Southeastern hosts 2026 Jazzfest featuring local ensembles and MAS performance from Brian Piper Quintet on Saturday

The Southeastern Oklahoma State Department of Performing Arts will host its annual "Jazzfest" on Saturday, April 11, with numerous local ensembles performing, as well as the conclusion of the 2025-26 Musical Arts Series.

The Jazzfest schedule (listed in full below) consists of performances from the Southeastern Jazz Ensemble and scholastic groups from Durant High School, Sherman (Texas) High School, Coalgate High School, and Kingston High and Middle Schools.

The Musical Arts Series featured ensemble is the Brian Piper Quintet. Members of the ensemble will give a clinic to each scholastic group following their performance.

The 53rd Season of the Musical Arts Series is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, Oklahoma Arts Council, Steger Piano Institute, and the Clark and Wanda Bass Foundation.

"This jazz ensemble is a dynamic group who will certainly entertain the audience with an exciting program," said Dr. Catalin Dima, Assistant Professor of Piano at Southeastern and Artistic Director for the Musical Arts Series. "We are fortunate to have them play as part of the Jazz Fest at Southeastern and we invite everyone to come enjoy this show."

Based in Dallas, Texas, Brian Piper is not just a jazz pianist - he is the quintessential "go-to" guy in virtually any musical context. He is enjoying a long career in commercial and popular music as a studio keyboardist with thousands of radio/tv/film credits. In this arena Piper is an accomplished producer, conductor, composer, arranger, and orchestrator. He is also a studio singer, singing for advertising campaigns, record projects, and films. He plays regularly in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and travels the world touring, producing and performing, including his recent appointment as the official Pops keyboardist of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He also performs regularly as a freelance pianist with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and several other local and regional orchestras, as well as at jazz parties and festivals around the world.

Piper has performed (jazz, country, pop, theater, tours, recordings) with Andrea Bocelli, Il Divo, Byron Stripling, Carmen Bradford, Doc Severinsen, B. B. King, Dr. John, Mitzi Gaynor, Sutton Foster, Joel Grey, Ben Vereen, Ben Pratt, Cab Calloway, Billy Eckstine, Natalie Cole, Rosemary Clooney, Ramsey Lewis, Kirk Whalum, Toby Keith, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jerry Jeff Walker, Jimmy Buffet, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, Levon Helm, Kenny Rankin, Houston Person, Bucky Pizzarelli, John Clayton, Jeff Hamilton, Los Angeles Jazz Institute, Mindi Abair, Euge Groove, Jack Jones, The Platters, The Ink Spots, Shoshana Bean, Jayne Lynch, The Mills Brothers, David Cassidy, Tom Wopat, The Vocal Majority, Joan Rivers, and many more.

In the musical theater world, Piper has played for more than 30 years with Broadway Dallas (formerly Dallas Summer Musicals), Broadway at the Bass (Bass Hall in Fort Worth) and at the Winspear Opera House in Dallas. His show credits include Pretty Woman, Ain't Too Proud, Dreamgirls, Wicked, Kinky Boots, Hairspray, Chicago, The Bodyguard, Little Mermaid, A Chorus Line, The Color Purple, Pippin, Beautiful, Billy Elliot, The Producers, Something Rotten, Les Miserables, Wizard of Oz, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, The Wiz, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Mean Girls and many more.

In the advertising and creative media industry, Piper has produced and/or performed countless radio/tv/film projects, commercials and shows. These include NBC Sports, Arena Football, World Cup Soccer, Burger King, CNN, Fox Sports, SKY Radio and TV and countless local and national commercials in markets worldwide, and in many languages. As a producer and staff arranger for several independent film company projects, he has produced the Prague and London Symphony Orchestras.

2026 JAZZFEST SCHEDULE

All performances in the Fine Arts Recital Hall

9:45 a.m. - Kingston Middle School
10:30 a.m. - Coalgate High School
11:15 a.m. - Sherman High School
Noon - Kingston High School
12:45 p.m. - lunch
2:00 p.m. - Durant High School
3:00 p.m. - Southeastern Jazz performance
4:00 p.m. - Brian Piper Quintet performance