WHEN people tell Vita West Muir that they don’t know anything about jazz, she tells them, “There isn’t anything to know — you just have to listen.”
Ms. Muir is the executive and artistic director of Litchfield Performing Arts, which she established in 1981. Her aim to make jazz more accessible will be helped this year by the creation of common ground for the organization’s centerpieces, the Litchfield Jazz Festival and Litchfield Jazz Camp.
For the first time since its inception in 1996, the annual jazz festival, which has featured music titans like Dave Brubeck and Ray Charles, will share space with the jazz camp.
The latter was founded in 1997 as a weeklong day program for 32 students and now is host to approximately 330 residential students over four weeks.
This year, performances will be held at the festival’s new home, the Kent School, a short walk from downtown Kent, and will include notables like Bucky Pizzarelli and the Bill Henderson Quartet. Seating is available in the main stage tent, with 1,000 seats, and on the surrounding lawn.
During breaks, camp students will perform on a second, smaller stage. Ticketholders can join jazz camp students in free master classes taught during the festival by selected performers.
Ms. Muir is the executive and artistic director of Litchfield Performing Arts, which she established in 1981. Her aim to make jazz more accessible will be helped this year by the creation of common ground for the organization’s centerpieces, the Litchfield Jazz Festival and Litchfield Jazz Camp.
For the first time since its inception in 1996, the annual jazz festival, which has featured music titans like Dave Brubeck and Ray Charles, will share space with the jazz camp.
The latter was founded in 1997 as a weeklong day program for 32 students and now is host to approximately 330 residential students over four weeks.
This year, performances will be held at the festival’s new home, the Kent School, a short walk from downtown Kent, and will include notables like Bucky Pizzarelli and the Bill Henderson Quartet. Seating is available in the main stage tent, with 1,000 seats, and on the surrounding lawn.
During breaks, camp students will perform on a second, smaller stage. Ticketholders can join jazz camp students in free master classes taught during the festival by selected performers.
