Featuring Guest Artist James Borowski

Rock, classic and jazz tunes were aplenty during the second annual Day of Trombone held in Charter Hall 201 on Mar. 2. Several performances were held throughout the day, with each featuring guest trombone player, Dr. James Borowski, from New York City.

Dr. Borowski has earned a bachelor’s degree in music education and a doctorate in bass trombone performance. During his stay at Southwest Minnesota State University, Dr. Borowski was able to play alongside several ensemble groups during designated rehearsal times. He was able to show his solo skills at an 11 a.m. recital.

Following this recital, faculty members David Peterson and Dr. John Ginocchio joined in to perform several tunes for a 5 p.m. recital.

The Day of Trombone came to an end with a finale including several small, ensemble groups and the SMSU Jazz Ensemble, which performed Manteca – a tune composed by Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo– alongside Dr. Borowski, who arranged the tune.

The final performance included several trombone players, including Dr. Borowski, Dr. Ginocchio, Peterson, Maxx Louwagie, Sam Fitzer and many others. They performed several hits such as Great Lakes Octet (Eric Ewazen), Pavane (Moritz Landgraf von Hessen), Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott translating to A Mighty Fortress is Our God (Luther) and Prayer (Norman Bolter). All tunes kept up with a good beat and the popular Freddie Mercury tune, Bohemian Rhapsody, was no exception.

Peterson created the Day of Trombone last year with great success and that success continued this year with 17 trombone players from SMSU and around the community participating in the event.

For more information on SMSU events, go to smsu.edu/today