The UVA Jazz Ensemble has become one of the more creative college big bands in the country. The group’s performances feature classic repertoire from across the spectrum of jazz history, jazz arrangements of music from diverse genres, and original compositions and arrangements by the students and the director.
Giving two major concerts a year in Old Cabell Hall, and various extra performances, the Jazz Ensemble is an extended big band that includes flutes, vocalists, and, sometimes, other instruments not normally associated with big band music.
The UVA Jazz Program focuses on developing the individual voices of our
jazz students. We follow the Duke Ellington model of how to build a jazz orchestra: allow and encourage the distinct musical personalities of the musicians to create the overall sound and direction of the music.
The Jazz Ensemble encourages its members to immerse themselves in the art form called jazz, to understand its history, and to listen, repeatedly, to the music. Jazz, and the blues from which it sprang, are both gifts from Black America to the rest of the world. Jazz gives music back to the musicians by teaching two things: 1. master musical language on your instrument, and 2. Tell your own story; “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken,” as Oscar Wilde exhorted. The UVA Jazz Ensemble avidly pursues these twin goals of expertise and creative expression.
This page will be updated 4 weeks before the concert.
Individual Tickets: $10 General Admission / $9 UVA Faculty & Staff / $5 students / Free for UVA Students who reserve in advance. Tickets are available at the UVA Arts Box Office by calling 434.924.3376, or by visiting artsboxoffice.virginia.edu. Individual tickets will also be available at the door one hour prior to the concert. UVA students need to reserve their tickets 24 hours in advance at the UVA Arts Box Office student ticket portal.
Old Cabell Hall is located on the south end of UVA's historic lawn, directly opposite the Rotunda. Parking is available in the central grounds parking garage on Emmet Street, in the C1 parking lot off McCormick Rd, and in the parking lots at the UVA Corner. Handicap parking is available in the small parking lot adjacent to Bryan Hall.
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All events are subject to change.