No matter what you’re looking for at this year’s TD Victoria International JazzFest, there’s a little of everything to please music lovers across the spectrum.
The Victoria Jazz Society’s 36th annual festival, with over 80 performances planned for between June 21-30 on eight different stages downtown, is preparing to launch ticket sales for single shows and full festival passes this Friday (April 12).
Ticketed events at the Royal Theatre and McPherson Playhouse in the festival’s Marquee Series feature such jazz heavyweights as Raul Midón and Lionel Loueke, Jesse Cook, Laila Biali and Grammy Award winner -ionel Porter (click link below), while nightly Presentation Series events at the reinstated Hermann’s Jazz Club – now with two separate stages – offer an even wider range of performers, both local and visiting artists.
With another raft of free daily concerts in Centennial Square, including a new extended performance day June 22, plus a series of free clinics and the weekend Late Night Open Jam Sessions at Hermann’s, festival organizers are reaching out musically to the entire community.
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Vancouver Island’s longest-running multi-day professional music festival continues to have a major impact as an economic driver in the region. With an operating budget of $1 million, this year’s events are estimated to generate an economic impact of more than $5.5 million, with projected total audience figures of over 40,000.
The addition once again of Hermann’s, in the wake of last year’s operations crisis there, returns to the festival a prime downtown venue. Presentation Series events at the downstairs portion of the club will feature, among other acts, the Marquis Hill Blacktet, Jacqui Naylor Quartet, Joe Magnarelli Quintet, The Heavyweights Brass Band, Amina Figarova Sextet, Maureen Washington and more. The newly created Hermann’s Upstairs venue features shows from Dominique Fils-Aimé, Makaya McCraven, Thus Owls and The Shuffle Demons.
The free concerts in the Square are highlighted by performances from Monterey Jazz Festival Next Generation Jazz Orchestra and Naden’s RCN Pacific Blue Big Band. The seven performances on June 22 will include sets by Victoria’s Astrocolor and Naughty Professor.
You’ll be able to find the complete festival lineup, ticket and schedule information online starting Friday at jazzvictoria.ca. Printed festival program guides will be available at various locations around town as of April 29.
