41st World Premiere Composition Series ConcertUpcoming

An upcoming event invites students to work with a living composer and experience a firsthand glimpse into the compositional process. 

The 41st Annual World Premiere Composition Series Concert on May 4 at 7:30 p.m. offers an introduction of two new works by guest composer-conductor Nate Sparks, performed by The University of Scranton Concert Band and Concert Choir. 

The event, hosted by The University of Scranton Performance Music, is a rare opportunity for students to perform, for the first time, a work by a guest composer. Admission is free and the public is invited.

Know Before You Go: Nate Sparks

This year’s composer/conductor is Sparks, a Juilliard trained composer, arranger, pianist, bandleader, music educator and liturgical musician who leads The Nate Sparks Big Band. He has been commissioned to write music for Lucky Chops, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra, Bobby Sanabria and the Multiverse Big Band, the MSM Afro-Cuban Orchestra, Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, ABS Chamber Orchestra, Kyle Athayde Dance Party, and Joseph Boga and the Scranton Ramblers, among others.

In 2018 he contributed to the Grammy-nominated album, “West Side Story Reimagined,” by Bobby Sanabria and the Multiverse Big Band. In addition to leading his own band on both coasts and in Iowa, Sparks also serves as Director of the Des Moines Youth Jazz Orchestra, and is director of music ministry at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in West Des Moines, Iowa.