Detroit, MI (January 11, 2006) - On Monday, January 16, 2006, Delta Omicron Professional Music Fraternity and Wayne Sta! ! te University’s Department of Music will present the Twelfth Annual African American Composers Concert at 3:00 PM in the Schaver Music Recital Hall of the Old Main Building at Wayne State University. Admission is complimentary. For additional information, call (313) 577-1795 or visit www.music.wayne.edu.

The concert is held in the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and celebrates African American culture through music. Thornetta Dav! ! is and the Dennis J. Tini and Chris Collins Duo will be this year’s featured artists. Thornetta Davis, native Detroit singer, songwriter, recording artist and actress has performed in many well-known events such as Lillith Fair and the VH1 Vogue fashion awards and has opened for such legendary artists such as Ray Charles, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight and Bonnie Raitt, among others. Dennis J. Tini, jazz pianist and Distinguished Professor of the WSU Department of Music has performed with the Detroit Symphony, Buddy Rich, the Dennis Tini Quartet, Jon Faddis, the Brazeal Dennard Chorale, J.C. Heard, Don Ellis, Bunky Green and Marvin Stamm, among others. The event will also include many student soloists and ensembles performing music containing a variety of styles written by African American composers.

The Delta Theta Chapter of Delta Omicron Professional Music Fraternity has organized the concert, with the sponsorship of the WSU Department of Music, for eleven years. Starting as a student recital, the concert has grown over the years to feature performers such as Marcus Belgrave, jazz trumpet master, and vocalist Celeste Headlee, granddaughter of renowned composer William Grant Still. In 2002, the Delta Theta Chapter received two awards from the Professional Fraternity Associat! ! ion: the Outstanding Community Service Award and the Outstanding Professional Program Award. The latter was awarded for the chapter’s organization of the African American Composers Concert.

Located in the heart of the Detroit’s Midtown Cultural Center, the Wayne State University Department of Music is celebrating 87 years of artistic and academic excellence. The department’s faculty includes renowned jazz artists, composers, and members of the internationally acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra. WSU alumni have gone onto careers in distinguished orchestras, ensembles, and as soloists and music educators the world over.

For more information, please contact the Delta Theta Chapter at www.geocities.com/delta_theta_wsu.