Skip to Main Content

School of Music College of Art & Letters

Support Page Content

Winter Jazz Festival - December 9, 2023

The Sacramento State Winter Jazz Festival, held on the Sacramento State campus, is open to Elementary School, Middle School, High School, and Colleges. The Festival includes jazz bands, vocal jazz ensembles, and jazz combos, and is a non-competitive, educational event with no scoring, no ranking of ensembles, and no awards or trophies involved.

Festival Format

Each group will spend 45 minutes with a single clinician. Clinicians will critique your prepared charts with the option of spending a portion of the clinic teaching your group a jazz composition totally by ear, focusing upon aural training and improvisation. If you have nothing prepared to bring to The Winter Jazz Festival, you can have your clinician introduce your ensemble to a selection of your choice (bring scores and parts with you) or spend your entire session on aural training and improvisation.

Winter Jazz orchestra performance at Sac State

Registration Information

Online registration for the Sacramento State Winter Jazz Festival will contiune until November 1, or until we fill up. Registration fees are $350 for the first ensemble per school and $300 for each additional ensemble, and are due two weeks after the application is submitted online.

UPDATE: SEPT. 18 - THE FESTIVAL IS FULL, REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED

Registration fee checks should be made out to: Sacramento State Jazz Club and mailed to:

Sacramento State School of Music
ATTN: Gaw Vang Williams
6000 J Street • MS 6015
Sacramento, CA 95819

Schedule and Tickets

General admission to the Jazz Festival for the public is $15 and is valid all day. Tickets will be sold onsite (as wristbands) at Capistrano Hall and the University Union. Don't miss the closing concert in the University Ballroom at 7:00pm, featuring the Sac State Jazz Ensembles with guest artist (TBA).

PLEASE NOTE: all visitors to campus have to follow campus protocols in effect at the time of the event, which may include masks and/or social distancing protocols. The Festival Directors will reach out to all band directors with information closer to the Festival.