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Tri-C JazzFest

Tri-C JazzFest Academy

SUMMER CAMP

Summer Camp

Participants in the intensive two-week JazzFest Academy Summer Camp have opportunities to play in big band, small group and jam sessions; interact with summer JazzFest artists; and attend all performances of the Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland located at Playhouse Square. The camp culminates in a series of featured performances during JazzFest weekend on the Next Generation Stage.

Camp classes and events include:

  • Big-band and small-group rehearsals
  • Music theory and composition
  • Improvisation
  • Sectional workshops
  • Master classes with local and national artists
  • Performances at JazzFest and in the community

Ages: 8-18
Experience Level: All levels welcome*
Cost: $400
*Registered students must submit a music placement video to determine their level of playing in camp ensembles and classes.

SUMMER 2024 SCHEDULE
Length:
 2 weeks
Day/TimeMonday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Dates: June 10-21, 2024
Location: Gill and Tommy LiPuma Center for Creative Arts, Metropolitan Campus, Cleveland, Ohio
Final Performances: June 21-22, 2024
Performance Location: Next Gen Stage**, Playhouse Square, Cleveland, Ohio

**Registered student ensemble performances will be announced at the first day of camp

Click here to register.

Tri-C JazzFest Academy

The Tri-C JazzFest Academy offers performance-based programs for students ages 8 -18 at every stage of their musical development. We believe that access to the rich musical culture of jazz and improvisation creates a deep sense of creativity, discipline, teamwork, empathy, and empowers life-long curiosity and learning. The Academy’s ensembles have been featured at the Next Gen Stage at Playhouse Square, in New York City at Jazz at Lincoln Center and regularly perform throughout the Cleveland area.

The academy is led by internationally acclaimed musician and educator Dominick Farinacci, former Tri-C student and graduate of The Juilliard School, and joined by a faculty of noted artists and educators. The Tri-C JazzFest Academy and Summer Camp make up the educational division of Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland, one of America’s premier educational jazz festivals that provides unprecedented access to master classes and clinics led by the world’s most celebrated jazz artists.

Tri-C JazzFest Academy Overview

Tri-C JazzFest Academy Programs

More than 90% of 2021 and 2022 JazzFest Academy graduates continued their studies at prestigious four-year music schools, including:

  • Berklee College of Music
  • Case Western Reserve University
  • Cincinnati Conservatory of Music
  • Manhattan School of Music
  • The New School
  • Oberlin Conservatory of Music
  • The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University
  • Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music
  • University of Miami’s Frost School of Music
  • University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music

Tri-C JazzFest Academy programs primarily take place at the Gill and Tommy LiPuma Center for Creative Arts on the College’s Metropolitan Campus in downtown Cleveland.

Learn more about each Tri-C JazzFest Academy program below and register today.

We are committed to providing access to jazz education for all students. Financial aid and hardship assistance are available to those who qualify. Email jazzfestacademy@tri-c.edu for more information.

About the Gill and Tommy LiPuma Center for Creative Arts

Tommy LiPuma was one of the most successful pop and jazz producers of all time, with 36 gold and platinum records, 36 Grammy nominations and five Grammy Awards to his credit. During his 50 years in the business, he sold more than 75 million records and produced for legendary artists such as Diana Krall, Barbra Streisand, Miles Davis, Natalie Cole, George Benson, Sir Paul McCartney and Leon Russell.

Learn more about Tommy LiPuma and the Center for Creative Arts.

About the Faculty

Dominick Farinacci, Director/Trumpet

Dominick FarinacciAt 15 years old, trumpeter Dominick Farinacci enrolled in Tri-C’s Saturday jazz program. Two years later, following a visit from Wynton Marsalis and his band, he was invited to New York City to appear on PBS with Marsalis, Trombone Shorty and Brandon Lee.

The 2005 Juilliard graduate launched his career in Japan with a prolific run of eight albums, later releasing four more globally. He has performed in more than 120 cities in 14 countries. A featured speaker at the 2014 TED MED Conference in Washington, D.C., he has also appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America. As music icon Quincy Jones has said of Farinacci’s accomplishments in performance, recording, education and advocacy, “This kid is 360 degrees!” 

Today, Farinacci serves as director of the Tri-C JazzFest Academy, a year-round pre-college program housed at Cuyahoga Community College’s Gill and Tommy LiPuma Center for Creative Arts. His 2016 recording, Short Stories, was produced by four-time Grammy winner Tommy LiPuma and features Jacob Collier, Christian McBride and Steve Gadd.

As ambassador to Jazz at Lincoln in Doha, Qatar from 2013 to 2015, Farinacci worked to further integrate music into communities around the world in culturally collaborative ways.

He has also found success in his personal endeavors to bring music into the community through arts, wellness and education. Alongside U.S. Army veteran Jaymes Poling, Farinacci co-founded Modern Warrior LIVE, an immersive musical and narrative experience that details Poling’s story of combat in Afghanistan and highlights the growth that can come through experiencing trauma.

Anthony Taddeo, Drums

Anthony TaddeoAnthony Taddeo is a drummer, composer and ODP performing artist currently performing throughout Cleveland, Ohio and NYC.

Early on in his musical career he studied with world renown percussionist Jamey Haddad before moving to New York City in 2009 to further pursue his musical career at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. While studying at The Newschool, Taddeo studied with masters such as: Jimmy Cobb, Kendrick Scott, Vic Juris, George Cables and Reggie Workman. In 2011, Taddeo graduated with honors from The Newschool and immediately began performing with a wide variety of artists from all genres of music including: Dan Tepfer, Frank Wess, Ron McClure, Amber Rubarth, Dave Edgar, Lora-Faye Whelan, Joel Schmirnoff, Rachel Brotman and Charles Giordano. He has also recently performed with, Tony and Grammy award winning, Steve Kazee to sold out crowds at the legendary Birdland Jazz Club and 54 below.

