Multiple artistic and musical events are taking place in the Doudna Fine Arts Center and Tarble Arts Center in February, one of the first of the spring semester being Eastern’s 62nd Annual Jazz Festival.

Dennis Malak, director of programming, publicity and promotion at Doudna, had high praises for Bob Sheppard, who will begin the spring season at the 62nd Annual Jazz Festival on Feb. 4.  

“I mean, he’s just a renowned saxophone player,” Malak said. “He plays with everything, he’s on tons of movies and soundtracks and TV soundtracks, he’s just one of the top players in the nation when it comes to jazz saxophone.” 

Sheppard will also help with the instructional aspect of the festival, Malak said.  

“And then he’ll do clinics on Saturday with the festival attendees,” Malak said. “So the festival attendees will get a little hour show with him and the Jazz Ensemble, and then they’ll get to do a little clinic with him as well.” 

Scottish folk group Talisk will perform on Feb. 17, and Malak said he wouldn’t be surprised if people started dancing during the concert. 

“I got to see them perform a little 15 minute show at a showcase at a (conference)…and they just blew me away,” Malak said.  

Doudna’s February events end with The Visitor, a collaboration with the Tarble Arts Center that will take place in the Black Box Theatre on Feb. 26.  

“So it’s this performance artist, and it deals with body and empty space and silence and some of the uneasiness that we all feel around some of those things,” Malak said. “And I thought it was really timely given this past couple of years with isolation…so I thought it’d be a great piece to bring in and so did our Jennifer Seas, the director of Tarble who I worked with on it.” 

One of the planned events, an Electronic Music Concert put on by the music department, was canceled due to COVID concerns, Malak said. 

However, Malak doesn’t anticipate other events being canceled. 

“From what I’m hearing on my end of things with the groups that we’re bringing in, the touring artists, I haven’t heard any kind of ‘Hey, this might happen,’ so I think we’re good to go as planned still,” Malak said.  

Eastern’s music department will also be busy in February, with a Wind Symphony performance on Feb. 18, a Choral Ensemble Concert on Feb. 20, a Jazz Combos Concert on Feb. 24 and a Symphony Orchestra performance on Feb 27. 

The Tarble Arts Center is also hosting multiple events during February, including “Art Speaks!” with Rafael Vera and the Spring 2022 Opening Reception. 

Vera will also be the artist-in-residence from Feb. 14 to 18, where visitors can observe his work with Eastern students.

Ryan Meyer can be contacted at 581-2812 or at rameyer.eiu.edu.