Featured News | October 28, 2013
From a CWC press release:
The a capella group m-pact, named the vocal group of the year at the Los Angeles Music Awards, kicks off the 30th anniversary celebration of the Robert A. Peck Arts Center at Central Wyoming College Tuesday, November 5.
Hailed as “one of the best pop-jazz vocal groups in the world” by the San Francisco Chronicle, m-pact performs on the Arts Center main stage at 7:30 p.m.
The concert at CWC brings home Wyoming native Trist Curliss, a Cheyenne Central graduate who went to Northwest College in Powell. He and his five mates have become respected worldwide in the realm of vocal music. The group’s only instrument is the human voice.
m-pact’s 2012 studio recording of “My Funny Valentine” was recently nominated for a Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award (CARA) in the category of “Best Jazz Song.” Each of m-pact’s five original studio recordings has received rave reviews and multiple awards, including Best Jazz Album, Best Pop/R&B Song, Best Male Vocalist, and Best Vocal Arrangement, Best Seasonal Album and Billboard Magazine has called them the “Best Unsigned Band.”
The group has played fine arts halls and jazz festivals across four continents, and has performed with pop stars Sheryl Crow, Boyz II Men, Kenny G, Liza Minnelli, Babyface, Rick Springfield and Jackson Browne. They have also performed with jazz legends from Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Bobby McFerrin, Take 6, and the New York Voices to the Woody Herman Orchestra and the Maynard Ferguson Big Band. Over the last dozen years, their signature sound has been used in both TV themes and animated Disney feature films, and is enjoyed on syndicated radio worldwide.
The “pact” of six male singers combine the smooth soul of Stevie Wonder, the percussive power of Stomp, the funk and drive of Earth, Wind, & Fire, the hip licks of Take 6, and the brass bite of the Harry Connick Jr. Big Band . . . all created by the human voice alone.
Tickets, $15 for adults and $10 for students and senior citizens, are available at the Arts Center Box Office or online.
Other 30th anniversary events include the Nov. 6 public screening of Twenty Million People, an independent film that has won multiple awards. CWC alumna Devin Sanchez produced and starred in the film and will be on hand for the screening and additional workshops. On Nov. 7, CWC jazz musicians perform their semi-annual concert. Both the film screening and concert are free.
The Wyoming Arts Council believes that experiencing the arts should be accessible for all, including people with mental and/or physical disabilities, older adults, military/veterans, people living in institutions and those who lack access to the arts due to geographic isolation, cultural difference and economic hardship.