Taddeo is an active composer and arranger for multiple music projects in NYC along with his own percussion experiment called “kitchen table music.” He is currently endorsed by “Out of the Drawer Percussion” as a performing artist.

Dave Sterner, Saxophone

Dave SternerDave Sterner is one of Northern Ohio’s most sought-after saxophonists and jazz educators. Sterner has spent over twenty-five years mastering his horn as a professional musician and developing a consistent model on how to teach jazz. Today, with over 120+ gigs a year, Sterner is a regular in several bands including Ernie Krivda’s Fat Tuesday Big Band and the band Red Light Roxy. Additionally, Sterner leads a trio, quartet and quintet under his own name as the venue warrants. Other groups in Northeast Ohio that Sterner performs with include The East Central Jazz Educators All Star Big Band, Park Place Entertainment, Blue Lunch Blues Band, Joe Bell & the Swing Lizards, and The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, among others.

As a recording artist and composer, Sterner has released two albums, What’s What (2006) and Sidetracked (2011) as the leader of The Dave Sterner Quintet. The quintet won the “Best Jazz Band” music award from the Cleveland Free Times Magazine, and Sterner has claimed the “Best Horn” title from the Cleveland Scene magazine. He appears as a featured soloist on all three albums from Ernie Krivda’s Fat Tuesday Big Band, Perdido (1997), The Band That Swings (1999), and Body & Soul (2006). He also appears on the N. Glenn Davis Quartet’s A Different View, the N. Glenn Davis Quintet’s Come Right In, Featuring Phil Woods and has recorded with the East Central Jazz Educators All Star Big Band, The Jazz Heritage Orchestra, and Tony Cuda’s Jazz Cats.

Sterner also free-lances with national acts performing in town, playing jazz, show tunes, blues, rock and pop music as needed. Among many others, he has performed with Tony Bennett, Harry Connick Jr., The Four Tops, Aretha Franklin, the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, David Sanborn, and Phil Woods.

As a part-time jazz faculty member at Cuyahoga Community College since 2007, Sterner has taught an array of classes that include Ear Training, Jazz Theory, Arranging, Improvisation, and Music Skills. He also directed the Lakeland Community College Jazz orchestra and co-directed the Lakeland Jazz Festival from 2008-2020. He has been a clinician for Lakeland Jazz Festival, Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland, Ashland University Jazz Festival, College of Wooster, and several local high schools.

Johnny Cochran, Saxophone

Johnny CochranA product of Oberlin Conservatory’s best and most respected musicians and a native of Cleveland’s southwest side, saxophonist Cochran was a music lover at an early age. Through his music, he aims to share his life story growing up in Cleveland.

As a child, Cochran was active in gospel music playing drums in church and singing in the choir. Later, he started playing saxophone in elementary school, which opened the door for learning about jazz. He attended Cleveland School of the Arts and Cuyahoga Community College simultaneously during high school, studying saxophone with the legendary Ernie Krivda and finding mentorship in many other local Cleveland players. While furthering his training at the Oberlin Conservatory, he has remained an active professional performing in the Cleveland area with bands such as Mojo: The Generations Big Band, The Jazz Heritage Orchestra, Ernie Krivda’s Fat Tuesday Big Band, and The Swing City Big Band.

He has had the opportunity to perform with world-renowned artists such as Clark Terry, Jimmy Heath, Sean Jones, and many others. He is also currently a member of the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Paul Ferguson. Cochran studied with Gary Bartz at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and graduated in May of 2013. In addition to the saxophone, his primary instrument, he is proficient at the piano, drums, and various woodwind instruments. In his music, Cochran creates a sound that is all his own blending modern ideas with the sounds of his upbringing.

From jazz to hip-hop, from Duke Ellington to Michael Jackson, Cochran and New Sound was formed with the idea of fusing the traditional and modern genres of music together into one setting. Each of the players in the band have their own unique voice and their own story to tell, and when they come to together – they create a sound fresh and uplifting.

Bryan Thomas, Bass

Bryan ThomasBryan Thomas is a full-time professional musician based in the fertile music community of Northeast Ohio. He comes from a background of classical and jazz bass traditions and has sought out musical interactions in as many cultures as possible. Expanding into the worlds of dance, pop, folk and Caribbean ensembles, Thomas' favorite music is any that is conversational, with both musicians and audiences involved. In addition to being a sought-after sideman for decades, Thomas is expanding his roles as an arranger, music director, composer and recording artist.

Thomas' many first-hand experiences and lessons with giants of the double bass, notably soloists Gary Karr, François Rabbath, Cleveland Orchestra bassists Anthony Knight, Scott Haigh and Mark Atherton, jazz legend Ray Brown, and great Cuban bassist Carlos del Puerto, shape his approach to the instrument. After earning his B.M. in music performance at Kent State University, he spent many years as a road musician, touring with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, as a staff musician on Norwegian Cruise Lines and as a freelance copyist and musician in Germany.

Since 1996, Thomas has been based in Northeast Ohio as a freelance musician, teacher and recording artist. Check out his recent recordings with the dynamic americana/folk/rock group Hey Mavis, singer and producer Helen Welch, and with wife and hammered dulcimer artist Tina Bergmann. Since 2000, Thomas has been an adjunct professor of double bass at Kent State University as well as maintaining a private studio for students from as young as five to current professionals. He has been on faculty at the Tri-C JazzFest Academy since 2021.

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