May 25, 2005—The Oberlin Jazz Septet (OJS), the premier small jazz combo featuring students from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and representative work from the Conservatory's TIMARA department (Technology in Music and the Related Arts), will be among the scores of performers and exhibits exploring the intersection of art and technology in venues throughout downtown Cleveland Sept. 1 - 4 for the city's first-ever Ingenuity Festival of Art and Technology.

The TIMARA department will present a free video concert, shown Saturday, Sept. 3, at 5 p.m. in the Cleveland Trust Rotunda's "Temple of Technology," located at 900 Euclid Avenue. The OJS performs a free concert Sunday, Sept. 4, at 1 p.m. at the heart of the festival, on the 4th Street Stage. The festival district is located in the lower Euclid Avenue area from Public Square to East 9th Street, plus East 4th Street from Euclid to Prospect. Performances and exhibits will take place at traditional venues, clubs, and restaurants, as well as in unique areas such as alleys, vacant storefronts, and streetscape stages. For complete information about dates, hours, venues, performances, and exhibits, please visit www.IngenuityCleveland.com.

Assistant Professor of Computer Music and Digital Arts Tom Lopez chairs the Conservatory's TIMARA department. Oberlin was the first to bring music technology to a small undergraduate institution, offering courses in electronic and computer music since 1968, when the National Science Foundation provided a large startup grant. Oberlin established TIMARA in the early 1970s; its mission was - and is to this day - to study the connections between music and the other arts - dance, theater, video, and film.

In 1987 Oberlin established an electronic and computer music curriculum leading to a bachelor of music degree. Students enrolled in this major combine traditional subjects in music with the newest methods for music making. Classes in music history and theory, ethnomusicology, and performance give electronic and computer music students a perspective for viewing their own music. For more information about TIMARA, visit their web site.

Members of the Oberlin Jazz Septet for 2005-2006 are trombonist Allie Bosso '06 from Simsbury, Connecticut, a student of Associate Professor of Jazz Trombone Robin Eubanks; saxophonist John Butler '06 from Lake Forest Park, Washington, a student of Visiting Professor of Jazz Saxophone Gary Bartz; guitarist Andrew Conklin '06 from Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, a student of Associate Professor of Jazz Guitar Robert Ferrazza; Theodore Croker '07 from Leesburg, Florida, on trumpet, a student of Visiting Professor of Jazz Trumpet Marcus Belgrave; drummer Charles Foldesh '07 from Prescott, Arizona, a student of Assistant Professor of Jazz Percussion Billy Hart; pianist Sullivan Fortner '08 from LaPlace, Louisiana, a student of visiting teacher of jazz piano Dan Wall; and bassist Curtis Ostle '06 from Chevy Chase, Maryland a student of Professor of Jazz Studies and Double Bass Peter Dominguez.

The OJS is an ensemble whose members are nominated each year by the jazz studies faculty at the Conservatory. They represent the most outstanding student performers, arrangers, and composers from the Conservatory, and their performance repertoire includes original compositions and arrangements of classic jazz.  In past years the OJS has been featured at the Detroit, Elmhurst, and Notre Dame jazz festivals, at performance venues in Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Denver, and at Jazz Aspen Snowmass, as well as at many high schools and arts programs throughout the United States.

Oberlin's undergraduate jazz studies program, chaired by Professor of African American Music Wendell Logan, prepares students for careers as professional jazz musicians and for advanced study in jazz. The jazz studies faculty includes composers and performers who, in addition to teaching lessons and coaching ensembles, maintain active performing careers throughout the world. Numerous Oberlin alumni have achieved success in the jazz idiom, among them keyboardist Ted Baker, pianist and composer Stanley Cowell, bassist, composer, and arranger Leon Lee Dorsey, pianist, arranger, and producer Allen Farnham, bassist Ben Jaffe, composer and pianist Jon Jang, writer, composer, and saxophonist James McBride, and trumpeter, trombonist, and composer Michael Mossman.

The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, founded in 1865 and situated within the intellectual vitality of Oberlin College since 1867, is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States. Renowned internationally as a professional music school of the highest caliber and pronounced a "national treasure" by the Washington Post, Oberlin's alumni have gone on to achieve illustrious careers in all aspects of the serious music world.