PLU Weathermon Jazz Festival
March 17, 2026
Eastvold Auditorium - Karen Hille Phillips Center | Cassio Vianna, Director
The PLU School of Music, Theatre & Dance invites High School Jazz Bands to register for our PLU Weathermon Jazz Festival. The festival is sponsored by the Pacific Lutheran University School of Music, Theatre & Dance and the Dick and Helen Weathermon Joyful Noise Endowment for Jazz Studies. A non-competitive music event, this festival aims to provide helpful feedback to jazz ensembles and band directors; to inspire the next generations of jazz musicians through professional concerts, clinics, and masterclasses; and to build connections in the jazz community within our region and beyond.
Festival Highlights
- Performance/clinic: Each school band will perform and receive a 30-minute clinic from two professional jazz educators following their performance on stage
- Midday Concert: The PLU Jazz Ensemble will perform a short concert
- Artist Talk/Q&A: Guest artist (Anat Cohen) will give a masterclass, followed by a Q&A session
- Registration fee: $200 Please note that no refunds will be allowed after event registration has been completed.
- Evening Concert: A full performance with the PLU Jazz Ensemble (7:30pm)
Important Dates
- Application Form: Monday, September 29, 2025 at 8 am — Friday, October 17, 2025 at 11:59 pm
- Registration Form: Monday, October 27, 2025 at 8 am — Friday, January 16, 2026 at 11:59 pm
- Payment Deadline: Friday, January 16, 2026 at 11:59 pm
GUEST ARTIST
“Anat does what all authentic musicians do: She tells stories from her own experiences that are so deeply felt that they are very likely to connect listeners to their own dreams, desires and longings.” – Nat Hentoff
Ever charismatic, prolific and inspired, Grammy-nominated clarinetist-saxophonist Anat Cohen has won hearts and minds the world over with her expressive virtuosity and delightful stage presence. Anat has been declared Clarinetist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association every year since 2007, and has also been named the top clarinetist in both the readers and critics polls in DownBeat for multiple years running. That’s not to mention years of being named Rising Star in the soprano and tenor saxophone categories in DownBeat, as well as Jazz Artist of the Year. In 2009, ASCAP awarded Anat a Wall of Fame prize for composition and musicianship, among other honors. As The Chicago Tribune has said about Anat, “The lyric beauty of her tone, easy fluidity of her technique and extroverted manner of her delivery make this music accessible to all.”
In 2009, Anat became the first Israeli to headline at the Village Vanguard, the setting for perhaps the most celebrated live recordings in jazz history; the occasion yielded the 2010 release Clarinetwork: Live at the Village Vanguard, which captured the leader paying tribute to Benny Goodman and leading a hard-swinging combo with all-stars Benny Green, Peter Washington and Lewis Nash. Calling Anat “one to watch,” NPR underscored the contemporary approach the group took to the Goodman book: “Cohen and company treat 1920s and ’30s material with a relatively free hand; when they get rolling in ‘Sweet Georgia Brown,’ her rhythm section echoes the thunder of John Coltrane’s quartet.”
However easy Anat makes it seem onstage, the mastery of any great art is a long, elusive challenge, and she teaches the fine points of jazz and the music of Brazil to budding students across North America, including recent residencies at Stanford, Oberlin, Michigan State University, University of California-San Diego, the Centrum Choro Workshop and California Brazil Camp. About her experiences onstage, in the classroom or just engaging with her listeners, Anat says: “Any day when I get to share music with people – other musicians, an audience – feels like a celebration to me.” – Bradley Bambarger
For more information on Anat Cohen, including tour dates, music samples, photos, video and more, go to www.anatcohen.com.
CLINICIANS
Hailing from the small town of Aberdeen Washington, Maria Wulf fell in love with the drums at an early age. Music scholarships led her to study music at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon, after which she set out to pursue a degree in her true calling and major in drum set at the prestigious University of North Texas.
In 2000, Maria relocated back to the Pacific Northwest to set down roots and raise her family back home. Maria quickly reintegrated her way back into the music scene. Because of her reputation as an excellent sight reader, Maria started getting calls to play with Seattle area big bands like The Emerald City Jazz Orchestra, the Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra, and the Jay Thomas Big Band. She also developed a reputation as a strong educator and became a regular judge and adjudicator at regional jazz festivals and solo and ensemble events.
