Students in the School of Music and Theatre Professions performed in the spring at three local festivals: the Freret Street Festival, the French Quarter Festival, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
Loyola returned as one of the Freret Fest’s sponsors in March, and many of the school’s student artists, professors and alumni performed during the free event, now in its 24th year.
The Loyola stage’s headliner was Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, which is one of the city’s most popular bands. Some of Loyola’s musicians collaborated and performed with the band to close out the day.
Mike Twillman, who teaches Loyola’s Festival Production course, secured the music for the popular, one-day event. He said his students handled booking the on-stage performances and back-of-house and festival production responsibilities. In addition, Twillman said that Loyola’s student-run sound production team, NOLA Sound & Visuals, coordinated sound for the stages.
At the French Quarter Festival in April, Loyola sponsored the Esplanade in the Shade Stage at the New Orleans Jazz Museum at the Old U.S. Mint for the second year in a row.
Jonathan McHugh, the Hilton-Baldridge Eminent Scholar and Chair in Music Industry Studies at Loyola, said the partnership allowed several talented Loyola students to perform at one of the world's most visited festivals. The festival also hired several Loyola students to work behind the scenes.
“To be able to offer these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to our students is what our Loyola program is all about,” McHugh said. “As New Orleans is truly the live music center of the universe, our goal is to make sure students have the chance to perform on as many stages as possible and learn what it takes to put on a festival of this caliber.”
In April, Loyola students in the Big Band and Vocal Jazz ensembles also performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, an annual offering in the festival’s Jazz Tent.
