Triple Couple Concert

About this event

TICKETS are $20 General/$10 Student. Concert is one long set, and ends around 9:00 pm.

A Special 20th Anniversary Concert!

We present a special concert celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Merrimans’ Playhouse, bringing back together three couples who have performed together throughout the years. This special evening celebrates their shared love of jazz and the connections they have built through music, friendship, and family.

Monika Herzig - piano

Peter Kienle - guitar

Rich Cohen - saxophone

Susan Merriman - vocals

Mary Merriman - bass

Stephen Merriman - drums

Jazz pianist Monika Herzig has completed her Doctorate in Music Education with minor fields in Jazz Studies at Indiana University, where she is now a faculty member in Arts Administration. She is the author of “David Baker – A Legacy in Music” (IU Press), and Experiencing Chick Corea: A Listener’s Companion (Rowman and Littlefield, 2017). She is also the head of the research committee for the Jazz Education Network and editor of JAZZ (Jazz Education in Research and Practice, IU Press).

Groups under her leadership have toured the world and opened for acts such as Tower of Power, Sting, Dixie Dregs and more. Her awards include a 1994 Down Beat Magazine Award for Best Original Song, a Jazz Journalist Association Hero 2015 award, as well as grants from the NEA, the Indiana Arts Commission, MEIEA, Jazz Tours, the US Embassy among others. Her newest project “SHEROES” features the world’s leading female jazz instrumentalists and was recently featured on NPR’s Here and Now as well as cited as one of the best releases of 2018 in DownBeat Magazine, placing #31 on the year-end Jazz Week Charts. Thomas Garner from Garageradio.com writes, “I was totally awed by the fine musicianship throughout” . The group was the featured guest at Egypt’s Jazz Tales Festival followed by a tour of Europe’s most prestigious jazz clubs including Vienna’s Porgy & Bess and Munich’s Unterfahrt. Monika is a CASIO Artist. https://monikaherzig.com/

Born, raised and having spent the first 28 years of his life in Germany, Peter Kienle picked up a guitar for the first time at age 14. Early on he taught himself to read and compose music. Starting out learning some of the folk music of the day, he soon gravitated towards classical guitar, especially J. S. Bach, and then Brazilian Bossa Nova. After his first jam session with a band, his interest shifted towards jazz and improvised music, which lead to studies at Jazz School Munich in 1978. Until relocating to the US in 1988 he taught guitar at various public and private music schools.

In the United States he established himself quickly as a capable sideman on guitar and electric bass while teaching a small group of private students and picking up studio work as musician and engineer. Together with his wife Monika Herzig he led the fusion group BeebleBrox until 2002. He has written over 100 works for classical guitar and about 1200 compositions for his various groups which include Kwyjibo, Splinter Group, Nutpicker and most recently The Time Flies.

Saxophonist Rich Cohen , originally from the east coast, relocated to the midwest for postdoctoral work in Physics at Notre Dame. Having been bitten by the jazz bug at an early age, Rich’s avocation has always been music, while his day job morphed from teaching Physics to developing help systems for software applications. Since relocating to the Indy area, Rich has continued to hone his musical craft, working with a number of established jazz artists such as Rob Dixon, Everett Greene and Clifford Ratliff. Rich is a member of the Indy-based latin jazz group Pavel & Direct Contact and is an in-demand sax player on the Indy scene. Rich lives in Carmel with his wife Susan Merriman.

Born and raised in South Bend, Indiana, Susan Merriman grew up in a musical family and started singing harmony with her two older sisters at the tender age of five. She has since developed a love and affinity for the American song book through her work in musical theatre. Susan has performed with a variety of jazz combo groups in clubs and festivals throughout Indiana, and most recently formed the vocal/guitar duo Comfort Zone that performs classic 70's and 80's soft rock in the Indy area. Susan lives in Carmel with her husband Rich Cohen.

Stephen Merriman , a native of South Bend, has been playing professionally since 1978 and has worked in a variety of musical genres, from reggae and rock to jazz, in the Pacific Northwest, Canada, New York City, San Diego, and Boulder, Colorado. Stephen has been playing the drums since he was a little kid; it has always been his artistic drive. Some of his credits include the Boulder Jazz Improvisation Group, Chiaroscuro, and the piano and drum duo The Great Leap, based in New York City. Since returning to South Bend, Stephen has focused solely on jazz and has played with the jazz groups Random Elements, Apogeebop, and currently The Merrimans. Stephen is also a piano technician and tuner. Together, Stephen and Mary own and operate Merrimuse Enterprises, LLC (DBA Merrimans’ Complete Piano Service), which includes their piano service business. Stephen's journey to discover the music of his passion, the art of jazz, has taken him exploring all over the country, but he now focuses on nurturing this art form in his hometown through Merrimans' Playhouse.

Mary Merriman began playing bass in orchestra alongside playing alto saxophone during her early school years, and electric bass in jazz band during middle school. She then discovered the philosophy of jazz during her high school years, sitting in as the bassist at Central Michigan University with an improvisational jazz studio class, Studio Twelve , directed by Dr. Robert Hays, and has been in love with it ever since. Her inspiration from Dr. Hays' jazz philosophy lectures has influenced her contributions to operating Merrimans' Playhouse alongside Stephen. She focused on the double bass, performing and studying with orchestras and various jazz ensembles during high school, college, and her professional years in science careers. She has worked in research in the biological sciences as well as being a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant. Although she pursued other degrees and careers in the sciences, the bass remained a vital part of her life. She now operates Merrimans’ Playhouse with her husband Stephen, hosting jazz performances and Open Sessions, while continuing to explore and perform as a jazz bassist.

Concerts and events made possible, in part, with support from the Wells Fargo Philanthropic Services Private Trust Foundations, which include grants from the Stanley A. and Flora P. Clark Memorial Community Trust Foundation, the John, Anna, and Martha Jane Fields Memorial Trust Foundation, the Muessel Ellison Memorial Trust Foundation, and the Florence V. Carroll Charitable Trust. Special concert event support provided by the Arts Midwest Grow, Invest, Gather (GIG) Fund grant. Activities are made possible in part by the Arts Organization Support (AOS), Indiana Arts Commission, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Concerts and events made possible, in part, with support from The Esther and George Jaruga Charitable Foundation (2020-2023 seasons). The Student and Home Grown Series concerts made possible, in part, with support from the ArtsEverywhere Grant from the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, and the Arts Project Support Grant and the Arts Recovery Grant through the Indiana Arts Commission.