foundation anonymously funded the 2012 and 2013 seasons, historic turning points for the series in which attendance skyrocketed. "Baby Grand Jazz" caught fire, making the downtown library a hot destination on Sunday afternoons for jazz fans from both the city and the suburbs. Flocking to the atrium were both jazz aficionados and novices to the music, as well as perhaps even newcomers to the library. In good news for "Baby Grand Jazz," the Foundation's third nurturing grant for the 2014 season was enhanced by some 30 percent over the previous year's.
Read more: http://www.courant.com/entertainment/music/hc-riffs-1031-20131031,0,1534876.story