The Plain Dealer profiles Terri Pontremoli, director of Tri-C JazzFest

June 16, 2017

Tri-C JazzFest Director Terri Pontremoli has had a lifelong relationship with music.

The daughter of a jazz guitarist, she studied classical music, ultimately gravitating to the violin as her instrument of choice. As a classical violinist, Pontremoli has played with the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Omaha Symphony and Fort Wayne Philharmonic, among others.

But jazz, she said, “was speaking to me always.”

Pontremoli’s impact on jazz music has not been as a musician, but as an administrator and advocate. She joined Cuyahoga Community College in 1990, working as a community outreach representative. It was a role that evolved into writing grants and raising money for jazz education in area schools.

In 2002, she began her first stint as the director of JazzFest. After several years away, she returned for a second stint in 2011.

In this weekend’s “My Cleveland” feature, published in the Sunday Plain Dealer, Pontremoli talks about her musical background and the long history of JazzFest – and what concert-goers can anticipate at next week’s 2017 edition of JazzFest, which will be held at Playhouse Square June 22-24.