Baycourt at the Heart of Festival

Baycourt at the Heart of Festival

Think Jazz, Think Easter, Think Tauranga.

The 2015 National Jazz Festival Tauranga is all go this Easter and Festival Director Rebecca Chambers says they are proud to be once again hosting headline concerts at Baycourt.

“We have organised a great programme and have concerts to fit everyone’s taste,” says Rebecca Chambers. “We have five concerts at Baycourt Theatre and four concerts in the Baycourt X Space. We are excited to be bringing the Downtown Carnival again offering great jazz, blues and soul music along The Strand and Waterfront. There are lots of opportunities this year for families to enjoy jazz and blues in the sunshine including the Jazz Village which will run this year on Easter Monday.”

The 2015 National Jazz Festival Tauranga opens with a gala concert Divas with a Twist on Thursday 2 April featuring three outstanding female vocalists: Susan De Jong, Carolina Moon and Tessa Quayle. Mrs Chambers says this concert promises to deliver an evening of glamour and gala entertainment.

“This year to really start the festival with style we are offering a limited number of VIP tickets to our pre-show Opening Night Soiree. BOP Times Indulge magazine is proudly sponsoring this event and concert.”

Friday evening there is an early show at 6pm in X Space, the Killer B3 Hammond Organ Summit featuring four of NZ’s hottest jazz Hammond organ players battling it out with an allstar band. This is followed by the ever popular Big Band Night featuring The Royal New Zealand Navy Band in concert with the Tauranga Big Band performing at Baycourt at 8pm.

The festival programme on Saturday features two outstanding international jazz acts – the iconic Australian band Galapagos Duck perform at Baycourt 8pm and the Russian-born Miami vocalist Fantine will perform at X Space at 9pm.

“In the spirit of ANZAC we are proud to be bringing Galapagos Duck to the festival,” says Mrs Chambers. “They are a huge part of Australian jazz history having been resident band at The Basement Club in Sydney for many years. Apart from being outstanding players they are real entertainers. So we have them at the heart of the festival concert series.”

On Sunday together for the first time, two of New Zealand’s premiere musicians join forces blending the best of classical with the best of jazz. Classical piano maestro Michael Houston and renowned jazz maestro Rodger Fox are masters of their craft and they come together in this once in a lifetime concert The Houston-Fox Project.
Later that evening the outstanding violinist Fiona Pears and her band play the best of Classical, Tango, and Gypsy Jazz at 8pm.

Blues lovers are well catered for with Darren Watson’s Planet Blues show in the Baycourt X Space with South Island guests Radius on Sunday 5 April at 7pm.
“We love how the Baycourt X Space can be set up now for intimate concerts,” says Mrs Chambers. “This year we have chosen three outstanding shows for this venue featuring some outstanding musicians. We pride ourselves on getting the right acts in the right venues.”

The X Space will also feature a show called A Short History of Jazz on Saturday 4 April at 6pm featuring some of New Zealand’s best jazz players - the show was a sell-out show at the Wellington Jazz Festival.

“We want to encourage as many young people as possible to get excited about jazz so we have priced student tickets for A Short History of Jazz at just ten dollars. This is a great opportunity to hear the story of jazz from some of New Zealand’s best and brightest talent,” concludes Mrs Chambers.

ENDS

National Jazz Festival Tauranga 2-6 April 2015 www.jazz.org.nz
Tickets available www.ticketek.co.nz phone 0800 842 538

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