School District's All-City Jazz Festival Set for This Saturday

The Philly POPS will present the School District of Philadelphia's All-City Jazz Festival at Temple University's Performing Arts Center on International Jazz Day, April 30, 2016 at 3pm.

For the second year in a row, the POPS has signed on as Presenting Sponsor of the event through the POPS in Schools program, an ongoing supplemental music program which enhances music education for students involved in the District's jazz program.

In a school system that has seen cutbacks in arts programs over the past decade, POPS in Schools brings professional POPS musicians and guest artists directly into School District of Philadelphia classrooms. Highlights this year include professional coaching and Master Classes on jazz improv techniques and popular music theory for all students in the All-City Jazz program. POPS in Schools provided access tickets to POPS performances for more than 1,000 students, faculty, and staff this season, in addition to inviting participating schools to perform before POPS shows. POPS in Schools also initiated the commissioning of new charts to provide increased accessibility to pop music and the catalogue of the Sound of Philadelphia, made available digitally, to all schools.

The festival showcases the jazz combos of seven participating schools: The Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush, Central High School, Franklin Learning Center, George Washington High School, Kensington Creative and Performing Arts High School, Northeast High School, The Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) and The Community Music Scholars Program (CMSP) at Temple University's Boyer College of and Music and Dance.

Also featured at the festival is the All-City Jazz Orchestra - the audition-only ensemble composed of the most talented jazz students in the district. The All-City Jazz Orchestra will be conducted by Terell Stafford, Director of Jazz Studies at the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University.

The All-City Jazz Festival is a non-ticketed event-free admission. It will be held at Temple University's Performing Arts Center, 1837 N Broad St, Philadelphia, PA.

POPS in Schools is made possible by the generous sponsorship of Philadelphia Energy Solutions, which has recently renewed its commitment for a second year.

For more information visit: http://phillypops.org/concerts-events/phillys-all-city-jazz-festival

About The Philly POPS
The Philly POPS, the largest standalone pops orchestra in the United States, delights audiences with the inspired performance of American popular music. The POPS celebrates this distinctive musical heritage through an expanding repertoire of innovative concert presentations and a robust set of educational and engagement initiatives.

Now in its 37th season, the official POPS orchestra of Pennsylvania serves a consistently growing audience of over 100,000 annually. Music Director Michael Krajewski and the 65-peice Philly POPS orchestra keeps listeners tapping their toes to an impressive repertoire of songs from American traditions of music up through today's chart toppers.

Outside the concert hall, Salute Series performances - including POPS on Independence on July 3 and the I'll Be Home for Christmas: A Salute to the Military and First Responders - celebrate the American tradition of service around important national holidays; POPS in Schools enhances music education for Philadelphia School District students; and POPS Outside brings POPS music to local communities.

The Philly POPS performs as a founding resident company of The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and at venues throughout the mid-Atlantic region.