{"id":509720,"date":"2026-10-27T17:46:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T17:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/509720\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T17:46:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T17:46:13","slug":"jason-mraz-and-thornton-students-whip-up-an-intimate-joyous-afternoon-concert-annenberg-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/509720\/","title":{"rendered":"Jason Mraz and Thornton students whip up an intimate, joyous afternoon concert \u2013 Annenberg Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAll right, let\u2019s make some noise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Mraz sang a string of \u201coh, oh, ohs\u201d into the sunny lobby of Los Altos Apartments. The audience sent them floating back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWoah, yeah,\u201d he sang. \u201cWoah, yeah,\u201d the room answered. Then came \u201clover, lover, lover,\u201d followed by a tumbling trail of la-la-las, li-li-lis and something sillier at every turn.<\/p>\n

Wherever Mraz let the melody wander, the audience followed, all the way to a mischievous \u201cmwahahaha.\u201d The finale of \u201cI\u2019m Yours\u201d had been improvised into a harmonious singalong with the whole room chiming in to the familiar melody.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re never gonna stop doing what you love,\u201d Mraz said between songs. \u201cIf it\u2019s writing songs, playing music, promoting music, putting on shows, collaborating with your friends, that never goes away. So enjoy, get really good at it now, so you can own it then, and you can really create from a powerful foundation for when you get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JasonJason Mraz, right, performs with Cass Sabota, a choral music major at USC\u2019s Thornton School of Music, at Los Altos Apartments in Los Angeles on Oct. 17, 2026. (Photo by Lara Graves) <\/p>\n

The Oct. 17 benefit concert, produced by five music industry majors, brought the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter together with Thornton singers, string players and a jazz trio. The performance came ahead of Mraz\u2019s Asia tour, scheduled to begin Oct. 27 in Manila. The show was part of an assignment for the Live Music Production and Promotion class at USC\u2019s Thornton School of Music.<\/p>\n

Juniors Carter Murphy, Avery Gross, Oliver Aminoff and Walter Burkley, alongside senior Lucas Mortimer, handled everything from booking talent and finding a venue to selling tickets and coordinating production.<\/p>\n

They called themselves WALOC Collective, borrowing the first letters of their names. Their lineup featured student openers the Wes Bozman Trio and Henry Cornell, followed by Mraz performing with Thornton musicians. The concert was a benefit for the Jason Mraz Foundation, which supports inclusive arts education, equality and food security.<\/p>\n

The Collective said one of their goals was to bring Thornton students of all genres and specializations together, which they said rarely happens, and give them a professional performance opportunity with an established artist that could boost their musical careers. In an interview with Annenberg Media before his set, Mraz said the project aligned with his interest in creating opportunities for young performers and producers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy to discredit students as professionals for music,\u201d Aminoff said. \u201cBut Jason\u2019s like, \u2018When are we going on tour?\u2019 and there\u2019s no separation between a professional musician worthy of playing on tour with Jason and these students. They\u2019re equally all at a professional level.\u201d<\/p>\n

A night earlier, in USC\u2019s music complex, the collaboration was still finding its feet at its first rehearsal.<\/p>\n

Mraz had brought avocados from his farm, a small farmers market flourish amid the rehearsing. The students had brought new arrangements of his songs, including a version of \u201cLucky\u201d with a samba pulse.<\/p>\n

\"JasonJason Mraz sings and plays acoustic guitar at Los Altos Apartments in Los Angeles on Oct. 17, 2026. (Photo by Lara Graves) <\/p>\n

For Cass Sabota, a junior studying choral music, that pulse required some quick thinking. Gross had asked her to sing the duet just two days before rehearsal. She had practiced along with the recording on Spotify, but now she needed to match Mraz\u2019s phrasing as he sang to a different rhythm.<\/p>\n

Her usual musical world involved classical choirs, carefully prepared scores and the precision of voices moving together, she said. Here, there was room to change a phrase, add a vocal flip or loop a section. Listeners could also pick out her individual voice, and the freedom to add embellishments and show character was \u201cnerve-wracking,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels a little like it\u2019s very on your toes,\u201d Sabota said. \u201cThe classical world is very strict. It\u2019s not very improvy. You come to the rehearsal having spent like five hours rehearsing this music, and you have it memorized. And this was very, \u2018Oh, let\u2019s switch this up here,\u2019 and it was nice to musically think on your toes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burkley said watching the musicians work out their parts during the rehearsal was a highlight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome to see all these musicians just in their flow state and they literally were just in a rehearsal room yesterday for two hours and they figured it out immediately,\u201d Burkley said.<\/p>\n

