Boston Pops Jazz Fest 2007 to Feature Berklee Jazz Café May 30, 2007

May 30, 2007 – For the second straight year, Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops will parter with Berklee to present the Berklee Jazz Café, featuring student artists performing at Symphony Hall after the Pops Jazz Fest concerts in the Higginson room. The 2007 Boston Pops Jazz Fest features the critically acclaimed jazz artists: Gary Burton and Chick Corea (May 29 – 30), and Dianne Reeves (June 1– 2). For a full schedule, please visit www.bostonpops.org.
The Berklee Jazz Café will give listeners the chance to hear some of tomorrow's top talent, including several international students and scholarship recipients, in a relaxed lounge-style setting. The collaboration showcases an all-star Berklee student band fronted by the college’s most outstanding singers; performing all four nights are Tiwa Savage, Ashley Rodriguez, and Rebecca Muir, with Leala Cyr and Ricardo Vogt joining them, June 1 – 2. Access to the Berklee Jazz Café is only available to Pops ticket holders.
About the artists:

Born in Nigeria and raised in London, Tiwa Savage is a R&B/soul singer known for her electric performances. Before coming to Berklee, she spent years honing her stage presence as a background vocalist for George Michael, Mary J. Blige, Chaka Khan, Kelly Clarkson, Sheila E, and others. Savage has also shared stages with the likes of Sting, Destiny’s Child, Black Eyed Peas, and Robbie Williams.

Ashley Rodriguez, from Chelsea, MA, who sings jazz, soul, and R&B, is a recipient of a four-year, full-tuition Berklee City Music Continuing Scholarship. As a member of the Berklee City Music All-Stars, she recently toured the West Coast – including gigs at Macworld in San Francisco, The NAMM Show in Los Angeles, and Experience Music Project in Seattle – promoting the national expansion of the City Music program.

Originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Rebecca Muir is a versatile soul singer and songwriter, who will sing any style – from blues, funk, and soul, to jazz, folk, and country – as long as she likes the song. Muir, who performed Melissa Etheridge's "I'm the Only One," for Etheridge herself at Berklee's 2006 commencement concert, plans to move to Nashville and focus on songwriting.

Wisconsin native Leala Cyr is a vocalist and trumpeter who performs a wide-variety of styles, specializing in Brazilian jazz. Her achievements include being voted "Best Jazz Vocalist" in Down Beat magazine's 2005 student music awards, and performing as a vocalist and trumpeter at the prestigious Essentially Ellington Competition at the Lincoln Center. Cyr has shared stages with Juinga, John Secada, Esperanza Spalding, and others.

Brazilian-born Ricardo Vogt is both an outstanding singer and guitarist. At age 9 – his first year playing guitar – he won a Brazilian songwriting competition, and, at 16, he became the lead singer of the Cassino Orchestra Show Band, an 11-piece touring ensemble. After two years attending the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, he was awarded Berklee’s World Tour Scholarship and moved to Boston. Vogt, who is endorsed by Godin guitars, has been a guest clinician at Okalahoma and San Diego State Universities.