by Jarrett Hoffman
To begin this season’s FUZE Series on Thursday, October 10 at 7:30 pm at E.J. Thomas Hall, Tuesday Musical will honor the memory of two local arts icons: jazz pianist and composer Pat Pace, and Ohio Ballet founder and choreographer Heinz Poll, who both passed away in 2006.
“Akron Legends of Jazz and Dance” will feature Verb Ballets and players from the Chamber Music Society of Ohio. Leading the group is flutist George Pope, who became familiar with Pace and Poll as far back as 1978, when he began teaching at the University of Akron and performing as principal flute of the Akron Symphony.
“I knew quite a lot about Pat and his amazing musicianship from the beginning,” Pope said during a telephone interview. “We did performances with him in the Akron Symphony and the University orchestra, and I had friends who studied and performed with him. He was teaching a lot of the young jazz artists of his time — pianists as well as other musicians performing with him. He was inspiring the next generation.”
Pianist Lara Downes will bring together two recent projects, one devoted to Leonard Bernstein, the other celebrating women composers, when she visits E.J. Thomas Hall in Akron on Thursday, April 18 at 7:30 pm as part of 
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