Join the National Music Centre and Women’s Band Directors International (Alberta Chapter) for the Girls in Jazz 2026 Gala Concert.
What to expect
Visit the Know Before You Go page for information on parking, accessibility, food and drinks, seating, and more!
Performing Groups include:
- Girls in Jazz Honour Jazz Band directed by Audrey Ochoa
- Clark-MacDonald Quintet
- Colleen Clark - drums
- Virginia MacDonald - clarinet
- Michelle Gregoire - piano
- Aretha Tillotson - bass
- Audrey Ochoa - trombone
- Calgary Women’s Jazz Collective directed by Kathie Van Lare
About Virginia MacDonald
Juno Award-winning clarinetist Virginia MacDonald has established herself as a leading voice of her generation. Known for her lyrical and dynamic approach to the clarinet, she has been described by legendary clarinetist Doreen Ketchens as playing “like a scholar, very refined with plenty of soul.” As an in-demand bandleader, sidewoman, and composer, she maintains a busy international performance schedule, regularly appearing at renowned venues such as Birdland, Smalls, Ronnie Scott’s, Le Duc des Lombards, and Dizzy’s. Her festival appearances span the globe, with performances at the Detroit, Rochester, Torino, Montreal, and Toronto Jazz Festivals, among others.
Virginia has performed and recorded with distinguished artists including Kirk Lightsey, Michael Dease, Joe Magnarelli, Dick Oatts, Bruce Barth, Ira Coleman, Geoffrey Keezer, Harold Mabern, Eddie Henderson, Neil Swainson, and Terry Clarke. She is a frequent collaborator with Grammy Award-winning trombonist Michael Dease, appearing on three of his albums to date, and performing regularly as a member of his groups. Her composition “Up High, Down Low” is featured on his 2023 release Swing Low.
Virginia co-leads a quintet with trumpet player Joe Magnarelli. She has also enjoyed working with his longtime collaborator, saxophonist Dick Oatts, as a member of his quintet. The three musicians recently recorded an album at the legendary Rudy Van Gelder Studio, slated for release in 2026. Virginia is also the co-leader of a quintet with Baltimore bass clarinetist Todd Marcus, which highlights their rare soprano and bass clarinet frontline. Both groups perform frequently across Canada, the U.S., and Europe.
In 2020, Virginia won the International Clarinetist Corona Competition, judged by Anat Cohen, Victor Goines, Ken Peplowski, and Doreen Ketchens, among other leading clarinetists. Other recent accolades include headlining the International Clarinet Association’s 50th anniversary celebration at ClarinetFest 2023 in Denver and being featured as a guest artist with the Orchestre National de Jazz de Montréal for the premiere of Starbirth, a suite written for her by resident composer Jean-Nicolas Trottier, which was nominated for a 2024 Prix Opus for Concert of the Year.
Alongside her other projects, Virginia enjoys working with her father, renowned Canadian jazz saxophonist Kirk MacDonald. She appears on several of Kirk’s albums, notably including his 2018 release Generations which features the esteemed pianist Harold Mabern. The two have toured together extensively, including multiple European tours and a tour of India in 2020.
Virginia is a member of the Canadian Jazz Collective, a seven-piece ensemble comprised of award-winning Canadian jazz musicians. She appears on the Collective’s debut album Septology, which was nominated for the 2024 Juno Award for Jazz Album of the Year, and their subsequent 2024 release, Live at Le Vauban.
Virginia has performed on over twenty albums as a sidewoman, including Caity Gyorgy’s Juno Award-winning albums Now Pronouncing (2022) and Featuring (2023), as well as several Juno-nominated recordings.
Virginia’s debut album is scheduled for release in 2026 on Cellar Live. Comprised of original compositions for quartet, the project features luminaries Geoffrey Keezer on piano and Ira Coleman on bass, alongside two preeminent voices of the next generation, drummer Curtis Nowosad, and featured vocalist Laura Anglade.
In addition to her active performance career, Virginia is a highly sought-after educator. She has been a visiting artist at numerous post-secondary institutions around the world, including the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, McGill University, University of Toronto, Laval University, Université de Sherbrooke, St. FX University, University of Manitoba, VSO School of Music, the Global Music Institute, and the True School of Music. She is on faculty at the Jazz Institute at Brevard Music Center.
Virginia is an endorsed artist for Buffet Crampon, D’Addario Woodwinds, and Rovner Products.
About Colleen Clark
Drummer, composer and educator Colleen Clark is vibrant on the scenes in NYC and the southeastern United States. Clark has guest performed for four nights with the 8G Band on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers and can most recently be heard playing on her co-led project ALLIANCE (4-star Downbeat review), Michael Dease’s The Other Shoe (Origin) and Found in Space (Origin). She has also contributed to three upcoming big band records by Michael Dease, and Matt White's Dolly. She has recorded on SteepleChase with Allegra Levy featuring legendary trumpeter John McNeil and Levy’s reimagining of his music on Lose My Number: Allegra Levy sings John McNeil. Her Mexican jazz group CC + The Adelitas will record their debut album in 2026.
