Nevada Arts Council

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Eugene Shapiro

City of residence: Henderson
  • Music
Tracks: Community, Creative Aging, Education
Program Types: Classes, Community Building/Community Art, Conference, Event, Family Friendly, Festival, Performance, Professional Development, Reception, Residency, Virtual Event, Workshop, Webinar
Audiences: Grades K-5 (Elementary School), Grades 6-8 (Middle School), Grades 9-12 (High School), Young Adult (18-26), Adult, Older Adult (50+), Individuals with Special Needs/Disabilities, ESL/ELL, Culturally Competent (BIPOC, LBGTIA+, Indigenous), Military and Veterans
Capacity: 30
Venues: Business, Community Facility, Concert Hall, Convention Center, Creative Space, Event Space, Festival, Gallery, Health Care Facility, Higher Education, Historical Venue, Hotel, Justice Facility, Museum, Resort, Restaurant or Bar, School, Senior Center, Theater
Willing to Travel: Southern Nevada, Clark County, Lincoln County, Nye County, Esmeralda County, White Pine County, Mineral County

Eugene Shapiro is a jazz guitarist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and educator. He holds a master’s degree in jazz studies from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and teaches music for the Community College of Southern Nevada and the Nevada State College. Shapiro has been a Nevada Arts Council teaching artist for more than eight years, participating in such teaching projects as creative aging guitar classes, jazz residencies at the Clark County School District’s middle and high schools, and community presentations on the history of jazz.

Shapiro also leads a Las Vegas based jazz quartet called the Shapiro Project. The Shapiro Project has three albums to their credit with his original compositions. Eugene Shapiro and the Shapiro Project have appeared at many music and jazz festivals, including Spirit of Music Festival in San Francisco, California; Lionel Hampton Jazz festival in Moscow, Idaho; Fremont Street Jazz Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the International Association of Jazz Educators Conference in Los Angeles, California. Shapiro is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. He has received numerous awards from the Nevada Arts Council, ASCAP Pop awards and an honorable mention in the Billboard Songwriting Contest. He has shared the stage with such renowned jazz musicians and composers as Michel Legrand, Walt Weiskopf, Carl Fontana, Jiggs Wigham, Art Van Damme, Ed Soph, Stefan Karlsson, and Tom Warrington.

Shapiro is endorsed by the Thomastik-Infeld Strings and by Martin Guitar.

A smiling man with short hair and a beard is wearing a maroon shirt, standing in front of an orange wall with white geometric lines.

School & Community Workshops

Creative Aging Guitar Classes: Series of workshops that teach beginning guitar to seniors and veterans in a fun, easy, and enjoyable way for those who always wanted to learn the basics of guitar but never had an opportunity. An excellent way to learn the guitar and socialize at the same time.

Jazz Residencies at CCSD’s Middle and High Schools: Jazz residencies with hands-on experience of playing and improvising jazz for middle and high school jazz bands’ students and their band directors. Extremely helpful in teaching young musicians how to improvise jazz and presenting ideas that can be implemented by their band directors after the residency is over.

Community Presentations on the History of Jazz: Fun and entertaining lecture/presentation/playing demonstration of the history of jazz from its beginning in Dixieland and wwing, to bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop, all the way to jazz-rock/fusion. Brief history on the development of jazz, the true original American art form, with exciting demonstrations of most popular jazz tunes, such as Take The A Train, Take Five, The Preacher, Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, Birdland, and many others.

Eugene Shapiro’s Work

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*The information provided within this Artists Directory is for informational purposes. The Nevada Arts Council is not responsible for the actions of individuals or companies in the directory. The Nevada Arts Council is not a provider or contractor for individuals on the directory. Information listed may not constitute the most up-to-date information. This website contains links to other third-party websites. Such links are only for the user's convenience. The Nevada Arts Council does not endorse the contents of the individuals, companies, or third parties in the directory.