\"AudienceAudience members watch Henry Cornell perform in the lobby of Los Altos Apartments in Los Angeles on Oct. 17, 2026. (Photo by Lara Graves) <\/p>\n

On the show day, Sabota and Mraz\u2019s \u201cLucky\u201d duet became one of the afternoon\u2019s sweetest moments. The song\u2019s new samba sway gave a familiar melody a few playful steps, while Sabota\u2019s harmonies rose alongside Mraz\u2019s voice. A song she had spent two days listening to had become something she was helping shape.<\/p>\n

For Mraz, hearing younger musicians approach his songs was a delight in itself. In an interview with Annenberg Media before his set, he said \u201cI\u2019m Yours\u201d had acquired a different soul.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve performed the song probably a million times, and here we are today performing it in a brand new way, and it\u2019s a wonderful experience,\u201d Mraz said. \u201cIt\u2019s the fresh take because every generation is going to come at it from a completely different angle, different set of experiences \u2026 I want to constantly be surprised and turned on to new styles and music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting those new arrangements to the stage meant finding time between coursework and regular ensemble rehearsals, Murphy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou really have to want it, and so no one that is in the show is like doing this casually. It\u2019s very much like they want to participate in this because it\u2019s such a cool opportunity,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cThey practice all day, all night. Sometimes they\u2019re even part of like additional bands or choirs or groups like outside of their actual major, and like the hours they put in for this on top of all those things. I think there\u2019s grit there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gross, who approached Mraz\u2019s manager, said the producers received confirmation roughly two weeks before the concert. Mraz\u2019s upcoming Asia tour left them a narrow window to assemble the show.<\/p>\n

The group recruited student performers through friends and friends of friends. Gross said he gave Wes Bozman about a week to write the instrumental and vocal arrangements. The musicians held their formal rehearsal the night before the show, only receiving the sheet music then at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all working as fast as possible,\u201d Gross said. \u201cOrganizing and managing and making sure everyone\u2019s needs and wants are met \u2026 there\u2019s like 10 planets that are all moving, and having to put these together into one event was a challenge.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mortimer said the group accepted the opportunity before dwelling on everything that could stand in its way and figured it out as they went.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore thinking about any of the doubts, we didn\u2019t place any limits on ourselves for the show. I think if we did, it wouldn\u2019t have [happened] \u2026 a testament to the Trojan spirit,\u201d Burkley said.<\/p>\n

Burkley hoped the concert would reconnect students with music they had grown up hearing. He and Aminoff said they were still figuring out what they wanted to do after graduation. Aminoff was considering music publishing. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just love the music,\u201d Burkley said.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Annenberg Media, Mraz described music itself as his greatest reward. Earning a living from it, he said, required talent and perseverance.<\/p>\n

He also told the largely student audience about his parents\u2019 support as he pursued a music career.<\/p>\n

\"JasonJason Mraz poses with USC Thornton students at Los Altos Apartments in Los Angeles on Oct. 17, 2026. (Photo by Lara Graves) <\/p>\n

\u201cThe greatest gift my parents ever gave to me was the permission to fail,\u201d Mraz said. <\/p>\n

To Mraz, art is his way to change lives and bring people together.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can turn a blank page into something powerful \u2026 it does change the world for each and every one of us individually, but it also creates harmony and unity, and creates these gatherings and shared beliefs. And before you know it, we realize we\u2019re all the same.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAll right, let\u2019s make some noise.\u201d Jason Mraz sang a string of \u201coh, oh, ohs\u201d into the sunny…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[196565,196564,196574,196571,196562,196563,7498,196572,48,52,51,196561,47,50,49,196568,196573,196566,196560,196569,196567,196570],"class_list":["post-509720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-avery-gross","tag-carter-murphy","tag-cass-sabota","tag-henry-cornell","tag-im-yours","tag-im-yours-jason-mraz","tag-jason-mraz","tag-jason-mraz-foundation","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lara-graves","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-lucas-mortimer","tag-lucky-jason-mraz","tag-oliver-aminoff","tag-usc-thornton","tag-waloc-collective","tag-walter-burkley","tag-wes-bozman-trio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}