Next Generation Jazz Festival Presented by Monterey Jazz Festival Now Accepting Applications from Student Big Bands, Combos, Vocal Ensembles, Composers, Individual Musicians
October 29, 2012; Monterey, CA; Monterey Jazz Festival, a leader in jazz education since its inception in 1958, is pleased to announce the 9th Annual Next Generation Jazz Festival Presented by Monterey Jazz Festival, featuring the nation’s most talented middle school, high school, conglomerate school, and college jazz musicians and vocalists. The Next Generation Jazz Festival will take place in historic downtown Monterey from April 5 – 7, 2013.
Major funding for the Next Generation Jazz Festival comes from the Surdna Foundation and generous individuals.
Now in its ninth successful year the Next Generation Jazz Festival evolved initially from Monterey Jazz Festival’s California High School Jazz Competition, started in 1971. Now named the Next Generation Jazz Festival Presented by Monterey Jazz Festival, the weekend salute to the future of jazz has expanded to include middle school, conglomerate school, and college level musicians and vocalists.
The Next Generation Jazz Festival is now accepting applications from middle school, high school, and college big bands; from high school and college level conglomerate bands; from open combos; and from high school combos and vocal jazz ensembles through January 18, 2013. Application forms may be downloaded at the Monterey Jazz Festival’s website, www.montereyjazzfestival.org. The application process is free of charge, as is participation in the prestigious event.
Next Generation Jazz Festival finalists are selected through recorded auditions reviewed and ranked by faculty from the Berklee College of Music, and will include 12 big bands, six combos, and eight vocal ensembles in the High School Division. Six college-level big bands and six college vocal ensembles will also be selected, in addition to six conglomerate and six middle school big bands, and six Open Combos. In addition, specially-invited groups will also perform. In 2012, over 60 groups from across the United States, Japan and Australia attended the Next Generation Jazz Festival.
The high school, conglomerate school, and college divisions of the Next Generation Jazz Festival are open to superior rated big bands, combos, and vocal ensembles. The top big bands, combo, and vocal ensemble will win cash awards and be invited to perform at the 56th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, September 20 – 22, 2013.
Auditions will also be held for chairs in Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, which is slated to tour at jazz venues and festivals domestically and abroad, as well as be a featured Sunday Arena performance at the Monterey Jazz Festival.
The Next Generation Jazz Festival Presented by Monterey Jazz Festival also includes a big band composition competition, open to high school composers. Judged by college faculty from leading music schools across the country, the winning composer will receive the Gerald Wilson Award and a cash prize, with the winning composition to be performed by the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra on the final day of the 56th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, Sunday, September 22, 2013, on the Jimmy Lyons Stage in the Arena.
All Next Generation Jazz Festival events and activities—from Friday night’s Kick-Off Concert, featuring Monterey Jazz Festival’s 2013 Artist-In-Residence Joe Lovano, through Saturday and Sunday’s High School Jazz Competition—are free of charge and open to the public. The Festival will also conduct clinics, workshops, jam sessions, and auditions in the heart of historic Monterey, with music to be performed at the Monterey Conference Center, as well as on auxiliary stages at the host Portola Hotel, Fisherman’s Wharf and the Museum of Monterey.
Interested schools and students should visit www.montereyjazzfestival.org for instructions on how to apply to the Next Generation Jazz Festival.
About Monterey Jazz Festival
Monterey Jazz Festival celebrates the legacy of jazz and expands the boundaries of and opportunities to experience jazz through the creative production of performances and educational programs.
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The 55th Monterey Jazz Festival partners include Alaska Airlines, Amoeba Music, Big Sur Land Trust, Carmel Road Winery, DownBeat, Gallien-Krueger, Inns of Monterey, The Jazz Cruise, JazzTimes, Jazziz, Jelly Belly, KGO 810, KUSP 88.9, Monterey Peninsula College, North Coast Brewing Company, Remo, San Jose Mercury News, Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, StreamGuys, Yamaha Instruments, and Casa Vinicola Zonin.
Monterey Jazz Festival also receives support from AT&T Foundation, Community Foundation of Monterey County, D’Addario Music Foundation, Joseph Drown Foundation, Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Fund, Harden Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, Monterey Peninsula Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, David & Lucile Packard Foundation, Pebble Beach Company Foundation, Quest Foundation, Nancy Buck Ransom Foundation, Rotary International, Union Bank Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Robert & Audrey Talbott Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, and generous individual contributors.