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Friday, February 8, 2013 • 7:30 p.m. EIU Jazz Festival Dvorak Concert Hall $15 general/ $12 EIU Employees & Seniors (62+) / $7 Students

When it comes to saxophonist/vocalist/ composer/lyricist/arranger Grace Kelly, people seem to be divided into two groups: those who marvel at her proficiency, creativity and ever-accelerating growth, and those who have yet to encounter the 19-year-old wunderkind.

She’s been named one of the “Top 10 College Women in 2011” by Glamour Magazine; voted “Best Jazz Act” in Boston four consecutive years in the FNX/Phoenix Best Music Poll; received the ASCAP Foundation’s Young Jazz Composers Award in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011; and won “Jazz Artist of the Year” at the Boston Music Awards in both 2008 and 2010. The 2009, 2010 and 2011 Downbeat Critics Poll added to their list naming her one of the “Alto Saxophone Rising Stars,” the youngest ever to be named so.

Born Grace Chung, she became Grace Kelly after her mother divorced and remarried and her stepfather, Bob Kelly, legally adopted Grace and her sister Christina. The strong classical music background of her mother’s family led Grace to begin piano lessons at age 6, and she still does much of her composing at the piano as she sings wordlessly. She began to study the clarinet at her elementary school in the fourth grade, and began private saxophone lessons a few months later. Singing, dancing, writing songs and theater were also early passions.

Since age 12, Grace has performed more than 500 concerts as a leader all around the world at prominent venues such as the Montreal Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Apollo Theater, Birdland and many more, and in venues as far away as Europe and Asia.

Grace began attending Berklee College of Music on full scholarship at age 16. She graduated in December 2011 at age 19.