Join National Music Centre and Women Band Directors International (Alberta Chapter) for the Girls in Jazz 2025 Gala Concert.
Performing Groups include:
- Girls in Jazz Honour Jazz Band directed by Taylor Berry
- Davidson-Therrien Quintet
- Tara Davidson
- Rachel Therrien
- Michelle Gregoire
- Tetyana Haraschuk
- Aretha Tilitson - Calgary Women’s Jazz Orchestra directed by Kathie Van Lare
About Rachel Terrien:
Rachel Therrien is a trumpet and flugelhorn player, composer and music producer working between New York City and Montreal. She is considered one of the most promising jazz musicians of her generation (Downbeat, All About Jazz, Radio-Canada). Recognized for her personal touch and her many influences of traditional jazz, afro-latin, and global music, Rachel has a world-class reputation as a versatile innovator. Rachel Therrien has won several competitions and nominations, to name a few: two JUNO nominations (2021 - VENA and 2023 - Ostara Project) for Best Jazz Album, three ADISQ nominations (2023 - Best Jazz Album - Mi Hogar, 2022 - Music Producer - Noé Lira's Latiendo la Tierra, and 2021 - Best Jazz Album - VENA), a Grammy nomination (2022 - Virtual Birdland, Arturo O'farrill - Best Latin Jazz Album), the 2015 TD Grand Prize of the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the 2016 Stingray Rising Star Award, a nomination for the 2018 Independent Music Award in New York for Best Jazz Album Producer, and the LOJIQ award at the 2018 Bourse RIDEAU to help develop her career in France. Rachel Therrien has now produced 7 albums under her name and many more to come. The most recent, CAPI - Les poemes de Charles L. Therrien en Musique (April 2024 - Cornes de Brumes), a musical experimentation inspired by her grandfather’s poetry, has been acclaimed in Quebec and improvised music scene. The impressive press kit of Rachel Therrien includes a Grammy nomination as a side woman of the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and gratifying critics from many recognized news outlets (Le Devoir, La Presse, All About Jazz, New York Hot House, Downbeat, Latin Jazz Corner, and more). Carrying her project solo since 2009, Rachel Therrien performed her music in many festivals, theatre, and jazz clubs throughout the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean. To name just a few, special guest at the International Jazz Day in Odessa, Ukraine, the renowned French Festival Juan Les Pins Jazz Jazz Festival, Kremenchuk Jazz Festival in Ukraine, Polanco Jazz Festival in Mexico City, Havana Jazz Festival in Cuba, Lula World Festival in Toronto, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola and 55 Bar in New York, Andy’s Jazz Club in Chicago, B-Flat Berlin in Germany, Gode Jazz in Valencia, Spain, as well as most of the Canadian Jazz Festivals. She gave masterclasses in Marciac, France, as well as at the North Carolina University and was invited in 2022 to participate at the International Trumpet Guild, a staple for trumpetists around the world.
About Tara Davidson:
Tara Davidson is a JUNO Award-winning alto and soprano saxophonist who has performed around the world at such prestigious venues as New York City’s Carnegie Hall, the acclaimed North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, the JZ Jazz Club in Shanghai, China, and The Kennedy Center, in Washington, D.C. As a bandleader, Davidson has produced eight recordings since 2004 and performed on approximately forty recordings as a side musician. Five of her eight recordings as a leader or co-leader (Carn Davidson 9) have been nominated by the JUNO Awards for Jazz Album of the Year. Davidson has been associated with seven additional JUNO nominations for her work as a side musician with Ernesto Cervini's Joy project, Andrew Downing’s Otterville, Ernesto Cervini’s Turboprop (x2), the Mike Murley Septet, CBC Records’ Jazz Legends Live project, and Jens Lindemann’s Order of Canada Band (Yamaha Big Band member). In 2020, Davidson won a JUNO Award for Jazz Album of the Year: Group as a member of Ernesto Cervini’s Turboprop. Some of Davidson’s other honours include being selected as the lead alto saxophonist for the Canadian National Jazz Orchestra in 2022 and for the European Broadcasting Union’s European Youth Jazz Orchestra in 2008, being selected as one of five finalists in the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz saxophone competition in 2008, and being selected as one of three finalists for the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Emerging Jazz Artist Award in 2015. In 2013, Davidson was awarded the Ontario Arts Council’s Chalmers Professional Development Grant to study with saxophone legend, Dick Oatts, in New York City. Davidson also enjoys a diverse freelance career as a woodwind player (saxophones, clarinets, flute, and piccolo). She has worked with musical theatre companies such as Mirvish Productions in Toronto, the Stratford Festival, the Musical Stage Company, and Drayton Entertainment, and with such symphonies as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the National Ballet Orchestra. Studio and performance opportunities have allowed Davidson to perform alongside such artists as Oliver Jones, Joel Frahm, Tommy Banks, Jens Lindemann, Jazzmeia Horn, Emilie-Claire Barlow, Wycliffe Gordon, Phil Dwyer, Dave Douglas, Shirley Bassey, Ingrid Jenson, Christine Jensen, Brad Turner, and John Riley. Davidson is an active educator on faculty at the University of Toronto and York University. Tara Davidson is proud to be a Yamaha Artist and plays their Custom Z alto saxophone.
About Taylor Berry:
Taylor first got her start in music as a tuba player, and picked up the bass trombone soon after. She completed her BMus (with distinction in secondary education) and BEd at the University of Calgary. Today, Taylor is the music director at Forest Lawn High School in Calgary, and a full time member of Spiritus Chamber Choir and the Calgary Women's Jazz Orchestra. She also enjoys being the music director of Vocal Group Kiva and singing with Luminous Voices.
About Kathie Van Lare:
Kathie Van Lare, born and raised in Calgary, has been teaching music for over 35 years. Although retired from full time teaching, she keeps busy directing the Foothills Society Community Concert Band, Westwinds Gold Jazz South, and the CWJO, as well as travelling all over Western Canada adjudicating and guest conducting. Bands under Kathie’s direction have been the recipients of several awards and she has been the recipient of various personal awards: Alberta Band Association’s Elkhorn Award as the Band Director of the Year; Alberta Band Association’s Vondis Miller Legacy Award; Laureate in John Philip Sousa Legion of Honor at the MidWest Band and Orchestra Conference in Chicago. Women Band Directors International Scroll of Excellence; and an Honorary Lifetime Membership from the Alberta Band Association. Kathie continues to be active as a free-lance musician (trumpet) and has performed with many groups including the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra, Prime Time Big Band, Calgary Jazz Orchestra, Alberta Winds, and Altius Brass, among others. Besides music, Kathie enjoys woodworking, horseback riding, and is an avid baseball fan. Go Cardinals!