MARQUETTE, Mich .—  The annual jazz festival at Northern Michigan University will take place Thursday, April 11, and Friday, April 12. This year’s festival will feature saxophonist Jim Snidero and vocalist Kathy Kosins.

            The event begins with an opening concert featuring Kosins and the NMU Faculty and Friends Jazz Combo at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 11, in Reynolds Recital Hall. Tickets are required and all proceeds benefit NMU music scholarships. They cost $3 for NMU students, $4 for non-NMU students and $7for the general public.

            Events on Friday begin at 8 a.m. with high school and middle school band and combo performances and clinics. More than 25 schools are expected to participate. Activities will be held in Jamrich Hall Room 102, 103 and 105 and also Reynolds Recital Hall. Kosins will give a vocal jazz clinic from 10 a.m. to noon in Reynolds Recital Hall. A jam session involving participants will be held from 1-3 p.m. in the Wildcat Den during lunchtime. Snidero, whose specialty is saxophone, will give a guest artist clinic entitled “Learning to Improvise” from 4-4:50 p.m. in Jamrich Hall Room 102. All of these activities are free and open to the public.

            The festival’s final concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Kaufman Auditorium and will feature the two guest artists, Snidero and Kosins. Tickets are $6 for NMU students, $8 for non-NMU students and $11for the general public.

            Kosins has released “All In a Dream’s Work” and “Vintage.” She is a recipient of the Michigan Council for the Arts Jazz Composer of the Year Award and has received grants from Michigan’s ArtServe advocacy group. Her website is www.kathykosins.com.

            Snidero is a bandleader and recording artist whom Downbeat Magazine has called an “alto sax virtuoso” and “master musician.” He has contributed to the art form with a remarkably diverse set of recordings – 14 to date – on major and independent labels. His website is www.jimsnidero.com.

            This event is sponsored by the NMU Music Department, NMU Friends of Jazz, NMU College of Arts and Sciences, Country Inn and Suites and Conn-Selmer Inc. Tickets can be purchased at nmu.edu/tickets or by calling 906-227-1032. For details about the jazz festival, visit nmu.edu/music.