MARCH 17, 2026 | 7:30 PM | EASTVOLD AUDITORIUM - KAREN HILLE PHILLIPS CENTER, PLU
Thanks to a generous endowment established by PLU alumnus Dr. Richard Weathermon ’50, the Dick and Helen Weathermon Joyful Noise Endowment for jazz studies created an annual two-day artist-in-residence program. Each year, this endowment allows us to bring a renowned jazz artist to campus to perform with the University Jazz Ensemble and a select local high school jazz band, to lead rehearsals and public master classes, and participate in other educational and performance activities. Previous guest artists include Eric Marienthal, Aubrey Logan, Jeff Coffin, Vincent Herring, and Ernie Watts, and Greg Gisbert.
This year we are excited to host a very special guest artist this year: Clarinetist-saxophonist Anat Cohen
“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
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