Jazz festival returns to the Jewish General Hospital – June 10 to 21

June 11, 2013


Celebrating 14 years of music as medicine

This year’s edition of the Jewish General Hospital’s (JGH) jazz festival is going to be bigger and better than ever! Now in its 14th year, JGH Jazz is back from June 10 to 21 for a one-of-a-kind, two-week event that will feature 20 outdoor concerts, beginning every day at noon, at the hospital’s Côte-des-Neiges entrance.


The series of free concerts features the musical talents of JGH staff members and local musicians, to provide patients, families, staff, volunteers and the public with pleasant summer entertainment and an emotional and spiritual lift. “This year’s musical artists celebrate the idea that art and music play a major healing role in all societies and cultures,” explains Bryan Highbloom, JGH music therapist and originator of JGH Jazz.

This year JGH Jazz is partnering with Suoni per il Popolo, marking the beginning of a new and expanded festival. “This partnership speaks to the desire of both festivals to reach out into the community in an effort to promote their shared idea that music is healing,” says Mr. Highbloom. “It is because of the strong support from our partners, sponsors, and performers who volunteer their time and effort that the JGH is able to provide such an uplifting experience to its patients and staff.”
JGH Jazz is proud to be part of the network of medical and therapeutic services that the JGH offers to its patients and staff, says Mr. Highbloom. “The festival’s goal is to explore and enhance the connections between medicine and music by bringing together musicians and patients in a common experience that is life and health affirming. This shared experience in art is what our motto, ‘Music is healing’, aims to illustrate.”
Featured musicians at the event will include PYM, Stephen Barry Blues band, Henri Oppenheim, WDJ, Nouveau Jazz Libre du Québec, Ian Ferrier with Body and Light, Mexican dance troupe X-Caret, Dakkan, and rapper Young Mtl.
In case of rain, the musicians will perform indoors, in the hospital’s main lobby (3755 Côte Sainte-Catherine Rd).
For more information about this year’s JGH Jazz event, please visit www.jgh.ca/jazz

June 11, 2013