COMING TO THE SAMMONS CENTER: Roger Boykin Presents the Heritage String Quartette

On Sunday, June 25 at 3:00 PM, Dallas composer and musician and past Sammons Jazz Artistic Director Roger Boykin will present the newly-formed Heritage String Quartette in their debut concert at the Sammons Center for the Arts featuring compositions written by Roger himself. The event features four young string players from the DFW Area, all of whom are former students at the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts where Boykin taught for 16 years.

The compositions to be performed were composed by Boykin during the period from March 2020 through December 2022 when the world was gripped by the Covid-19 pandemic, which limited public performances by musicians and artists throughout the world.  The upcoming concert is labeled “The Covid Quartets.”  Boykin turned his talents to composing music rather than playing music and composed more than 40 string quartets during the three years of Covid-19.  A number of these will be performed by the quartet at this event, followed by a set of jazz standards featuring Boykin’s trio.

Roger Boykin served from 1996 to 1999 as the second artistic director of Sammons Jazz, further elevating the series to premier status. He studied orchestration and arranging at Bishop College, the University of North Texas, and San Francisco State College and has had compositions performed by the Dallas Wind Symphony, The Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and numerous jazz groups. Named Sammons Jazz Artist of the Year in 1999, Roger’s versatility as a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, author, and publisher is matched by his dedication to the arts as a longtime educator and mentor to young musicians.