FORTY YEARS, LOOKING FORWARD

Anniversary seasons naturally invite reflection, but they also invite a different question: What has actually been built? Strong institutions create value in more than one direction.

For forty years, MCG Jazz has presented world-class performances in Pittsburgh. Along the way, it has built something larger. Every concert now supports an ecosystem that includes education, artistic creation, historic preservation, and community engagement. Those efforts reinforce one another, extending the impact of every performance far beyond the music hall.

That evolution comes into focus as MCG Jazz enters its 40th Anniversary Season.

The organization concluded its 39th subscription season with 94 percent attendance, including eleven sold-out performances. That momentum represents more than a successful box office. It creates opportunities to invest in artists, students, and the broader cultural life of the region.

“Forty years happens one season at a time,” says Marty Ashby, Executive Producer of MCG Jazz. “We’ve always tried to earn the opportunity to do it again next year by presenting great artists, serving people well, and creating experiences that audiences want to come back to. Over time, that consistency becomes something much bigger than a concert series.”

This perspective resonates across Manchester Bidwell Corporation.

“One of the great strengths of Manchester Bidwell Corporation is that each affiliate creates value in its own way while contributing to a shared mission,” says Kevin Jenkins, President & CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporation. “MCG Jazz has become a place where artists create, students learn, history is preserved, and community gathers around a shared cultural experience. That’s exactly the kind of institution we hope to build.”

The anniversary season reflects that broader vision from the very beginning.

On September 26, MCG Jazz will celebrate Pittsburgh’s Jazz Legends, honoring the musicians whose work established the city as one of America’s enduring jazz communities. The evening also commemorates the 90th anniversary of Fallingwater through newly commissioned works by Mike Tomaro and Andy Farber, inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural vision and the connection between Fallingwater and the Manchester Bidwell campus, designed by Wright protégé Tasso Katselas. A community reception and open jam session will conclude the evening, bringing audiences, artists, and local musicians together in celebration of Pittsburgh’s living jazz tradition.

Performance remains the organization’s public face, but it also serves as the catalyst for a much broader body of work.

Students participating in MCG Jazz programs learn directly from accomplished performers while developing their own musicianship through rehearsals and public performances. Newly completed classrooms and educational spaces have expanded opportunities for year-round instruction, workshops, camps, and community programming, creating environments where students, teaching artists, and visiting professionals can learn alongside one another.

Artists, in turn, find opportunities to create as well as perform.

This season welcomes Pittsburgh native Benny Benack III as Artist-in-Residence, continuing a program that has evolved significantly over the past several years. Recent residencies with Ray Angry and Tamara Tunie extended beyond performances to include professional recording projects, preserving original work while documenting creative collaborations born inside MCG Jazz. Those recordings continue to reach audiences well beyond Pittsburgh while strengthening the organization’s growing artistic legacy.

Preservation is another essential part of that mission.

Over four decades, MCG Jazz has assembled one of the world’s most significant single-venue jazz archives, produced five GRAMMY®-winning recordings, maintained one of the nation’s longest-running subscription jazz series, served thousands of students through its educational programming, and expanded its reach through the MCG Jazz Spotlight show on WZUM. Together, these efforts preserve the history of jazz while creating new opportunities for artists and audiences alike.

“Some of the things I’m most excited about weren’t part of the original plan,” Ashby says. “The Artist-in-Residence program has grown into recording projects. Students are performing throughout the community. The new spaces are creating opportunities we couldn’t have imagined a few years ago. That’s how healthy institutions grow. You build something strong, then you stay open to where it can lead.”

Taken individually, each of these initiatives serves a distinct purpose. Together, they create an institution whose impact extends in multiple directions. Audiences experience exceptional performances. Students learn from accomplished artists. Musicians create new work. Recordings and archives preserve those contributions. Community partnerships broaden access and invite new audiences into the conversation.

That interconnected model has allowed MCG Jazz to evolve while remaining grounded in its mission to preserve, present, and promote jazz.

Strong institutions don’t simply preserve the past. They create the conditions for the future.

The 40th Anniversary Season celebrates an important milestone while demonstrating what the next forty years can become. By continuing to invest in artists, students, audiences, and the systems that connect them, MCG Jazz continues to strengthen Pittsburgh’s cultural landscape while ensuring that jazz remains a living art form for generations to come.