Masterclass Series
Generously supported by the David Rubel Realtor Team​
Please note that there will be no masterclass on October 11th or November 1st.
2025/2026 Masterclass Clinicians
Arid Landscapes
September 12, 2025
Arid Landscapes is a co-led ambient, electronic-inspired, electro-acoustic duo consisting of Vancouver based, JUNO nominated pianist Noah Franche-Nolan and Toronto based guitarist Dan Pitt. The two create atmospheric, usually spontaneous pieces by combining various pianos, keyboards, synths and guitars while blending in effect pedals along with live audio processing to create unique soundscapes that blend a multitude of styles and influences. Their debut self-titled record is available on Sept 19 2025.
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Listen to Arid Landscapes on Bandcamp here.
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Samuel Blaser
September 19, 2025
Winner of the prestigious 2019 "Prix du Musicien européen" from the Académie du Jazz in Paris and the 2021 Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll ("Rising Star Trombone"), Samuel Blaser is redefining what it means to be a trombonist in today's musical landscape. Born in 1981 in La-Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, this dynamic artist burst onto the professional scene after graduating from conservatory in 2002, quickly making waves across continents.
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During his formative years, Blaser forged powerful connections with the Vienna Art Orchestra and the European Radio Big Band, earned a coveted Fulbright Scholarship, and pursued graduate studies at Purchase College Conservatory of Music in New York. His debut album as a leader, the Samuel Blaser Quartet's 7th Heaven (Between The Lines), marked the beginning of an extraordinary journey. After 16 transformative years living between New York and Berlin, absorbing the pulse of two of the world's most vibrant music scenes, he returned to his Swiss roots in December 2021, bringing with him a wealth of international experience.
David Occhipinti
October 3, 2025
David Occhipinti is a composer, guitarist, and a long-standing contributor to the Canadian music scene. David’s musical accomplishments have earned him two Chalmers Arts Fellowships, as well as multiple JUNO nominations for his work as a recording artist. His critically acclaimed album Forty Revolutions was nominated in 2007; Duologue, in collaboration with saxophonist Mike Murley, in 2003. David has also performed on other JUNO nominated recordings.
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Camera, (2012) is a recording that features David’s chamber music compositions and guitar improvisations. It was heralded by his mentor, Jim Hall as: “an absolute gem… his writing is unique, his playing is completely original and stunning… an absolute work of art!"
The 2019 release, these out of infinite, features David’s works for the voice with text by Dylan Thomas, James Joyce, e.e. cummings, T.S. Elliot, Emily Carr, Emily Brontë, and Emily Dickinson. Fanfare magazine wrote, “Occhipinti’s settings are stellar and hypnotic….like George Crumb… sheer delight. It breathes freshness and clarity.”
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David’s first orchestral work, Saturnia (2022), was part of the Toronto Symphony’s 'Explore the Score' program which took place on October 22, 2022 at Roy Thomson Hall.
He received a commission from the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra to compose a piece for brass and percussion. The premiere performance of En Passant was in Ottawa on May 1st, 2022 with Jean-Michel Malouf conducting.
A world premiere recording of Net of Gems, for flute and harp, appears on a recent recording by Suzanne Shulman and Erica Goodman. David has also had his compositions commissioned or recorded by a wide-ranging list of artists- including percussionist Beverley Johnston, Arraymusic Ensemble, Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus, and Random Access Large Ensemble.
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David has performed and toured across Canada, the U.S., Europe, and Japan. He has performed Canadian premieres of works by Steve Reich and Gabriel Prokofiev. David has been based in Toronto for most of his career, but during the 1990s he also spent some time studying in New York City with Jim Hall, and three years living in Italy.
No Masterclass
October 10, 2026
Thanksgiving Weekend
Lavender Town
October 17, 2025
A fusion group in an atypical sense, Toronto’s Lavender Town approaches modern jazz from a hyper-contemporary angle. Influenced as much by video game music as they are lofi hiphop, Lavender Town blends the sounds of the 21st century with virtuosic maximalism, featuring breakneck grooves and heroic feats of instrumental acrobatics.
Avataar
October 24, 2025
JUNO award winner for Best Jazz Album (Group) in 2022, JAZZ FM’s pick in ‘25 of the Best Jazz Albums of 2021’ and a recipient of the Toronto Jazz Festival's Special Projects Initiative award for 2016, AVATAAR's music marries classical Indian music, modern jazz, Brazilian lyricism, atmospheric textures and ambiance, Javanese gamelan, and contemporary improvisation. Cleverly layered and cinematic in scope, the music drives and swirls through a vast sonic palette and has drawn comparison to Mahavishnu Orchestra, Charles Lloyd, Keith Jarrett with Jan Garbarek, late Coltrane, and Oregon. The resulting confluence is a mesmerizing blend of rhythmic hypnotism, sonic landscapes and soaring melody that marries ancient and modern musical sounds.
