Recent graduate Isabella Di Trapani (BFA ’26) and third-year Music student Evita Lalonde recently performed at the 2026 Toronto Jazz Festival as members of the Jazz Musician Intensive Ensemble.
The six-member ensemble rehearsed for five days under the direction of JUNO Award-winning saxophonist, composer and arranger Allison Au before performing jazz standards and original music on the OLG Village Stage. Di Trapani performed as a vocalist, while Lalonde played bass.
Both performers joined the intensive ensemble through the Music program at York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD).
Taking the stage at the Toronto Jazz Festival
For Lalonde, the intensive offered valuable real-world performance experience and the chance to build connections with other musicians.
“It was wonderful to meet other passionate musicians and get to make music and art with them,” says Lalonde. “Everyone was so eager and focused on giving their absolute most to the performance.”
Despite having less than a week to prepare, Lalonde says the musicians quickly formed a close connection.
“By the end of the week, it felt like we had become close friends because we had shared so many laughs and worked so hard together to put on a good show.”
The concert marked Lalonde’s first time performing at the Toronto Jazz Festival.
“We were all pretty excited, and it was wonderful to share that experience with such great people,” she says.
Members of the Jazz Ensemble Intensive
Building performance experience at AMPD
Lalonde credits her experience in the York University Oscar Peterson Ensemble, directed by Professor Mike Cado, with preparing her for the intensive rehearsal and performance process.
“Professor Cado gets us to play a very diverse range of repertoire within the jazz idiom,” she says. “We get to play and improvise over so many different feels and styles, from jazz fusion and traditional swing to free jazz and Afro-Cuban music.”
The student jazz ensemble has also given Lalonde regular opportunities to collaborate and perform alongside other AMPD musicians.
“I get to play and collaborate with some of my very good friends, who also happen to be amazingly talented musicians,” she says. “Getting to collaborate and perform so much with the ensemble definitely prepared me for being part of the Jazz Musician Intensive Ensemble at the Toronto Jazz Festival.”
Instruments set up ahead of the Jazz Musician Ensemble’s performance at the 2026 Toronto Jazz Festival
York’s Music program encourages students to explore, perform and create new sounds through flexible course options and access to first-class facilities. Students build the skills to thrive as musicians, composers, teachers and more through mentorship from acclaimed practitioners and real-world performance experience.
Cover image: Isabella Di Trapani (BFA ’26), left, and third-year Music student Evita Lalonde, right.