On behalf of the Institute of Modern Languages and in conjunction with the Department of Jazz of the Institute of Music, here at the University of Rzeszow, we are so excited to invite you to take part in a celebration of Afro-American culture. The esteemed writer, musician and historian Dr. Stan Breckenridge will be delivering a fascinating series of lectures and performances, and to mark the culmination of the event, students of the Department are putting on a concert of seminal jazz pieces. The entire event will be hosted online, and the dates can be found below.

https://youtu.be/Jmnq_G8i02s

• TUESDAY, March 2, 18:00 - 19:30 HOST : Pedagogical University of Krakow TOPIC : African American Music Styles This lecture discloses music characteristics and performance practices in styles such as spirituals, ragtime, blues, New Orleans jazz, gospel, Haarlem stride, big band jazz, bebop, rhythm & blues, cool, soul, funk, disco, pop, hip-hop, and neo-soul.

• THURSDAY, March 4; 10:30 - 12:00 TBC HOST: Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce TOPIC: Out of Love for Jazz An engaging lecture/concert about many inspirations of, and reflections on jazz. From spiritual music of the 19th century to soul music of the mid. 20th century, jazz inspirations , history and developments will be discussed and demonstrated with a selected repertoire.

• TUESDAY, March 9 time 11:00 – 12:30 HOST: Opole University TOPIC: The Significance of African American Music in Film This lecture and performance present the significance of African American music in film and by performing various music excerpts show their relevance to the story and/or a specific scene.

• THURSDAY, March 11, 10:30 - 12:00 HOST: University of Rzeszow TOPIC : Civil Rights & Protest Songs of 1950s - 1960s The lecture will discuss racial injustices, inequalities, and institutional racism that led to Civil Right Movement and will present civil rights and protest songs, used to educate, unify, and politically motivate people and sanctioned call-to-action activities that in effect promoted serious socio-cultural concerns to the entire nation.

Students of Jazz and Popular Music are young people fascinated by music, if which all genres have a common African-American heritage. Under the tutelage of excellent lecturers - the young artists have the possibility both to learn the musical craft as well as get to know and understand distant cultures. Our musical project connected with the celebration of African-American cultural week will include a broad repertoire of classic American Jazz, and also a little pop music. The entire concert is a cumulative result of the efforts of our students.

Looking forward to seeing you there!