DETROIT (Nov. 8, 2011) - In cooperation with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Wayne State University Department of Music announces the next event in the Mondays at the Max with Wayne State concert series, which features premier WSU student ensembles at the Max M. Fisher Music Center. On Monday, Nov. 14, Big Band, the premier jazz ensemble conducted by Prof. Christopher Collins will pay tribute to Matt Michaels, who passed away on November 2, at 79.

Co-founder of Jazz Studies at Wayne State and director of the program from its inception in 1979 until 2006, Michaels was a treasured teacher to countless students, and a legendary pianist and arranger. This concert will raise money for the Matt Michaels Jazz Endowment, which will fund student concert tours and the Wayne State jazz guest artist series. Contributions can also be made at www.music.wayne.edu.

Guest artists at the Nov. 14 concert include John Trudell, Dwight Adams, Rob Pipho, Russell Miller, Dan Pliskow, Cliff Monear, Jerry McKenzie, Bob Mojica and Ron Kischuk of Detroit, and Emanuele Cisi and Fabio Giachino of Torino, Italy.

Tickets are available at the DSO box office: $15 for adults, $10 for students, and $5 for WSU students (with OneCard). Friends of Music and DSO Civic Youth Ensemble Families receive a 50 percent discount. Discounted tickets must be purchased at DSO box office. Regularly priced tickets are available at www.dso.org or by calling 313-576-5111.

Other Mondays at the Max with Wayne State concerts this fall:

• Dec. 5 • Choral Showcase, Norah Duncan, Ann Marie Koukios and Scott Hanoian, conductors • Seasonal music and    Haydn's "Lord Nelson" Mass
• Dec. 12 • Chamber Winds and Orchestra, Douglas Bianchi and Kypros Markou, conductors • Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Winds, featuring pianist Robert Conway; and Chadwick's Jubilee and Noël

All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Music Box.

Founded in 1918, the Wayne State University Department of Music cultivates music as a contemporary and global art, grounded in a long historical tradition, by combining higher education with professional training and experience for its undergraduate and graduate/professional students. Building on the strengths of its geographic and cultural setting, the department maintains public access to its performances and degree programs, high-level professional and academic standards, and unique creative and scholarly opportunities appropriate to a large research university, and cultivates a deep aesthetic understanding of music in students and the larger urban arts community.