Northern will be hosting Jazz Festival again this year on April 4 and 5. It will be held at Reynolds Recital Hall and will feature Ellen Rowe, a composer from the University of Michigan.

Ellen Rowe was selected as this year’s performer for a multitude of reasons, including her performing abilities, educational background and personal connections to NMU faculty. 

In addition to Rowe’s performances, middle and high school students will be coming to Northern to play and workshop with NMU faculty and other students. The students will be coming from both local and downstate schools, such as Kingsley and Roscommon. 

“It is a great opportunity to hear a lot of middle and high school jazz bands and see what they are doing – you might be surprised,” Professor and Head of the Music Department Mark Flaherty said. 

This year’s festival is spread out over two days, as opposed to the one-day event from past years. Flaherty explained this is to allow more time for students to both play and learn from each other and NMU professors. 

“I am looking forward to being able to hear a lot of performances and actually work with some of the bands this year,” Flaherty said. 

Jazz Festival has been going on at NMU for over 20 years, each year bringing many different middle and high schools and other performers. 

“I think jazz is a really important art form. It is an original American art form that really comes directly out of this country and teaches us a lot about the history of the United States,” Flaherty said. 

Tickets for both performances are available on NMU’s ticketing website. For more information, visit the Department of Music’s website.