About Us
History
The Guelph Jazz Festival was founded in 1994 by a small group of friends who shared a love of jazz and a commitment to the community of Guelph. A three-time recipient of the Lieutenant Governor's Award for the Arts (2001, 2000 & 1997), the Festival has consistently garnered high praise from international jazz critics for presenting the most compelling and innovative accomplishments in jazz and creative improvised music.
At the same time, we have maintained our commitment to the community through affordable ticket prices and free events.
During our 14-year history we've constantly expanded our offerings to include educational community workshops, a Jazz in the Schools Program, selected winter programming, and the launch of our own recording label IntrepidEar.
The festival has long sponsored a colloquium examining jazz within a cultural context, a dynamic forum that has given fruit to an important new book on improvisation The Other Side of Nowhere: Jazz, Improvisation, and Communities in Dialogue.
In 2000 we commissioned our first original work, Passages, a multi-media jazz opera. In 2003 we commissioned our second jazz opera, Québécité, a multi-cultural romance with music by D.D. Jackson and libretto by George Elliott Clarke. In 2004 the Festival commissioned a fairy tale, In Place of Wishes, for children of all ages, written by Robert Pennee with improvised music provided live onstage by five musicians.
Instant Composers Pool (ICP) Orchestra
With the playfully volatile and oft-contradictory duo of Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink at its core for more than 40 years, ICP is now a long-established 10-piece ensemble that features several of the most original voices in creative music. The ICP Orchestra is a radical band at the peak of its powers and brimming with outrageous (and outrageously varied) soloists.
