DANBURY, Conn. — The “Love Wins! Benefit Concert,” a Celebration of Music to Benefit the Ana Márquez-Greene Scholarship Fund at WCSU, will be held at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017, in the Veronica Hagman Concert Hall of the Visual and Performing Arts Center (VPAC) on the Western Connecticut State University Westside campus, 43 Lake Ave. Extension in Danbury.
The Love Wins! concert will feature Matt Wilson’s Christmas Tree-O with DownBeat and JazzTimes poll winning drummer Matt Wilson, Paul Sikivie on bass and Jeff Lederer on saxophone, as well as an all-star group featuring Grammy-nominated vocalist René Marie, Grammy Award winner Bill Charlap on piano, Grammy-nominated bassist Rufus Reid , and and Grammy-nominated saxophonist Jimmy Greene, who is WCSU co-coordinator of Jazz Studies and associate professor of Music.
The event is hosted by the WCSU Department of Music. Ticket sales and donations will go to the Ana Grace Márquez-Greene Music Scholarship, an endowed memorial music scholarship for incoming freshmen at WCSU. The scholarship fund was created to honor the memory of Ana Grace Márquez-Greene, daughter of Jimmy Greene and Nelba Márquez-Greene, who lost her life at the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012.
“Ana was a joyful, musical child and full of life,” said Jimmy Greene. “This scholarship is one of the ways we remember her — it helps young musicians who want to study at WestConn. Ana’s mom and brother and I look forward to the concert every year.”
Tickets are $35 for general admission and $50 for a VIP reception with the musicians before the concert. A limited number of $20 WCSU student tickets are available with a valid WCSU ID at the VPAC box office. For more information and tickets, visit the concert’s Eventbrite page.
For more information, contact the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.
Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics of New England’s best small private universities.