Surrey Schools International Jazz Festival back by popular demand for 42nd year
The Grandview Heights Secondary Senior Jazz Band performs at last year's Surrey Schools International Jazz Festival. This year's festival runs Friday, Feb. 23 and Saturday Feb. 24, featuring 2,142 students from across the district and beyond.
The halls of Sullivan Heights Secondary will soon be filled with jazz as 2,142 students from across the district and beyond showcase their musical prowess at the 42nd annual Surrey Schools International Jazz Festival on Friday, Feb. 23 and Saturday, Feb. 24.
Surrey Schools continues to host the longest-running educational jazz festival in Canada, which is only growing in numbers by the year. Arts education helping teacher Tricia Liversidge said this year’s festival schedule is packed, with musical and vocal jazz bands, ensembles and combos performing morning, noon and night on four stages at the Bell Performing Arts Centre and other spaces in Sullivan Heights.
“I am so impressed by the number of combos that are registering, that tells me there are some super keen kids that are doing their own musical endeavours outside of the regular classes and creating opportunities for themselves,” she said. “It’s encouraging that there is a want for this festival – we’re still in a growth phase and that’s quite amazing.”
Students from 17 Surrey secondary schools will perform during the two-day event, including groups from Clayton Heights, Elgin Park, Enver Creek, Fleetwood Park, Frank Hurt, Grandview Heights, Guildford Park, Johnston Heights, L.A. Matheson, Lord Tweedsmuir, North Surrey, École Panorama Ridge, Queen Elizabeth, École Salish, Semiahmoo, Sullivan Heights and Tamanawis.
With additional jazz bands and music classes coming from neighbouring Lower Mainland communities and parts of Vancouver Island, Liversidge said she’s heartened to see students connect with music-minded peers from other schools and watch each other perform.
“It’s wonderful when we can have any opportunity for our students to see each other,” she said. “It’s just amplified when we have schools from outside our district – it’s great to know that similar programs are happening in so many different schools and we’re able to create this kind of excitement around it.”
For four decades, the Surrey Schools International Jazz Festival has offered a stage for students to perform for an audience, and has even inspired an offshoot performance space nearby. Last year, Tamanawis alumnus and longtime festival volunteer Harmeet Virdee started Surrey Jazz Nights, a monthly jazz series for music students to perform at the Blenz Coffee in Sullivan Heights. (Details are available on Instagram at @surreyjazznights)
“She’s been inviting some of the combos from Surrey Schools to come and play for an audience one evening,” said Liversidge. “That’s really encouraging because it shows the excitement is beyond our festival, it’s created other opportunities for people to perform and share their interest in music.”
This year's festival is sponsored by Long & McQuade, Tom Lee Music, Vancouver Backline Services, Global BC, CKNW, the Bell Performing Arts Centre, Gallacher Investments Inc., Lyle Singular, Matterhorn Music, Peninsula Arts Foundation, Tapestry Music, the Surrey Now-Leader, Vancouver Community College, the VSO School of Music and Winner’s Circle Trophies.
The festival takes place at four performance venues at Sullivan Heights Secondary: The Bell Performing Arts Centre theatre, the library, the small gym and the multipurpose room.
The Bell Performing Arts Centre is located at 6250 144 St. For more information, including the Friday and Saturday performance schedules, visit surreyschools.ca/jazzfestival
