University of North Texas

The Thursday Night Music at UNT on the Square will feature a series of summer concerts for the first time. Thursday Night Music Summer Edition runs through July 23.

Thursday Night Music takes place in an informal setting where listeners are free to come and go as they please.

The summer concerts will feature UNT students and faculty members performing jazz and related genres of music.

Jazz vocalist Amanda Ekery, above, opened the summer series June 18.

Concert times are 8 to 9 p.m. at UNT on the Square, 109 N. Elm St.

The remaining performances include:

•   June 25 – Wesley Case and Fred Hamilton, jazz guitar
•   July 2 – Morgan Wallace, rock singer and songwriter
•   July 9 – Elliot Scozarro, jazz
•   July 16 – Sergio Pamies, instrumental jazz
•   July 23 – Camille DeVore, vocal jazz

Herbert Holl, director of the UNT Institute for the Advancement of the Arts and UNT on the Square, said the popularity of the Thursday Night Music series in the fall and spring made a summer series possible.

“At this point, Thursday Night Music has established itself and people know about it,” Holl said. “We have had consistently increasing numbers and good audiences. In the past, we've had summer concerts. They just weren't structured as a series.”

Wallace, a junior vocal jazz major at UNT, will be performing on her birthday. She will sing some of her favorite Motown classics and current alternative rock songs. Her set will feature a rhythm section of other UNT Jazz students.

“I’m honored to be featured in the series,” Wallace said. “It’s a great opportunity. I’m going to be focusing on school this summer, so it’s something I’m looking forward to and I hope to have a good time.”

Case, a recent graduate of the jazz studies program at UNT, will be playing jazz guitar with his former professor, Fred Hamilton.

“I haven’t played with him outside of school,” Case said. “I’m quite excited. He’s a joy to play with.”

Case and Hamilton will be playing standard jazz repertoire and their own original work together. Case has performed at UNT on the Square before and said he is excited to do so again because the space is “perfect” for duos.

A core feature of Thursday Night Music is its location at UNT on the Square, an art gallery that presents works from members of the UNT community.

“We have a wonderful exhibition up this year,” Holl said. “The gallery space really lends itself to performances. It took less than a day to get enough performers for the summer.”

Throughout most of the Thursday Night Music summer series, “Life Through the Lens: Pictures That Tell a Story,” an exhibit featuring photography from Joe and Junebug Clark, will be on display.

Junebug Clark, an independent contractor and consultant for UNT, and his father, Joe Clark, have had their work featured in such publications as Life Magazine, National Geographic, Look and Newsweek. Their work focuses on the emergence of Detroit as an industrial powerhouse in the 1950s, figures of historical significance and the history of Jack Daniel’s whiskey, which they helped transform into a nationally recognized brand through their photographs.

Thursday Night Music at UNT on the Square Summer Edition is presented by the UNT Institute for the Advancement of the Arts and the College of Music.

—Caleb Downs, student assistant, News Promotion

(Photo by Ahna Hubnik / URCM)