
Berklee to Host Annual Jazz Composition Festival Performances will feature modern jazz masters Sean Jones, Ayn Inserto, Miguel Zen n BM '98, and Christine Jensen.
By
Kelly Wong
March 21, 2025
Sean Jones
Image courtesy of the artist
Miguel Zen n
Image courtesy of the artist
Berklee Jazz Composers Workshop Orchestra with Christine Jensen
Image courtesy of the artist
Berklee's Harmony and Jazz Composition Department will present the annual Jazz Composition Festival on April 3, 8, and 9 at David Friend Recital Hall in Boston. The concerts will take place at 7:30 p.m. on each of the three nights.
Berklee's third Jazz Composition Festival brings together world-class artists Sean Jones, Christine Jensen, and Ken Pullig Visiting Scholar Miguel Zen n for an inspiring exchange of performance and education, said Ayn Inserto, assistant chair of harmony and jazz composition. Student compositions will shine alongside these jazz giants, showcasing their talents and creativity. This festival is a must-see for Boston's jazz community.
The Jazz Composition Festival began in 2023, when three concerts were programmed coincidentally within a single week, leading to the creation of the festival with added clinics and master classes. Over the past three years, the festival has developed into a platform for students and industry professionals to collaborate, perform, and most importantly, allow students to engage in master classes led by esteemed jazz artists such as five-time Grammy Award winner Billy Childs, celebrated trumpeter Ingrid Jensen '89, drummer Anders Mogensen '91, and saxophonist Hans Ulrik, to name a few.
This year's festival will begin on Thursday, April 3, with a performance by the Ayn Inserto Orchestra with Sean Jones. A visionary jazz composer and bandleader known for her dynamic and intricate big band writing, Inserto will collaborate with Jones, an acclaimed trumpeter and educator, for the US premiere of Insertos Suite for Sean Jones. Commissioned and premiered by the WDR Big Band, this dynamic new work showcases Inserto's signature blend of intricate harmonies and bold, expressive storytelling, brought to life by Joness virtuosic playing.
Guggenheim and MacArthur fellow Miguel Zen n BM '98 will lead the Ken Pullig Visiting Scholar Ensemble on Tuesday, April 8. The visionary artist, who is widely considered one of the most groundbreaking and influential saxophonists and composers of his generation, will perform alongside Berklee students in a dynamic program of his original compositions. The final concert, Berklee Jazz Composers Workshop Orchestra with Christine Jensen, will take place on Wednesday, April 9. Jensen, a renowned saxophonist, composer, and bandleader, will join the Berklee Jazz Composers Workshop Orchestra for a special performance showcasing original student compositions. As a leading voice in contemporary jazz composition, Jensen's expressive playing and deep musicality will bring these new works to life. Each piece has been crafted specifically to feature her artistry, making this a unique collaboration between an acclaimed musician and the next generation of jazz composers.
Admission is free for all three events and is open to the public. Seating is limited and is available on a first-come, first-served basis. David Friend Recital Hall is located at 921 Boylston Street in Boston.
Related Categories
News
Most Popular
Toto in the recording studio from Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary.
Photograph by Jim Hagopian/HBO
The Best Music Documentaries on Every Streaming Platform Explore groundbreaking music documentaries streaming across Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, and more. From intimate artist portraits to legendary concert films, discover the stories behind your favorite artists and iconic moments.
Latest
Berklee Music Therapy students Audrey Creevey and Rose Koo will have their clinical internship at UCLA Health funded by Childrens Music Fund Internship Sponsorship.
UCLA Health
Music Therapy Students Awarded First Internship Stipend from Children's Music Fund Funding will cover competitive living expenses for Audrey Creevey and Rose Koo
as they intern at UCLA Health.
A still from Ava Della Pietras music video for Marionette.
Image by Georgia Nerheim
Student Spotlight: Ava Della Pietra The singer-songwriter enrolled in the Harvard-Berklee Joint Studies Program talks about her love of medicine and music, overcoming writers block, and her new single, Marionette.
Berklee Online CEO and co-founder Debbie Cavalier, center, is pictured holding the Julius M. Nolte Award for Extraordinary Leadership-UPCEA's most prestigious honor, given for unusual and extraordinary contributions to the cause of continuing education -flanked by UPCEA Deputy CEO Amy Heitzman, left, and UPCEA Board President Kim Siegenthaler, right, at a ceremony in Denver, Colorado on March 25, 2025.
Image courtesy of Julia Zhogina Photography
Berklee Online CEO Debbie Cavalier Recognized for Extraordinary Leadership Cavalier receives the rare Julius M. Nolte Award from UPCEA.
Read All
Subscribe The latest sounds, stories, and ideas, sent to your inbox weekly.
North America Stories
10/06/2026
DAZN-owned digital-media company launches three fan-first series leaning into cr...
10/06/2026
Clear-Com has announced the appointment of Jason Dino as Southwest Regional Sales Manager USA, covering Southern California and the Southwest region. Dino joins...
