Flutist and composer Bryan Kennard teams up with Pittsburgh saxophonist and composer Clint Bleil to lead an octet featuring some of Northeast Ohio’s best. The band will perform several of Clint and Bryan’s original compositions and arrangements. Tickets to attend this concert are $20 each.

This event will also be livestreamed on BOP STOP's Facebook page at showtime. Accessing the stream is free but donations are encouraged and directly support the band. To donate, select "Donation: Livestream Attendee" (which is a $10 blanket ticket price) as your Ticket Option above and follow the steps below:

• Select "1" as your quantity and click "Add to Cart." If you wish to donate more than $10 to the band, you can increase your quantity.
• You may enter your name if you wish and click "Submit"
• Click on the "Edit Cart" button that pops up.
• Click "Checkout" to enter your card information.

Featuring:

• Bryan Kennard, flute and compositions
• Clint Bleil, saxophone and compositions
• Tommy Lehman, trumpet
• Zach Warren, trombone
• Dan Bruce, guitar
• Grant Heineman, piano
• Aidan Plank, bass
• Zaire Darden, drums

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Clint Bleil is a composer and saxophonist from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Clint has degrees in Music Education and Saxophone Performance from Slippery Rock University, where he studied under Jason Kush. Clint recently received his master's degree in Studio Jazz Writing from the University of Miami, where he studied composition under Gary Lindsay, John Daversa, and Carlos Rafael Rivera.

Clint has received numerous awards in composition and arranging, most recently winning the National Band Association Young Jazz Composers Composition Contest in 2022. He also has received a Jazz Education Network Young Composer Showcase Award in 2022, an ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award in 2021, and an International Jazz Composers SONIC Award in 2019. His music has been performed throughout the country at the Midwest Clinic, the JEN Convention, the ISJAC Conference, and more. Clint has composed, arranged, and transcribed for multiple different groups and ensembles, including the Airmen of Note, Live From Here with Chris Thile, Sal "The Voice" Valentinetti, Bob Reynolds, Project TRIO, and the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra.

As a saxophonist, Clint has performed and recorded in many different styles and ensembles. He has performed alongside Randy Brecker and Charles Pillow with the South Florida Jazz Orchestra, as well as Troy Roberts, Dave Holland, John Beasley, and Adam Rogers with the award-winning Frost Concert Jazz Band. He has also performed with rock and pop acts, such as the Temptations, Jay and the Americans, Dennis Tufano, and the Shirelles. Clint also has experience in the recording studio, where he served as an additional engineer on John Daversa’s three-time Grammy award-winning album American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom.

Clint is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Washington & Jefferson College, where he teaches multiple lessons and classes as well as leads the Jazz and Wind Ensemble. He also offers private woodwind lessons throughout the Pittsburgh area. Clint also is a member of the Pittsburgh pop/rock group, "No Bad Juju." He also regularly performs in the Pittsburgh area with his quartet that focuses on modern jazz arrangements and compositions, as well as a funk/fusion group that he co-leads with his brother.

www.clintbleilmusic.com

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Composer, flutist, and Cleveland native Bryan Kennard is in demand as a writer and performer. In 2020, he received his doctoral degree in Jazz Composition from the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music where he served as a Teaching Assistant for the Studio Music and Jazz department as well as Coordinator / Composition Fellow for the Henry Mancini Institute. He earned a master’s in Jazz Composition from the University of Texas at Austin, a master’s in Flute Performance from Youngstown State University, and bachelor degree in music from Mercyhurst University.

As a writer, Bryan has written studio orchestra arrangements for performances with Maria Schneider, Donny McCaslin, Kate Reid, Ann Hampton Callaway, and Kirk Whalum. He has been commissioned to write original compositions for soloists, school ensembles, classical ensembles, and professional jazz groups. Recent works include pieces for big band, flute choir, solo violin, and more. He has presented his music in master classes with jazz composers like Billy Childs, Darcy James Argue, and Vince Mendoza at the International Society for Jazz Arrangers and Composers Symposia, and he has worked privately and in workshops with renowned composers and arrangers including Gary Lindsay, John Daversa, Stephen Guerra, Christine Jensen, John Mills, Dave Morgan, and Maria Schneider.

Since returning to Northeast Ohio, Bryan has performed with his quintet at the Bop Stop and appeared as a guest performer with area musicians like Bobby Selvaggio and Jeremey Poparad. Bryan's octet with Austin-based guitarist/composer Marco Santos debuted in the spring of 2022 at Monks Jazz Club in Austin, TX. He has performed and shared his music at such events as the Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals, the Jazz Educators Network Conference, the National Flute Association Convention, the International Double Reed Society Convention, and the Texas Music Educators Association Convention. He was awarded the 2016 Stribling Award for Excellence in Jazz Studies while attending UT, was a Young Composer Showcase selectee at the 2019 JEN Conference, and received multiple Downbeat Student Music Awards for performance, composition, arranging, and engineering. Bryan has been on faculty at Youngstown State University teaching courses in jazz, composition, and music theory. He recently accepted a position as Director of the Bop Stop, which is affiliated with The Music Settlement, a 501(c)(3) community music organization serving the region through outreach, lesson programs, music therapy, and early childhood development.

https://www.bryankennard.com