About Us
Staff
Ajay Heble, Artistic Director
Ajay Heble is the festival's founding and current artistic director. He is a jazz piano player, listener and author. He teaches English at the University of Guelph, and is also director of a multi-university social research project entitled Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice.
Derek Andrews, Executive Director
Also functioning as Development Director, Derek is a veteran music organizer working in Canada's music community developing the profile of jazz, blues, folk and world music. He served as interim Executive Director in 2007.
Julie Hastings, Director of Operations
Julie has been involved with the Guelph Jazz Festival since 1995 when she started out as a volunteer and subsequently became a staff member working on many aspects of the Festival. She has immensely enjoyed her experiences and associations generated during that time and is deeply appreciative that her horizons have expanded widely.
Brendan Arnott, Administrative Coordinator
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.
