JAZZ FOR SCHOOLS

Our year-round and Festival school programmes engage hundreds of young people from schools across Gloucestershire and beyond.

Friday

28 April, 12pm Concert For Schools

This year even more primary school children can discover the joy of jazz as we’re hosting our Concert for Schools in our largest Festival venue, the Big Top.

‘It was great – just the right length and a great mix of styles, facts and participation.’

Teacher, Holy Trinity Primary

Supported by

Musicate

The Festivals’ flagship music education programme brings together teachers and their pupils with early career musicians to develop creative approaches to music in the classroom, and inspire a lasting love of music.

Supported by

Jazz It Up

Come along and support our young musical talent as school and jazz bands from across the county perform at the heart of the Festival and entertain our Free Stage audience.

For more information and how to book please visit cheltenhamfestivals.com/jazz-for-schools

Jazzlabs

Family Tent

£6 Ages 6+

Kickstart your jazz improv skills with Jazzlabs. Explore the amazing world of jazz music with exciting rhythms, sounds and styles, along with fun games to encourage little ones to unleash their musical potential in a creative workshop.

EmberLight: Folk Music From Around the World

Family Tent

£6 Ages 5+

Prepare for a fabulous musical journey around the world with musicians from Birmingham’s folk scene. Enjoy different folk tunes and musical cultures from across the globe, from the sounds of the Balkans to ceilidh dancing and klezmer, to reels and jigs. You’ll discover recorders great and small, including mysterious flutes from Eastern Europe and an accordion-playing-guitarist-bassist.

J40 Bostin Brass

2–3pm

Family Tent £6

Get dancing with lively and soulful marching band Bostin Brass. Enjoy an afternoon of family fun, singing and amazing brassy antics, with sounds inspired by music from the streets of New Orleans to secondline, jazz, funk and ska.

Sunday 30 April

10.30–11.15am J41

Laura and Her Musical Explorers

Family Tent

£6 Ages 0-4

Could you be a musical explorer? Discover new and exciting musical worlds with multiinstrumentalist and early-years specialist Laura Carter in a fun, interactive adventure full of singing, dancing, musical games and feel-good songs for little ones.

12.15–1pm J42

Family Sing – with Black Voices

Family Tent

£6 All ages

Family Sing returns with two spectacular voices from supergroup Black Voices, Bev Robinson and CeCelia Wickham-Anderson. Wowing audiences around the world with their voices, Bev and CeCeclia will perform songs based on the Black oral tradition and ancient folklore of Africa and the diaspora. Bring your ears and voices for an hour of harmonies, spirituality, and gospel and African songs.

2–3pm J43

Arun Ghosh: Indo-Jazz Adventures

Family Tent

£6

Mix together indo-jazz music, rocking urban beats, a pinch of punk and a whole lot of attitude. What do you get? British-Asian clarinettist and composer Arun Ghosh brings together melodies and rhythms inspired by jazz and South Asian music. Journey through mountains, glide along rivers and uncover a world of sweetsounding stories with piano, percussion and Arun’s hypnotic clarinet.

MONDAY 1 MAY

Camilo Menjura: Landscapes of Latin America

Family Tent

£6

From groovy loop station creations to earthy tunes and traditional songs, Colombian guitarist and vocalist Camilo Menjura introduces new instruments including the cuatro and quena, along with musical surprises and sounds from across Latin America.

Family Tent

£6

Join vocal voyager Randolph Matthews for a musical explosion of jazz melodies, glottal stops and songs inspired by your name. Having collaborated with legends Herbie Hancock, Richard Bona, Grace and Will.i.am, Randolph brings a unique blend of jazz, soul and beatbox to the Family Stage. Create some amazing sounds through song, beatboxing and body percussion, along with vocal improv, electronic looping, original songs and reworkings.

Mika

Big Top

£32–£60

International pop sensation MIKA has built an unshakable career and catalogue crafting a world of gritty romance amidst the joy and playfulness of technicoloured alternative pop. He’s a renaissance artist whose name has rightfully found its way alongside legendary acts such as Elton John, Freddie Mercury and Prince, and is best known for his shimmering mega-hit Grace Kelly. MIKA has sold over 10 million records and is a certified Gold and Platinum artist in 32 countries worldwide.

7–9.45pm J29

Judith Owen

The Daffodil

£75 Ticket includes a three-course set menu and champagne cocktail on arrival. Some tables may be shared. Bar open from 6pm with dinner served at 7pm. Performance 8.30–9.45pm.

Embark on a fun-filled musical adventure with the seductive and daring Judith Owen. Born into an overtly musical Welsh family, classical music, jazz icons and Broadway musicals heavily influenced the unique style that has become her signature sound. A Ronnie Scott’s regular, comedic actress and master storyteller, Judith celebrates the unapologetic, badass ladies of 40s and 50s jazz and blues with songs from her critically acclaimed album Come on & Get It, accompanied by her New Orleans Gentlemen Callers.

7–8.15pm J13

Connor Selby

Jazz Arena

£25

Rising British star Connor Selby draws on influences ranging from Eric Clapton, Free, Van Morrison and B.B. King, but remains his own man. Connor released his self-titled album in September 2021, which immediately resonates with anyone who appreciates the soulful side of traditional blues rock. Connor’s fresh and deeply personal, introspective songwriting delivers a hard-hitting modern take on the best of the British blues boom of the 1960s.

Denny Ilett

The Daffodil

£75 Ticket includes a three-course set menu and champagne cocktail on arrival. Some tables may be shared. Bar open from 6pm with dinner served at 7pm. Performance 8.30–9.45pm.

With an authenticity seldom heard, vocalist and guitarist Denny Ilett and his trio perform an intimate and heartfelt selection of Great American Songbook classics made famous by Frank Sinatra and Nat ‘King’ Cole. Between them, Sinatra and Cole’s recorded output represents the pinnacle of jazz-infused pop music from the 1940’s through to the 60’s, including Fly Me To The Moon, Mona Lisa, I’ve Got You Under My Skin and Unforgettable at the forefront.

8.30–10.30pm