Kathy Kosins (Photo by Laurie Tennent)
By Sasha Steinberg | Mississippi State University
Kathy Kosins is a jazz singer and artist recognized internationally for incorporating her painting talents into live performances.
Monday and Tuesday [Feb. 29 and March 1], the award-winning Michigan native’s creative talents will be featured at Mississippi State University.
At 7:30 p.m. Monday, Kosins headlines a free concert that also includes the MSU Jazz and Choral ensembles, as well as Five Guys Who Improvise, a student jazz combo. The concert takes place in the McComas Hall theater.
Earlier in the day, she will lead a free, open-to-all 10 a.m. presentation in the Band and Choral Rehearsal Hall on South Hardy Road. Titled “Gainful Employment—Hustling the Gig,” the session will focus on professional networking and client identification techniques, among other career topics.
Tuesday, she leads two programs for art and music students. Also free to all, they include:
—9:30 a.m., in Music Building B on Morrill Road, a jazz singer clinic on how to sell the story within a song and build repertoire, as well as jazz-specific performance practices.
—Noon, 209 Freeman Hall (painting/life drawing studio), “Improvisation on Canvas,” a painting demonstration featuring jazz music and focusing on creativity and freedom of expression. Freeman is located on Barr Avenue, across from Davis Wade Stadium.
Kosins, a Mahogany Jazz recording artist, has been hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “one of the most alluring voices in jazz.” Since becoming a professional in the mid-1970s, she has been recognized with multiple songwriting awards by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, or ASCAP.
In addition, Kosins has been honored as the Michigan Council for the Arts’ jazz composer of the year and received a number of grants from Creative Many Michigan (formerly ArtServe Michigan), the state’s leading arts and cultural advocacy organization. For more, visit www.kathykosins.com.
Her campus performance and related events are made possible with support from MSU Bands and the music department’s choral activities program in the College of Education, as well as the College of Architecture, Art and Design, MSU Lyceum Series and Starkville Area Arts Council.