In 2003, Maria went back to school to pursue a degree in Music Education and a Masters in Percussion Performance at the University of Washington. After completing her graduate degrees Maria embarked on her Music Educator journey with stints teaching all types of music classes to all grade levels including Band, Jazz Band, Orchestra, Choir, Guitar, Class Piano, and Music Appreciation. Maria has also served as adjunct faculty at many colleges in the area including ten years at Pacific Lutheran University, and South Puget Sound Community College. For six years she was director of the Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra, an all-women, 16-piece big band. She can be seen performing in venues up and down the I-5 corridor from Seattle to Portland.
Kate Olson is an improvising saxophonist and music educator based in Seattle, WA. Since moving to Seattle in 2010, she has done her best to infiltrate the local, regional and international improvised music scenes. She can be heard performing with her own projects KO SOLO and KO ELECTRIC, and as a collaborator with the Royal Room Collective Music Ensemble and Electric Circus (led by Wayne Horvitz), Birch Pereira and the Gin Joints, Battlestar Kalakala (formerly West Seattle Soul/the Pulsations) and with such Seattle staples as the Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choruses and cabaret producers Can Can Presents and Verlaine & McCann. Kate has a BA in Music (Jazz Emphasis) from the University of Wyoming and an MM in Improvisation from the University of Michigan, and currently teaches jazz saxophone and improvisation at Pacific Lutheran University.
Kate’s international resume continues to grow, including performances in Russia, Latvia, Turkey, Switzerland, South Korea, Cuba, and Slovakia. She has appeared on stage with Terry Riley, Pauline Oliveros, Bobby Previte, Skerik, Patricia Barber, Elvis Costello, Brandi Carlile, Sir Mix-a-lot, Seattle Repertory Theater, Cafe Nordo, the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra and Seattle Symphony Pops, among others. Kate was nominated in 2011 and 2013 for the Earshot Golden Ear Award in the Emerging Artist category, and in 2014 and 2016, she was nominated for the Best NW Instrumentalist Category, and in 2016 her band KO Ensemble was also nominated as best NW Alternative Group. In 2020 the KO Ensemble won the Golden Ear Award for best NW Instrumental Group and in 2022, KO Electric was nominated for Best Alternative Group.
Ryan Wagner is an active performer and educator throughout Washington state with extensive performance experience in classical, jazz, and pop music. He graduated from Pacific Lutheran University with a Bachelor’s of Music Education and the University of Washington with a Master’s of Trombone Performance. Ryan is Principal Trombonist of Olympia Symphony, Federal Way Symphony and Seattle Rock Orchestra. He is also the trombonist for Kalimba: The Spirit of Earth, Wind, and Fire.
Since 2000, Ryan has been an active freelance musician throughout the state of Washington performing with groups such as Tacoma Symphony, Tacoma Ballet, Yakima Symphony, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, Northwest Sinfonietta, Lyric Opera Northwest, and Bellevue Philharmonic. He has performed and taught throughout the U.S., Europe, and Japan, and is a founding member of the Left Coast Brass, and Oly Chamber Brass. Ryan is also in demand as an educator. In addition to maintaining a private low brass studio, he is a Lecturer of Trombone at Pacific Lutheran University and an adjunct trombone professor at Saint Martin’s University.
As an active clinician, he has presented on trombone pedagogy at the Washington Music Educators Association State Conference, the National Association for Music Education Northwest Conference, as well as the Green River Music Educators Association Inservice. Additionally, Ryan frequently serves as a regional solo and ensemble adjudicator throughout Washington state. Ryan has also served on the faculty of Northwest University in Kirkland, as well as Tacoma Community College, and also taught elementary band for 6 years in the Puyallup School district.
Bio coming soon!
For Questions:
Dr. Cassio Vianna, Associate Professor of Music; Director of Jazz Studies
School of Music, Theatre & Dance; Pacific Lutheran University
(253) 535-7760 e-mail: cassio.vianna@plu.edu
Abby Deskins, Coordinator of Educational Outreach Programs
College of Professional Studies; Pacific Lutheran University
(253) 535-7877 e-mail: adeskins@plu.edu
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