7:30 PM Gloria Cheng 9:30 PM Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz

7:30 PM - Gloria Cheng (piano)

9:30PM - Yakiv Tsvietinskyi (trumpet), Alden Hellmuth (alto saxophone), Sasha Ripley (tenor saxophone), Miles Lennox(piano), Destiny Diggs-Pinto (bass), Ebunoluwa Daramola (drums)

At 7:30 PM, pianist Gloria Cheng plays new piano music Anthony Davis, Jon Jang, James Newton, Linda May Han Oh, Arturo O’Farrill, and Gernot Wolfgang. The GRAMMY®-winning pianist, a favorite collaborator of composers from Pierre Boulez to John Williams, plays new music written specially for her by a star-studded lineup of jazz improvisers.

Then at 9:30PM, The Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Studies primiers a set of all new music!

ABOUT GLORIA CHENG

Over a distinguished and varied career, GRAMMY - and Emmy Award-winning pianist Gloria Cheng has been described by the New York Times as "an invaluable new-music advocate and a preferred collaborator of composers like Pierre Boulez and Esa-Pekka Salonen." She has been a concerto soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and Pierre Boulez, and on its acclaimed Green Umbrella series with Salonen and Oliver Knussen. As a recitalist she has appeared at the Ojai Music Festival (where her long association with Boulez began in 1984), Chicago Humanities Festival, William Kapell Festival, Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, and Mendocino and Chautauqua Music Festivals. Her countless premieres and dedications include John Williams' Prelude and Scherzo for Piano and Orchestra(dedicated to her and pianist Lang Lang), Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Dichotomie, and Pierre Boulez’s courtes dérives à partir d’Éclat. She commissioned the 2-piano arrangement of Concert Paraphrase on Powder Her Face from Thomas Adès and premiered it with the composer on the Piano Spheres series. Winner of the Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra) GRAMMY for her 2008 recording, Piano Music of Salonen, Stucky, and Lutosławski, she received a second nomination for her 2013 disc, The Edge of Light: Messiaen/Saariaho. Her film-composer documentary, MONTAGE: Great Film Composers and the Piano, aired on PBS SoCal and captured a 2018 Los Angeles Area Emmy. Her education includes a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University, a Woolley Scholarship for study in Paris, and graduate degrees in performance from UCLA and the University of Southern California, where her teachers included Aube Tzerko and John Perry. Her much sought-after classes and programs at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music bring students together with noted performers, composers, and scholars.

ABOUT THE HERBIE HANCOCK INSTITUTE OF JAZZ STUDIES AT UCLA

Six extraordinary young jazz musicians from around the world were selected for the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Performance at UCLA, Class of 2025. The group recently began their intensive, full-scholarship program in September 2023 and will attain a Master of Music in Jazz Performance degree from The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music – one of the nation’s top music schools – in spring 2025.

One of the Institute’s earliest goals was to create a unique college-level jazz program where the masters of jazz could pass on their expertise to the next generation of jazz musicians. In September 1995, the Institute of Jazz Performance was launched and the first class of seven students began their intensive training with some of the world’s greatest musicians.

The Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Performance is a tuition-free two-year program that accepts one ensemble of musicians for each class. All of the students receive full scholarships, as well as stipends to cover their monthly living expenses. The students study both individually and as a small group, receiving personal mentoring, ensemble coaching, and lectures on the jazz tradition. They are also encouraged to experiment in expanding jazz in new directions through their compositions and performances. The program is currently in residence at the prestigious UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.

The Institute of Jazz Performance students and instructors present a number of major concerts and community outreach programs throughout the United States and overseas. International highlights include performances and teaching engagements at the White House; at annual International Jazz Day programs in Saint Petersburg, Russia; Havana, Cuba; Melbourne, Sydney and Mt. Gambier, Australia; at the celebration commemorating the 40th anniversary of the coronation of the King of Thailand, the 1998 Summit of the Americas in Chile before 34 heads of state, the United Nations “Day of Philosophy” event in Paris sponsored by UNESCO, and the Tokyo Jazz Festival. The students have also participated in tours of Argentina, China, Egypt, India, Morocco, Peru, Russia, Vietnam and, most recently, Jordan with Institute Chairman Herbie Hancock.

Since the program’s inception, students have studied with Kenny Barron, Jerry Bergonzi, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ron Carter, Hal Crook, Jack DeJohnette, Nnenna Freelon, Herbie Hancock, Barry Harris, Roy Haynes, Jimmy Heath, Dave Holland, Wynton Marsalis, Dick Oatts, Danilo Pérez, Dianne Reeves, John Scofield, Wayne Shorter, Horace Silver and Clark Terry, among many others. Program participants benefit from the world-class learning environment at UCLA, recently named the number 1 public university in the United States for the fifth straight year by U.S. News & World Report.

In June 2023, internationally acclaimed trumpeter and composer Ambrose Akinmusire, a 2007 graduate of the program, was named Artistic Director of the Institute of Jazz Performance, returning to guide and encourage the next generation of jazz artists.

All shows at Sam First are 21+ (no one under the age of 21 will be permitted)

Show Times: 7:30pm & 9:30pm, and a separate ticket is required for each show.

Notice of Recording: Sam First live streams and records all concerts. By entering Sam First, you understand that your image and/or voice might be included in those recordings. Sam First reserves the right to use any photography, video or audio recording taken at this event, without the expressed written permission of those included within the photograph/video.