Jazz
Jazz programs at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity have provided one of the most important training grounds in the world for improvising jazz musicians and composers. For a few weeks each summer, the International Jazz Workshop and Jazz Orchestra Workshop have brought leading performers and composers together with younger emerging artists in an intense program of master classes, ensemble playing, discussion, and experimentation. The impact has been felt around the world: Banff jazz alumni have achieved prominence in Canada, the United States, and Europe, and an international network of alumni has fostered exciting musical developments in many countries. Alumni continue to assume positions of leadership in the creative music community worldwide.
In less than 25 years the summer workshop grew from a daring, all-Canadian experiment in jazz education to a mature, internationally-acclaimed program at the leading edge of developments in jazz.
Learn more about the history of Jazz at Banff Centre here.
I have long admired the program, the most prestigious workshop of its kind. Among the program’s many strengths are its top-notch faculty and students, its intensive nature, and its decades-long influence on the worldwide network of creative musicians. I will strive to live up to this legacy as the program's new director, and I will work hard to maintain its high quality and sustain its impact on the vanguard of the field.
Vijay Iyer, director, Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music
