A concert featuring the Hope College faculty jazz ensemble with Edye Evans Hyde and guest artists Sunny Wilkinson and Ron Newman will take place at Hope College on Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 7:30 p.m. in Wichers Auditorium of Nykerk Hall of Music.

There will also be an open rehearsal in room 100 of Nykerk Hall of Music on Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 4 p.m.

The public is invited to both events.  Admission is free.

Jazz vocalist Edye Evans Hyde is an instructor of jazz at Hope, where she also directs the Gospel Choir.  She has been teaching and performing jazz, blues and pop music for more 30 years in West Michigan, Los Angeles, Asia and Europe.  In January 2013 she received a 2013 Celebration of Soul Dr. MaLinda P. Sapp Legacy Award, and in September 2011 she was named Musician of the Year by the West Michigan Jazz Society.

Hyde has shared the stage with world renowned blues singer Linda Hopkins, pop singer Michael Bolton, Maria Muldaur, actress Connie Stevens, the late Ray Charles and Cuban trumpet player, Arturol Sandoval. Her theatrical performances have included principle roles in “Dream Girls,” “Ain’t Misbehavin',” “Smokey Joe’s Café,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Blues for an Alabama Sky,” “Intimate Apparel,” “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill” and “Ragtime.”

Hyde has also appeared with The Grand Rapids Symphony and The West Shore Symphony performing songs from her acclaimed CD’s “Girl Talk,” and “Lady with A Song.” Hyde has recently released her new album, “Magic in His Eyes”

Sunny Wilkinson is a jazz vocalist with more than three decades of professional accomplishments and performances.  She has sung with music icons such as The Count Basie Orchestra, Rob McConell and the Boss Brass, Clark Terry, Mark Murphy, Milt Hinton, Curtis Fuller and many more. Her latest CD is a duo project featuring Los Angeles based pianist Tom Garvin, titled “A Gentle Time – When Sunny Meets Tom.”

Worlds Records in Los Angeles has said, “The musical empathy that is shared by these two artists is truly extraordinary…  Sunny Wilkinson is at the top of her game here. She has spent a lot of time refining her craft in the trenches and now emerges as a master songstress able to get inside of a song and find its essential emotional core.”

In addition to her performance career, Wilkinson has also made significant contributions in jazz education. She is a past president of the Michigan chapter of the International Association of Jazz Educators and past chairperson for IAJE’s Women’s Caucus.  She is also the co-founder of IAJE’s Sisters in Jazz mentoring program.  She taught at Hope during the spring 2013 semester.

Jazz pianist Ron Newman is professor of music theory at the Michigan State University College of Music.  He is former director of the award-winning MSU Jazz Bands I and II, instructor of jazz improvisation, arranging, pedagogy and history; and past president of the Michigan Chapter of the National Association of Jazz Educators.  He has also been a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Commissioning Consortium Award.

Nykerk Hall of Music is located in the central Hope campus at the former 127 E. 12th Street between College and Columbia avenues.