Clark has shared the stage with jazz luminaries including Branford Marsalis, Rodney Whitaker, Catherine Russell, Camille Thurman, Rudresh Mahanthappa, and Mimi Jones. She has toured and performed extensively with 2X GRAMMY award winning vocalist and composer, Nicole Zuraitis. Clark has been featured in DOWNBEAT magazine and is also an ASCAP winning composer. Clark has performed on legendary stages throughout the US and Internationally including: Jazz at Lincoln Center, Lincoln Center, Birdland, Smalls, The Jazz Showcase, The Nash, San Jose Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz Festival, Vienne Jazz Festival and more. Clark was invited by the ASCAP Foundation to lead her band at the Kennedy Center.
She is the Founder and Artistic Director of the University of South Carolina’s Jazz Girls Day®, a national and international day program centered on providing a positive day of learning jazz for girls.
Clark’s dissertation, “The Evolution of the Ride Cymbal Pattern from 1917 to 1941: An Historical and Critical Analysis,” continues to inspire drummers, researchers and musicians from across the globe. Having been accessed over 4,600 times this work has proven to be impactful. After presenting this research at her first PASIC Clinic in 2023, Craigie Zildjian (President of Zildjian) approached Clark and offered that the dissertation be compiled and presented as part of Zildjian’s website, which was completed in 2024. This collaboration includes demonstration videos, audio examples and written text and is fully accessible on Zildjian’s website.
She has presented her research on the evolution of the ride cymbal pattern for the Percussive Arts Society and the Jazz Education Network. Clark’s writings which include teaching drumset in the jazz ensemble and ride cymbal centered teaching, are soon to be published in both Intellect Books and the Oxford University Press.
Clark is the Drumset Editor for Percussive Notes and serves on the Percussive Arts Society’s Drumset Committee and is serving her second term as Vice President for South Carolina’s PAS Chapter.
She is proud to be an official endorser of Ludwig Drums, Zildjian, Vic Firth, REMO and Mono, and frequently collaborates with the companies.
Dr. Clark is the only woman and drummer to earn a doctoral degree in jazz from the University of North Texas.
About Audrey Ochoa
Unbound by any predisposed ideals around genre or delivery, trombonist Audrey Ochoa has achieved the ideal: presenting meticulously influential compositions with a playful and liberated approach. Classically trained but with a voracious appetite for honing her craft in any genre, Ochoa has shared stages with Hilario Duran, PJ Perry, and Tommy Banks; and with international greats Dave Matthews Band, Lew Tebackin, Marcus Miller, Chris Potter and the UNT One O’Clock Lab Band. A rising star in her own right and a fixture of the Canadian music scene, she is decidedly captivating and original, and her compositional skill and talent on her instrument is spectacular.
Her debut album, “Trombone and Other Delights” (2013), was widely acclaimed and spent three consecutive weeks as the number one Jazz album on the Canadian charts. Ochoa’s sophomore release, “Afterthought” (2017), is an extension of her consummate understanding of arrangement and dedication to her craft – leading to a No. 1 position on the Canadian jazz charts and breaking top 20 in the U.S. She is a decorated award winner, having earned recognition at the Western Canadian Music Awards, the Global Music Awards and a recent recipient of the Edmonton Music Prize, noting an outstanding musical contribution to the local arts scene. The recording of “Frankenhorn” (2020) marked an exploration into arranging for strings with horns and rhythm section, landing her at number one on both the Canadian and US campus jazz charts during the pandemic. Her follow up, “The Head of a Mouse” (2023), finally earned her much deserved recognition among peers, with a 2025 JUNO Award nomination.
Her next showing “The Sorceress” (March 2026) continues to demonstrate her versatility, craftsmanship, and playful spirit. Not liking to be pigeonholed, Audrey has compiled a listening experience for every jazz fan – from swing, to groove, to Latin – Cuban and Brazilian. Listeners are treated to even more of her sultry vocals than before as she steps out from behind the horn. Exhilarating and exuberant, Audrey Ochoa exemplifies an artist who has dedicated herself to expertise while remaining relevant and light-hearted. With a magnificent and fresh-faced approach, she defies categorization and plants her flag firmly as a centrepiece of the Canadian music arena.
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 Westwinds wind Orchestra, Westwinds Gold Jazz South, and the CWJC, as well as travelling through much of 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”; David Peterkin Award from the Phi Beta Mu Bandmaster’s Fraternity; 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 among others, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra, Prime Time Big Band, Calgary Jazz Orchestra, Alberta Winds and Altius Brass. Besides music, Kathie enjoys woodworking, horseback riding and is an avid baseball fan. Go Cardinals!