Jazz Piano Workshop

2019 Jazz Piano Workshop – Saturday, February 2, 2019

Featuring internationally acclaimed Jazz pianist, Lynne Arriale and Twin Cities jazz piano stars, Mary Louise Knutson and Javier Santiago.

This FREE workshop series, designed for middle and high school students has three level groups led by our clinicians: The beginner class is intended for students of classical piano who want to learn about jazz, while the middle and advanced classes are for young pianists who have begun to play jazz. Each ability level group will be limited to 10 participants. 

Three scholarships of $300 each will be awarded for lessons with one of our local piano clinicians. Scholarships are provided by endowments to Schubert Club from the families of Marie Froehlich, Jane Matteson and David Paulus.

For questions please contact Kate Cooper at Schubert Club, 651.292.3266 or kcooper@schubert.org.

Presented by The Dakota Foundation for Jazz Education and Schubert Club

Congratulations to the 2018 Jazz Piano Workshop scholarship winners!

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About the 2019 Clinicians 

Pianist and composer Lynne Arriale has performed on international concert and festival stages over the past 25 years. “The poet laureate of her generation” (Jazz Police), she has been consistently praised as having a “singular voice” as a pianist, leader, composer, and arranger. “I really can’t compare her to anyone,” said recent collaborator and multi-Grammy winner Randy Brecker. “Her music transcends the word ‘jazz’ – it is just pure music.” Arriale was the first prize winner of the 1993 International Great American Jazz Piano Competition, and soon launched her touring and recording career. Her 14 CDs as a leader have received wide critical claim and have topped the National Jazzweek Radio Charts. She was selected to substitute for Marian McPartland with the 100 Golden Fingers tour of Japan with iconic jazz pianists Tommy Flanagan, Hank Jones, Monty Alexander, Cedar Walton, Kenny Barron, Harold Mabern, Roger Kellaway, Junior Mance and Ray Bryant. Arriale has performed and/or recorded with jazz greats Randy Brecker, George Mraz, Benny Golson, Rufus Reid, Larry Coryell and Marian McPartland to name a few.The world’s great jazz festivals and concert stages throughout the US, Europe, the UK, Japan, China, Australia and Canada have invited Lynne to perform, including five performances at the Kennedy Center and additional performances at Lincoln Center, Montreux, Burghausen, Gilmore, Spoleto Arts, Montreal, Monterey, North Sea, Stuttgart, Pori, San Francisco, Ottawa, Zagreb, Perth, Brisbane, Rouen, Cannes MIDEM, Sardinia, Rochester, Wigan, Poznan, Estoril, Palermo, Inverness, Cork and San Javier. Lynne is currently Professor Jazz Studies and Director of Small Ensembles at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida. She will be leading the Advanced Jazz Piano clinic (Group 3).

Mary Louise Knutson has been called “one of the most exciting artists to happen to jazz piano in quite some time.” Her warm, inviting tone, broad range of emotional expression, and distinctive compositions have brought her much recognition on the national music scene. In 2006 she was a Minnesota Music Awards nominee for both Jazz Artist of the Year and Pianist of the Year, and in 2005, she was a Finalist in the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz International Pianist Competition. She is the 2004 recipient of Lawrence University’s distinguished Nathan M. Pusey Alumni Achievement Award. She was the 2001 Top New Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year from KWJL Radio in California. Her trio CD “In the Bubble” charted in JazzWeek’s Top 10 and “Call Me When You Get There” in JazzWeek’s Top 50. Knutson has performed with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby McFerrin, Dianne Reeves, Kevin Mahogany, Nicholas Payton, Randy Brecker, Mike Stern, Peter Erskine, Slide Hampton, and many more. She can be heard regularly with the Mary Louise Knutson Trio, or as a soloist, at clubs, festivals, and concert halls here and abroad; with area vocalists Connie Evingson and Debbie Duncan; with former Tonight Show bandleader trumpeter Doc Severinsen (also featuring two-time Grammy-winner tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts); and with a variety of instrumental groups including the JazzMN Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra. Mary Louise will lead the Intermediate Jazz Piano clinic (Group 2).

Javier Santiago is a powerful young artist with a strong vision. Born and raised in Minneapolis, MN, he grew up surrounded by strong artistic support. He was given a strong musical background by his jazz musician parents, as well as stalwarts of the local jazz community. Javier started playing piano at the age of 5, and was classically trained until he discovered his love of jazz music at the age of 11. In high school, he was a prominent player in the Minneapolis/St. Paul music scene. It was around this time that he started composing and working on his music production skills. While still in high school, he organized his own quintet and produced two albums. He also won the Schubert Club Jazz Piano Competition two years in a row. In 2007, Javier was selected by the great Dave Brubeck and a panel of judges to be a part of the Brubeck Institute Fellowship program at the University of the Pacific in California. Javier received his Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Piano Performance in late 2011 at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in NYC. Since then, he has been playing gigs regularly in NYC at venues such as Smalls Jazz Club, 55 Bar, The Iridium, and several others. He also was a finalist in the 2015 American Jazz Pianist Competition. Javier is not limited to just playing the piano. He is also a prolific composer. His work is an eclectic blend of Jazz, R&B, Rock, Hip Hop and everything in between. Javier is also a teacher, arranger, and producer. This is Javier’s second year at the Jazz Piano Workshop and will lead the Beginner Jazz Piano clinic (Group 1).