Festival History
In spring of 1969, former Berklee president Lee Eliot Berk founded the first annual high school jazz festival known as the New England High School Stage Band Festival. A Berklee planning team worked with the Massachusetts Association of Jazz Educators (NAJE) organized by Berk and John LaPorta to produce the annual festival. The first festival attracted 21 bands from New England and New York. Rush-Henrietta Central High School Band, directed by Thomas Ghidiu, was the winning ensemble.
Over the festival's years of greatest growth, from 1971 to 1992, Norman Silver, former Berklee Director of Telecommunications, served as festival director. During that time, literally thousands of talented high school students have participated in the festival, benefiting from the performance evaluations, clinics and workshops, teaching demonstrations, and prize and scholarship award opportunities. In recent years, the festival has grown attracting close to 200 ensembles including small jazz and vocal ensembles. The 2011 festival alone has more than 200 ensembles and over 3,000 student musicians participating, making it the country’s largest high school jazz festival.
Schools participating in the founding festival in 1969
Connecticut
- Bridgeport High School
Maine
- Falmouth High School
- Winthrop High School
Massachusetts
- Central High School, Weymouth
- Danvers High School
- Dracut High School
- Grafton High School
- Holbrook High School
- Needham High School
- Peabody High School
- Tewksbury Memorial High School
- Waltham High School
- Wellesley High School
- Westborough High School
- Westwood High School
- Xaverian Brothers Stage Band, Westwood
New Hampshire
- Pinkerton Academy, Derry
New York
- Chenango Valley High School
- Rush-Henrietta Central High School
Rhode Island
- Barrington High School
- Cranston High School