2023-24 Season Information

2023-2024 Izzy Asper Jazz Performances Brochure

Click Here to Purchase Individual Tickets/Subscriptions 


When jazz aficionado Israel Asper dreamed up the Izzy Asper Jazz Performances 25 years ago, he wanted Winnipeggers to experience the best and brightest jazz artists right here in Winnipeg.  And that’s who we personally choose for you.  We’re celebrating our twenty-fifth season with three brilliant weekends at the Berney Theatre at the Rady Jewish Community Centre, and in honour of Izzy’s fondness for the New York jazz scene, one special “club date” at the Fort Garry Hotel.

For all of you who love a great jazz singer, our season closes May 4 & 5 with the powerhouse TAMMY McCANN QUARTET. Based in Chicago, McCann melds classical technique, a gospel aesthetic, and a knack for making her lyrics come to life. This is your chance to hear “a voice that soars in all registers, at all tempos, on all occasions…a voice that inspires wonder!” (Chicago Tribune)

Ticket pricing available at bottom of page.

Our special club date is Sunday, April 14 when we present “A Little Sondheim” featuring Winnipeg singer Zachary Rushing. Sondheim is widely acknowledged as the most innovative, most influential and most important composer and lyricist in modern Broadway history. He has been a powerful creative force for Zachary Rushing, who will pay homage in the new jazz club on the lower level of the Fort Garry Hotel. It feels a lot like an upscale New York club, one of Izzy Asper’s favourite places to be.

Tickets are NOW on sale and can be purchased online by clicking HERE


Thanks for helping us keep the spirit of jazz alive!

Charlene Diehl, Producer
Derrick Gardner, Artistic Advisor

Izzy Asper Jazz Performances


CHARLENE DIEHL started playing the piano before she learned to read, and music and books have been twin passions throughout her life. She was associated editor of dig! magazine through its 13-year run, and has been the Producer of the Izzy Asper Jazz Performances since 2019, when she took over the reins from Bev Aronovitch. She is also a writer, editor, former English professor, and the long-time Director of the Winnipeg International Writers Festival.

DERRICK GARDNER is an internationally-acclaimed trumpeter and composer whose performing credits include stints with the Count Basie Band and Harry Connick Jr.’s Big Band. He has performed and toured with a who’s-who of jazz, and appears on over 40 recordings, including several featuring his own bands. Recent recordings include Still I Rise! with the Big dig! Band, Pan Africa with the Jazz Prophets, and Septology with the Canadian Jazz Collective. He was hired in 2011 as the Babs Asper Chair in Jazz Trumpet at the University of Manitoba, and in 2021 returned to his hometown of Chicago where he is the Interim Director of Jazz Studies at Northwestern University.


SINGLE TICKET:
Adult – $45
Student (with ID) – $20

 *ALL PRICES INCLUDE TAX