5 day camp | Monday - Friday, July 15th - 19th | 9:00 am - 3:00 pm | Salloum Studio, Board Room, Mary Irwin theater | $450

Instructors: Craig Thomson, Joe Auty, Bob Rogers
Rating: Age 13+
Minimum 1 year experience required

Pre-registration is now OPEN

The Rotary Centre for the Arts (RCA) is proud to present the second Summer Jazz Camp. Led by Craig Thomson, with Joe Auty and Bob Rogers, students will learn how to develop their musical creativity by improvising over several styles of music including the blues, R&B/soul/funk, and popular jazz “standards”. They will also be coached on refining their technique within instrument-specific classes. In addition, students will be able to enjoy their instructors performing with other local professionals regularly and will perform their own concert in the Mary Irwin Theatre on the final day of camp, July 19.

As we will be forming two to three bands based on instrument and experience level, we need to know a few things about you so that we can put together the best-fitting bands possible. (We can’t have twenty trumpets and no bass players!) We will do our best to accommodate as many players as possible. Please fill out this survey to help us with this information. We will then contact you by June 25 to register. Link to the survey here.

Important dates:

April 22: pre-registration opens
June 24: pre-registration closes
June 25: students notified and registration / payment begins
July 8: Registration / payment deadline

About the instructors:

Craig Thomson -

Craig Thomson is an award-winning saxophonist and educator currently based in the beautiful Okanagan region of British Columbia. Through his dedication to the arts and music education, Craig’s public school and private students have earned numerous national and international honours over the past decade, including multiple wins at the instrumental AAAA level of the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival.

Raised in an area of BC long known for its top-quality music programs, Craig was inspired by his teachers at an early age to pursue a career in both music performance and music education, leading to study at Grant McEwan University in Edmonton, Capilano University in Vancouver and the University of British Columbia.

Craig is the Artistic Director for the B.C. Interior Jazz Festival, an annual three-day educational event that brings together over 1000 students from around Canada and the United States and connects them with the expertise of North America's finest music professionals. He was also the festival Coordinator for ten years. In 2011, he founded the Live at Five Jazz Jam at Kelowna’s Rotary Centre for the Arts. This program gives local students a chance to perform with professional musicians in front of a live audience for up to two hours every week.

In 2013, Craig was honoured as the Okanagan Musician of the Year, and in 2016 he was honoured as the GWBOT Performing Artist of the Year. In 2014, he was thrilled to join the Yamaha Canada artist roster as a Yamaha Artist Educator. He presents regular educator workshops for the annual BCMEA conferences, student and educator workshops and clinics throughout the Okanagan, and has adjudicated for the Washington State University Jazz Festival and the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Performing Arts.

As well as promoting music education on a local and national level, Craig is an extremely busy and in-demand performer and session musician whose 2012 solo debut CD of all-original compositions, entitled Bright Beginnings, garnered much acclaim and received play on CBC radio. A second album is currently in production. Craig can be seen performing across the Okanagan Valley as a jazz and classical artist with his own projects, as a guest soloist, or as a symphonic musician.

Craig is proud to be a Yamaha Artist Educator. He performs on the YTS 82ZUL (WOF) II tenor sax, the YAS 82ZUL alto sax, and the YSS 82ZSII soprano sax.

Bob Rogers -

Born and raised in Vancouver, trombonist and educator Bob Rogers attended Humber College in Toronto before completing a Bachelor of Music Degree at UBC and a Master of Music degree in trombone performance at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. A versatile performer, Bob played with numerous ensembles in the Vancouver area including the Vancouver Opera, the Victoria Symphony, the Vancouver Jazz Orchestra, and numerous small jazz and chamber ensembles. Bob has also performed or recorded with Natalie Cole, Aerosmith, Charlotte Diamond, the O’Jays and the Temptations, and spent a year touring Europe with a New York production of the Duke Ellington musical Sophisticated Ladies. In 1993 Bob moved to Revelstoke where he taught band and general music to both secondary and elementary students for over 25 years, and since moving to the interior he has been a member of the Okanagan Symphony as well as his own jazz group and numerous other ensembles throughout the Okanagan. In 2020 Bob retired from full time teaching and now lives in Vernon where he is keeping busy as a performer, composer/arranger and clinician.

Joe Auty -

Joe Auty has performed across Canada and the midwest in the United States as both a lead trumpet player and jazz soloist. He moved from Toronto to British Columbia around the start of the pandemic, and is actively involved in the Okanogan Valley music scene. When he lived in Toronto Joe was Robbie Lane's regular trumpet player, and was featured in New Orleans brass bands, big bands, wedding bands, numerous jazz combos, musical theater, and regular salsa gigs at Toronto's premiere latin music venue, Lula Lounge. Joe recorded for Jenie Thai, performed on cruise ships, and has been a guest soloist and clinician for numerous jazz festivals and standalone workshops.

Joe studied music at Humber College, the University of Toronto, and most recently at Indiana University directed by David Baker. Joe's career has largely been focused around being a sideman, freelance performance, and in supporting jazz education, but will soon be releasing his own original material.

Cancellation Policy:
-1 month: full refund less $5 administration fee.
-3 weeks prior: 50% refund, 50% credit for future camp, and $5 administration fee.
-2 weeks prior: 50% refund, $5 administration fee.
-1 week prior: no refund.