The 2025 CUNY Jazz Festival stars a GRAMMY-award winning lineup of musicians on May 8 – 9, including legendary trumpet player Randy Brecker and pianist and composer Helen Sung.
Seven-time GRAMMY-winner Randy Brecker is the guest artist at the 25th annual CUNY Jazz Festival, May 8 – 9 in Aaron Davis Hall Theatre B at The City College of New York. The legendary trumpet player and composer will perform with his quintet. The festival also features acclaimed pianist and composer Helen Sung.
The festival brings together on one stage performing ensembles from The City College and other CUNY institutions – including Hunter College and Queens College. Student groups perform 12 – 6 p.m. both days and admission is free and open to the public.
The festival starts at Noon on Thursday, May 8, with a performance by the CCNY Faculty Jazz Ensemble, a group comprised of internationally acclaimed musicians.
Ensembles from CCNY will perform, as well as guest bands from Hunter College, Brooklyn College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, York College, Lehman College, Queens College, LaGuardia Community College and the College of Staten Island.
An evening concert at 7:30 p.m. features Sung with the CCNY Small Jazz Ensemble, followed by a jam session with her for all festival participants.
The Friday evening performance begins at 7:30 with a City College graduate jazz ensemble. At 8:30 p.m. the Randy Brecker and his Quintet closes the festival with a performance featuring tenor saxophonist Ada Rovati.
“Brecker is a true jazz legend and one of the most influential voices in both jazz and jazz-rock. He is a trumpet player and composer of historic importance,” said Mike Holober, the noted pianist, composer, and arranger who is also festival director. “With his quintet’s performance, Brecker’s master class, and Helen Sung’s performance with the CCNY Small Jazz Ensemble and a master class, I am thrilled about the 2025 Festival.”
Now in its 25th year, the CUNY Jazz Festival has evolved into the most important event on the CUNY jazz calendar. As host and sponsor, CCNY wholeheartedly supports the event that captures the spirit and joy of performing and thriving in an educational environment.
The festival is presented by The Simon H. Rifkind Center for the Humanities and the Arts at City College and the City College music department, with assistance from the City College Center for the Arts.
Check Instagram @ccnygradstudies for updates or contact Mike Holober at
mholober@ccny.cuny.edu
for more information.
About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Lightcast puts at $3.2 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. In 2023, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign, ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College mission. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.