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AVATAAR's core personnel includes: Sundar (saxes and flutes), Michael Occhipinti (guitar), Felicity Williams (vocals), Justin Gray (bass and bass veena) , Ravi Naimpally (tablas and percussion), and Max Senitt (drums). Guests on the recording 'Petal' include; Robi Botos (piano) and Samidha Joglekar (Hindustani voice), and on the most recent album ‘Worldview’ include Todd Pentney (pno/synth) and Aaron Lightstone (oud)
Baptiste Trotignon
November 7, 2025
Baptiste Trotignon studied piano and classical music since the age of six and discovered jazz and improvisation as a teenager. His first two trio albums in the early 2000’s (followed by two solo piano albums which both received major public and critical acclaim) brought him to people’s attention as one of the most spectacular member of a new generation of pianists, and brought him to perform at many major international venues. He won many awards: Prix Django Reinhardt, Best French Newcomer at 2003 Victoires du Jazz, Grand Prix at the 2002 Martial Solal International Piano Competition...
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Over the years that followed he developed a number of eclectic encounters, performing alongside with artists like Tom Harrell, Stefano Di Battista, Aldo Romano or Brad Mehldau. After his first «american» album recorded in New York in 2008 («Share»), he received in 2011 the Sacem’s Grand Prix for his work as a composer, and then released in 2012 a stunningly bold album, «Song Song Song», on which he celebrated his love of the vocalist’s art and invited great artists like Melody Gardot.
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In 2018, he received the prestigious Echo Jazz award in Germany as Best Instrumentalist-Keyboards category, and in 2023 he returned to the trio format with “Brexit Music,” a groove-forward exploration of UK pop music from The Beatles to Radiohead.
Samantha Wilson
November 14, 2025
Sam Wilson is a guitarist-composer whose practice focuses on creating instrumental music for improvisers. Her current artistic muse is wild spaces and site-specific responses, evident by her latest release Wintertides (April 2024), featuring drummer Jen Yakamovich and bassist Geordie Hart. Written in the winter of 2022 on both the east (Scotsburn, NS) and west Coast (at Lena Residency, Galiano Island BC); it’s inspired by contrasting landscapes and the collaboration of bi-coastal communities. Her albums Into a Heart Pt. II and New Doors (Jackson/Wilson Duo) won Music Nova Scotia’s “Jazz Recording of the Year” in 2022 and 2023, respectively. All of her releases have been nominated for the East Coast Music Awards. In 2021 Sam won the Paul Cram Creation award and composed her first piece for orchestra, ‘Recover-we’, which was performed by Symphony Nova Scotia at the 2023 Open Waters Festival.
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Sam was raised in Ontario but has made Nova Scotia her home for more than a decade; she currently resides in Halifax. She performs regularly with her collaborator Andrew Jackson in their duo project (Jackson\Wilson Duo), as well with her trio that features a rotation of musicians including Caito Macdonald, Kyle Tully, Gabriella Ciurcovich, Jen Yakamovich and Geordie Hart. She has worked with Phillip Greenlief (Elephant Heart), Andrew Mackelvie, Ellen Gibling, Matt Gallant (Borrowers), Nicholas D'amato, Nicola Miller, Music Declares Emergency, Votive Dance, Upstream Music Association, among others and supported artists such as Laura Roy and Kaia Kater. She is an alumni of St.FX University and the Creative Music Workshop.
Shantanu Bhattacharyya
November 21, 2025
Shantanu Bhattacharyya is a much adored name in the world of Hindustani Raagsangeet. With a rare feat of topping in both Khayal and Thumri at the age of 20 in the Akashbani Music Competition and the Top Grade from Prasar Bharati at only 43 years of age, Shantanu Bhattacharyya’s singing has been described by the greatest maestros of the country including his Guruma, the immortal Meera Banerjee, as a true picture of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. Initiated into music by his mother Ira Bhattacharyya, Shantanu received further training from Sukhendu Goswami. Subsequently, he came under expansive taalim from Prasun Banerjee and Meera Banerjee; the worshipped names of Patiala gharana. He went ahead to study also with Ajoy Chakrabarty as a scholar at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy. An Honours Graduate in Economics from Calcutta University, Shantanu Bhattacharyya has sung at the Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan, Allauddin Khan Smriti Samaroh, Sangeet Natak Akademi Festival, ITC Sangeet Sammelan, Gururao Deshpande Sangeet Samaroh, West Bengal State Music Academy Conference, VSK Baithak, Sangeetalok Conference, Spirit of Unity Concert, All India Radio National Programme and Akashbani Sangeet Sammelan; among many others. His performances have been highly applauded in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Toronto; as well as at various venues in England, France, Italy, Finland, Germany, Australia and Singapore. His significant contributions include conducting of music workshops at schools all over the world, numerous ensemble compositions in Ragas, articles in journals and books, compositions of devotional songs and meditation music, released in CDs. Shantanu Bhattacharyya's music school Aalor Pathe Raga Dhwani has won accolades from one and all, for the brilliant performances of the young pupils learning under him in the guru shishya tradition.
Interested in conducting a masterclass at U of T Jazz?
Please send an email to sam.little@mail.utoronto.ca