Notre Dame alum and world-renowned jazz musician and composer Walt Szymanski (’72) will be in Detroit on December 31, 2014, to play a special concert with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Led by DSO Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik, Szymanski and jazz trumpet legend Byron Stripling, organist Bobby Floyd and the orchestra will perform a swinging combination of jazz standards, including “Sweet Georgia Brown” and “Ain’t Misbehavin,” as well as light classical selections by Strauss and Smetana.
Currently a full-time resident of Ecuador, Szymanski says he’s “living and enjoying life on the center of the planet where it is 72-80° every day and 55-60° at night, all year long.”
He has served as a professor of jazz studies at the University de San Francisco de Quito/IMC in Quito, Ecuador, and has a number of private music students. He also is writing and composing music for a varied clientele worldwide.
“But my main musical project at the moment is the 'Zulu Kings Brass Band,' an authentic, New Orleans style ‘second-line’ group of my Ecuadorian fellows,” he says.
Check them out here: https://plus.google.com/110473395880037832292/posts.
We asked Szymanski how he fills his days south of the equator.
“I’m living life solely as an artist now without worries of compromising my artistic vision in the pursuit of money,” he said. “What an incredibly liberating feeling!”
He said he built his house for cash, and his total living expenses in Ecuador come in at around $500-700 per month, which allows him plenty for living the life of a true artist.
“My days usually consist of drinking coffee, practicing my various trumpets, composing and arranging music, mentoring young musicians and riding my extreme mountain bike on the Chaquinan eco-trail at 8,000 feet,” he said.
Sounds idyllic and it probably is, but he also loves getting back to the Detroit area to see his family and friends — even in the middle of winter!
Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org.
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.