10/06/2026
An 11% decrease in number of global broadcast deals reflects the organization...
10/06/2026
The Women Without Boundaries Awards recognize women whose work is advancing the future of media, broadcast, AV, workplace technology, digital experience, and re...
10/06/2026
Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...
10/06/2026
SES is supporting broadcast distribution of the world's biggest football tou...
10/06/2026
NDI has announced that BirdDog has become the first hardware manufacturer to achieve full NDI 6.3 compatibility across its complete lineup of cameras, encoders,...
10/06/2026
Vince Caputo and Scott Carter, winners of the 2026 Sports Emmy for Outstanding Post Produced Audio have been announced as presenters for the 2026 SVG Advanced A...
10/06/2026
FOX One today unveiled a slate of new product features and enhancements designed to elevate the viewing experience for fans on the official streaming platform o...
10/06/2026
Primary production partners Dome Productions and Raycom Sports once again played...
10/06/2026
The Women in Sports Filmmaking Experienceship is an immersive professional devel...
10/06/2026
The league has expanded its HSAN architecture for the NBA Finals to manage more ...
10/06/2026
The inaugural MoonPay X Games League (XGL) Winter Draft will take place Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at Cosm Los Angeles from 7-9 p.m. PT. The event will strea...
10/06/2026
The University of Oklahoma (OU) Athletics Department and Learfield have announce...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has released TR-06-4 Part 8, a new specification for RIST Satellite-Hybrid: Out-of-Band Method. The specification creates a mecha...
10/06/2026
Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, supporting live medical proc...
10/06/2026
A still from The Doom Generation by Gregg Araki (Courtesy of Sundance Institute)
By Lucy Spicer
Have you checked out our Sundance Film Festival 101 list yet...
10/06/2026
Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...
10/06/2026
Accedo, Humans not Robots, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) have announced the launch of Ecoflow X. Formerly an IBC Accelerator project, ...
10/06/2026
Frequency, the engine powering the world's leading streaming television channels, today announced that James Smith has joined the company as General Manager...
10/06/2026
At the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for live medical procedures s...
10/06/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media, and entertainment managed services, today announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform powered by Or...
10/06/2026
Klvr will showcase how venues, integrators and production teams are rethinking disposable battery usage at InfoComm 2026 (Las Vegas, June 17-19, booth #N6311). ...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has further enhanced the Reliable Internet Streaming Transport (RIST) protocol by incorporating a new feature, RIST Satellite-Hyb...
10/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Showcases New Mobile Experience, Collections and Games Vision in APAC
Product
10 June 2026
GlobalSouth KoreaJapan
Link copied to c...
10/06/2026
Back to All News
Ready to Join? The Netflix Fan Club Arrives at Cannes Lions
Business
10 June 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Download all assets
N...
10/06/2026
Chemists snap together complex 3D molecules from highly reactive radicals-without losing their shape Scripps Research team develops stereoretentive radical-radi...
09/06/2026
Kiswe announces an expanded long-term partnership with ONE Championship (ONE), t...
09/06/2026
SiriusXM will broadcast FOX Sports' English-language commentary for all 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches from June 11 through July 19, available to subscribe...
09/06/2026
EVS has announced it is changing its corporate name from EVS Broadcast Equipment to EVS, reflecting the company's expanded portfolio beyond broadcast equipm...
09/06/2026
Fox Corporation and the NFL have announced a multi-year agreement to bring NFL c...
09/06/2026
FOX Sports and ReachTV, an airport media network, have announced an agreement to...
09/06/2026
Cosm Atlanta, a 70,000-square-foot, three-level immersive entertainment venue located within Centennial Yards adjacent to State Farm Arena and Mercedes-Benz Sta...
09/06/2026
NESN captured five awards at the 2026 Boston/New England Emmy Awards, including four program honors and one individual award.
These awards reflect the passion...
09/06/2026
Ateme has announced that its support for Apple Immersive Video workflows was referenced by Apple during its 2026 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC26).
Atem...
09/06/2026
Bitmovin has announced that Axel Springer SE has deployed Player Web X, Bitmovin's web video player, to power audio readouts of news articles and an audio-o...
09/06/2026
Grass Valley and Lawo have announced a technology collaboration to validate orch...
09/06/2026
LiveU has announced a deployment with the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) t...
09/06/2026
Globecast has announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform, powered by ...
09/06/2026
NBC Sports will present live coverage of Overtime's OT7 football league Championship Weekend from Sullivan Field at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angel...
09/06/2026
We're in three different locations, three different production teams. Coveri...
09/06/2026
The intro video for Men's Basketball won Outstanding In-Venue Video in the C...
09/06/2026
Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...
09/06/2026
Since their debut, the clock-and-score graphic has drawn the affinity and ire of...
09/06/2026
Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
A project aimed at modernizing scheduling operations across Mediaset's channel portfolio
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitab...
09/06/2026
tvONE, an ACT Entertainment brand, debuts its most powerful video processor ever built: the 4RU CALICO PRO (C7-PRO-4200), at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N6813). Engine...