Singapore Botanic Gardens to host outdoor jazz concert on Apr 30 for International Jazz Day

As part of this year’s International Jazz Day celebrations, the Singapore Botanic Gardens will host a free outdoor jazz concert on Apr 30.

Celebrated annually on Apr 30, UNESCO International Jazz Day brings people from all over the world to celebrate jazz, raise awareness on the need for intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding and reinforce international cooperation and communication.

Themed Swing! Swing! Swing! Celebrating UNESCO International Jazz Day 2023, this year’s concert will be performed by the Jazz Association of Singapore (JASS) and Jazz Association Youth Orchestra (JASSYO!). 

The concert will feature numerous classic jazz songs including The Kid from the Red Bank by Count Basie and I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good) by Duke Ellington.

It also marks JASSYO!’s return to the stage as a full band since the COVID-19 pandemic, having made previous performances back in 2018 and 2019. 

The youth orchestra comprises jazz musicians under the age of 35, and will be led by senior associate music director, Weixiang Tan. It will also feature award-winning Norwegian clarinet player, Felix Peikli. 

Through this year’s concert, JASS hopes that it will help develop Singapore into a “vibrant city of jazz”, according to executive director and music director of JASS, Jeremy Monteiro. 

“This year, we showcase the newest batch of young jazz musicians. By putting them on the world stage, we are not only giving them the opportunity to perform to the Singapore community, through them, we also hope to inspire more youths to develop an interest in jazz. Do come and support our youth jazz musicians,” he added. 

The Swing! Swing! Swing! Celebrating UNESCO International Jazz Day 2023 concert will be held at 5.30pm at the Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage, Singapore Botanic Gardens.