Great Plains Jazz Festival

Founded in 1973, the University of Nebraska at Omaha's Great Plains Jazz Festival is one of the premier educational jazz festivals in the nation.

The 2021 UNO Jazz Festival has filled and registrations are no longer being accepted. Please e-mail petermadsen@unomaha.edu if you would like to be placed on the waiting list.

The 2021 UNO Jazz Festival will take place on one day only, Tuesday, May 11 at the Holland Performing Arts Center in downtown Omaha. Trumpeter Etienne Charles will be the featured guest artist and clinician. Jim Widner and Ellen Rowe will serve as adjudicators.

Please click here for the festival schedule

Band Directors please click here for detailed information about the 2021 Festival.

Contact petermadsen@unomaha.edu for more information.

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The Great Plains Jazz Festival features nationally renowned adjudicators, clinicians and guest artists. The festival is designed to be an educational experience for band directors and students from middle school through college. Ensembles perform for written and recorded comments and then proceed to a different room for a clinic from one of the adjudicators. In addition to the individualized clinic that each band receives, participants also have the opportunity to attend general clinic sessions presented by guest artists and adjudicators. The highlight of the festival is the opportunity to hear professional jazz concerts for free or greatly reduced prices.

Jazz artists that have recently appeared at the Great Plains Jazz Festival include Brubeck Brothers, Bela Fleck, Doc Severinsen, Diane Schuur, the Jim Widner Big Band, the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Jim Pugh, Marvin Stamm, Hubert Laws, and the Blue Note 7 featuring Ravi Coltrane and Nicholas Payton.