The Brubeck Festival
The Brubeck Festival is an annual event that celebrates and explores the musical, intellectual, and philosophical ideas of Dave Brubeck, as well as his influence on the world of music and ideas. The Festival features performances of jazz, contemporary concert music, lectures, and academic symposia.
In its first several years, the Festival has featured many performing organizations including the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Christian McBride Trio, Capital Jazz Project, Turtle Island String Quartet, David Grisman Quintet, Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band, SFJazz Collective, Talujon Percussion Quartet, Quartet San Francisco, Stockton Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Mozart Ensemble, Ballet NY, and many of the ensembles of Pacific’s Conservatory of Music.
Individual performing artists on past Brubeck Festivals include Dave Brubeck, Christian McBride, Bobby Militello, Michael Moore, Randy Jones, Bill Smith, Alberto Mizrahi, Kevin Deas, Jean Piche, Joshua Redman, Bobby Hutcherson, Nicholas Payton, Renee Rosness, Miguel Zenon, Eric Harland, Matt Penman, Isaac Smith, Roberta Gambarini, John Salmon, Julia Dollison, Geoff Keezer, and many others.
Symposia, lecture, and discussion topics have included music management and business, sociology and music, improvisation, civil rights, creativity, and words with music.
Brubeck Festival 2008
The Brubeck Festival 2008 will be held in two locations. The Festival will be in Stockton, CA from March 31 through April 5, and then in Washington D.C. from April 7 through April 13. 2008 is the 50th anniversary of the historic Dave Brubeck Quartet’s State Department tour that was designed to advance the interests and values of the United States through cultural diplomacy. On that tour the DBQ performed in several countries, including Poland, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. As a result of that tour, several musical works were written and recorded, relationships were developed that have endured for half a century, and the emotional effect and the musical influence of the Brubecks on people encountered during that tour are profound and enduring. The theme of the Brubeck Festival 2008 is cultural diplomacy. The title of the series of events in the Festival is “The Real Ambassadors”.
Information regarding presenting partners, dates and locations of specific events, names of performers and lecturers, and other important information will be posted on this site as soon as they are confirmed.
Brubeck Festival History
To read information about previous Brubeck Festivals, click on the dates below. There was no Brubeck Festival in 2002.
