A partnership between Babson, Olin, and Wellesley Colleges last weekend brought the Maria Schneider Orchestra to Babson’s Sorenson Center for the Arts, where the 18-member collective of jazz geniuses brought the house down. I sat back and enjoyed the performance, not with an eye toward reviewing it, just with an ear for listening in the acoustically impressive theater. An appreciative audience braved the wind, snow, and ice to enjoy the emotional rhythms at the nearly sold out theater. Here’s hoping for more such collaboration between the three schools.

Schneider and her orchestra have received 12 Grammy nominations and 5 Grammy awards, and her album Concert in the Garden (2004) was the first recording to win a Grammy with Internet-only sales. Most recently they received a 2016 Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album Grammy for their latest work, “The Thompson Fields.”

Upcoming event at Babson: Our American Hamlet, presented by Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, March 23 – April 2

Upcoming event at Wellesley: Terra Nova, a play about the story of Captain Scott’s expedition to the South Pole in the winter of 1911-12. April 5 – 9

Ongoing event a Olin: Art work on display featuring Mary Jameson’s Living Watercolors. Jameson’s Marine Botanicals are created using seaweed and organic materials sourced from North Atlantic coastal waters. On display in the Olin Art Gallery, Milas Hall, through May 15.