2027 International Jazz Band
The Blue Lake International Jazz Band is comprised of talented and inspired young musicians and performs a full range of traditional and contemporary jazz band works. In 2027, the International Jazz Band will perform selections to include music from Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Charles Mingus, Cole Porte, Duke Ellington, Art Blakely, and many others.
Each of the groups in the Blue Lake International Exchange Program will visit six host communities in 2–3 European countries with several group excursions throughout the trip. Tentative countries for the 2027 Jazz Band are France and Germany, but the tour may expand depending on invitations. Final tour schedules will not be available until the late spring.
Dates
Sunday, November 8, 2026 – Rehearsal Day
(8:00am – 4:00pm)
Sunday, April 18, 2027 – Rehearsal Day
(8:00am – 4:00pm)
Friday, May 14 – Sunday, May 16, 2027 – Intensive Rehearsal Weekend
(arrive 7pm)
Friday, June 11 – Friday, June 17, 2027 – Intensive Rehearsal Week
(arrive 7pm)
Friday, June 18, 2027 – Depart from Blue Lake for Europe!
(Ensemble departs from either Chicago or Detroit to Paris CDG)
Friday, July 9, 2027 – Return flight to U.S.
(Ensemble returns to same port of departure. Parents meet students at airport)
Saturday, July 10, 2027 – Homecoming Celebration Day at Blue Lake!
(1pm – 9pm) (Parents bring students to Blue Lake)
Tuition
Tuition includes supervision and instruction, room and board on camp prior to departure, airfare, coach travel in Europe, and several excursions en route. The cost of 2027 tuition is $7,290, with a minimum $750 deposit due at time of enrollment. Scholarships are available for tour alumni and those who have attended Blue Lake as a camper in the 2026 season. Financial need and instrumentation scholarships may also be available in some circumstances.
Director
Kerry Moffit
Conductor & Tour Director
Kerry Moffit, Conductor and Tour Director, is a native of Flint, Michigan and
currently lives in Newport News, Virginia. From 1991 to 2015, he served in the
United States Air Force band career field retiring after 24 years of service to the
United States of America. Kerry has attended Charles Stewart Mott Community
College and Michigan State University, and is active as an independent music
educator and private studio teacher. During his more than 40 years as a
professional musician, he has performed with the Ringling Brothers Barnum &
Bailey Circus, New York based national touring companies performing “My One and
Only” and “Anything Goes”, the Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra, San Antonio Jazz
Orchestra, Great American Music Ensemble, and numerous jazz artists including
Bobby Shew, the New York Voices, Chuck Mangione, Clark Terry, Pete Christleib,
Louis Bellson, Arturo Sandoval and others. He has also performed with a variety of
ensembles at the Northsea (Den Haag, Netherlands), Montreaux (Switzerland), and
Montreaux-Detroit Jazz Festivals, among others. Kerry has also performed with the
Flint and Lansing Symphony Orchestras. As a band leader Kerry co-led the David
Huber–Kerry Moffit Quintet, the Capital Jazz Society Big Band, and currently leads
Turning Circles, a small jazz ensemble, and released his first CD titled “What Goes
Around, Comes Around” in August of 2021. To date he has appeared on
approximately 45 recordings of various genre including the Grammy Winning “Grand Serenade for an Awful Lot of Winds
and Percussion” by P.D.Q. Bach, and jingles too numerous to count. In addition to performing and teaching, Kerry serves
as a conference representative and is in his eighth season as a Jazz faculty member for Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. Kerry
first toured with the International Jazz Band as a student in 1977 with Dr. George West. This is Kerry’s first tour as
Director with the Blue Lake International Jazz Ensemble.
