OCSA Garn Family Jazz Studies Program

Fantastic end of year concert & award evening for the Jazz Conservatory. Congratulations to all of our amazing jazz students on a great year and an extra congrats to all of our award recipients👏👏
Warm Thank You to our 3 fantastic band directors Dr. John Reynolds, Mr. Nathan King & Mr. Branden Brown and to our entire jazz faculty; we are so grateful to all of you!
Thank you for all the work you put into this conservatory and our students❤️
It’s been an amazing year!
Glad also to see so many jazz alumni attend the concert!!
Have a wonderful summer everyone, and remember to tag us in your social medias

OCSA Ambassador Jazz Orchestra brings home an amazing 2nd place in the Essentially Ellington finals in New York!
AJO was also awarded the two top soloist awards of the evening, to Miri Izenberg & Pedro Fregoso!
We are immensely proud of our jazz students under direction of Dr. John Reynolds , who have worked tirelessly this entire year to perfect their art while getting ready to be selected for this competition.
These young musicians have shown us that they are on a high music level, but also that jazz is about so much more than that. Dr. Reynolds often emphasizes how much it matters that the students care about each other and have a good time together, for the music to swing on stage.
AJO has truly shown to have both; a high level of music skills and a great bond in the group that swings on stage. Great job Dr. Reynolds!!
Thank you Jazz at Lincoln Center for this supportive educational program, and as always, thank you Julie Keenan Garn , Teren Shaffer and Orange County School of the Arts and our donors and supporters from home that made this journey possible for our students.

AJO Awards 2026 Essentially Ellington NYC:
Outstanding Rhythm Section
Outstanding Brass Section
SOLOISTS:
Outstanding Piano: Emmet Althoen
Outstanding Doubler, Banjo & Guitar: Oliver Shiwota
Outstanding Trombone: Jonah Jiang
Outstanding Trombone: Owen Ramos
The Snooky Young Award (Outstanding Lead Trumpet): Pedro Fregoso
The Ella Fitzgerald Award: Miri Izenberg
CONGRATULATIONS to all our award recipients!

/ Photos by Ulrika Molin

Competition day yesterday was fantastic and we are so proud of our young musicians in OCSA AJO for that amazing performance!
It is an unbelievable feeling to be in the room, with all the bands giving such a warm reception and applause to each other. The supportive environment, and creative education program, Wynton Marsalis & JALC have created and continues to give through EE is un-parallelled.
We are so grateful to be part of this and wish to congratulate all the other 19 bands around us, they all sound fantastic!

Essentially Ellington Festival 2026 in NYC is officially started!!
OCSA Ambassador Jazz Orchestra is excited and started the day off with rehearsals at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
The band also had a chance to have a masterclass with Tatum Greenblatt at Juilliard, visit the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens, and enjoy some fantastic Live Jazz. We are most grateful to all our supporting families at home, to the Dechary fam for the amazing lunch and to our amazing donors for making this possible - Thank You!
We wish AJO & Dr. John Reynolds the very best for their competition day tomorrow Friday May 1st at 4pm local time.

Time to celebrate our talented jazz student; pianist Emmet Althoen, who is recognized as one of this year’s 12 Grand Prize Finalists in the 2026 Music Center Spotlight!
We are incredibly proud of you Emmet!
All 12 finalists will be performing at the Grand Finale on May 16th , 2026, at 8pm in Musiccenter LA’s Ahmanson’s Theatre.

Congratulations Miri Izenberg & Lake Mu**er! We are so proud that these two of our OCSA Jazz students have been selected across the nation for the NYO Jazz 2026.
These outstanding musicians will meet in New York in July to engage in a rigorous training residency with world class jazz masters, this year led by trumpeter & bandleader Kris Johnson.
On Aug 1st the NYO Jazz will perform a concert with returning guest artist, Grammy Award-winning vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, before embarking on an international tour to Asia.

Less than a month away - time to get your tickets before they sell out!
Follow the link below. Welcome!

https://ci.ovationtix.com/35185/production/1272537?performanceId=11796222

Great masterclass with Nicole McCabe this afternoon! 🎷

OCSA Ambassador Jazz Orchestra in masterclass with amazing instructor Steve Fidyk getting prepared for the Essentially Ellington Festival in NYC at the end of April.