Episcopal Academy Students To Perform At Berklee Jazz Festival

NEWTOWN SQUARE, PA – Student musicians from a Newtown Square school are heading to Boston in February where they will participate in a massive high school jazz festival at the nation's premier music-education institution.

High school musicians attending Episcopal Academy in Newtown Square will visit Berklee College of Music in Boston to participate in the 50th annual Berklee High School Jazz Festival.

The festival will be held from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 10 at the Hynes Convention center.

The largest high school jazz competition in the nation, this year's event will feature more than 3,000 high schoolers from 215 band and vocal ensembles from 13 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

And they all have a chance to win $175,000 in scholarships to various Berklee summer programs.

Throughout the day, all ensembles will be adjudicated by a panel of Berklee’s top faculty and receive a written critique of their performances. Top-ranked ensembles will be awarded partial scholarships to Berklee’s Five Week Summer Performance Program, and individual students are invited to audition for tuition scholarships towards the full-time program or the Five Week Summer Performance Program.

The 50th festival will honor premier modern jazz pianist and bandleader Ellis Marsalis and feature performances or workshops by National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Masters Ellis Marsalis and Delfeayo Marsalis B.M. '89 in addition to workshops by jazz groups 7th Degree and House of Waters, a performance by the Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra, and an awards presentation honoring high school ensembles, singers, composers, musicians, and educators.

Good luck to the Episcopal Academy musicians!

Image by dlohner, via Pixabay