MOUNT VERNON – The Woodward Opera House is offering a sweet treat and perfect date night for Valentine’s Day this year: a performance by the Knox Community Jazz Orchestra, featuring big-band classics with an emphasis, of course, on love.
The concert, titled “In the Mood (for Love),” begins at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 14. Tickets are available at the door or through the Woodward’s website.
To further sweeten the evening, cookies will be provided by Birds of a Feather Bake Shop and Boutique, which is co-sponsoring the concert. Coffee and tea will also be available.
“We can promise wonderful music that’s great for both listening and dancing, and the Woodward’s dance floor will be open for anyone so moved,” said Ted Buehrer, the band’s leader and a professor of music at Kenyon College.
“We’ll also be featuring a gifted young vocalist, Benjamin Priestland, who has sung with us before.”
Dena Hess, managing director of the Woodward Opera House, said, “We’re delighted to once again present the jazz orchestra. The Woodward is a great venue for this talented local group. We make an effort to keep our theater available to local talent, and the KCJO fits into our mission perfectly.”
A sweet treat
The program will include perennial favorites like Irving Berlin’s “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm,” Richard Rodgers’s “My Funny Valentine,” Jerome Kerns’ “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” and Isham Jones’ “It Had to Be You.”
Priestland, a junior at Kenyon College, will sing “Fly Me to the Moon,” in the version made famous by Frank Sinatra and the Count Basie Orchestra in 1964. He will also sing the George and Ira Gershwin classic, “Our Love Is Here to Stay.”
Priestland last performed with the jazz orchestra in its November 2025 concert benefiting Food for the Hungry Knox County.
Buehrer, who also plays trumpet with the group, founded the Knox Community Jazz Orchestra in 2017. Since then, the 20-member ensemble – which includes a number of local music educators – has won a devoted following with its ever-expanding repertoire of big band numbers, from Swing Era classics to pieces from the jazz scene in later years.
The big band regularly plays at Ariel-Foundation Park, the Woodward Opera House, and other local venues.
For more information and to buy tickets online, visit the Woodward Opera House website.
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