Have you ever wondered how jazz musicians improvise? Here’s your chance to get get your feet wet on some basics to improvisation. This workshop explores the musical tradition of jazz improvisation and gives the opportunity for youth of all levels to dive into their creative expression. Open to youth of all levels – beginner, intermediate and advanced.

Darren Sigesmund Bio

London-based musician Darren Sigesmund is an award winning trombonist and composer. He has released five recordings as bandleader featuring his compositions with his Strands and new Quintet ensembles. He has received several awards, including a 2010 JUNO for Best Traditional Jazz Album(Strands II), a 2010 Galaxie Rising Star award for Best Composition (Dance for Leila) at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, and Best Canadian Jazz CD by the Ottawa Citizen in 2010 and 2014. Sigesmund’s music synthesizes wildly diverse influences from Latin, jazz and classical music into totally distinctive works. From the drive and passion of Argentinean Tango and Brazilian song forms, the rhythmic sophistication and fast-paced melodies of Balkan music to the lyricism and counterpoint of the Western Classical tradition, Sigesmund distils these influences into cutting-edge Canadian jazz. Since 2004, he led 20 tours across Asia, Europe, Australia and Canada. His new Quintet project has released two recordings featuring New York musicians Mark Feldman (violin) and Gary Versace (piano & accordion). Diversifying beyond the jazz idiom, Sigesmund has written several classical commissions, including an Unaccompanied Cello Suite (2015) for NACO principal cellist Rachel Mercer, Kensington Ceilidh (2018) for the JUNO award winning Mosaïque CD of the piano quartet Ensemble Made In Canada, New Generation Rag (2019) for Piano Six–New Generation, Double Rainbows (2021) for the Wei – Park viola duo, and Regeneration for pianist Angela Park (2023). Sigesmund has a DMA in Jazz Performance from the University of Toronto and is currently Coordinator of El Sistema Aeolian in London, Ontario.