The Picton Gazette, CHRIS FANNING, STAFF WRITER, July 13, 2023 When I asked PEC Jazz Festival creative director Colleen Allen about the strong contingent of female instrumentalists headlining this year’s program, including herself as saxophonist, clarinetist Virginia MacDonald and another sax player, Alison Young, Allen paused and said “I’d be disingenuous to say that I […]

The Clarinet Online, by Joanna Wiltshire, July 18, 2023 Virginia MacDonald, Canadian jazz clarinet virtuoso and ClarinetFest® 2023 headliner, inspired with a workshop/masterclass at 3:45 PM on Thursday, 7/6 in the Meadowbrook room at the Westin. The large room held about 50-60 people and continued to fill in throughout the hour. MacDonald started the class […]

Ottawa Citizen – by Peter Hum Canadian Jazz Collective When: Thursday, April 6, 8 p.m. Where: National Arts Centre, Azrieli Studio Tickets: $45 plus fees at nac-cna.ca Look at a list of Canada’s top exports and you’ll see goods such as crude petroleum, cars, petroleum gas, planes, helicopters and even spacecraft. You will not see […]

Kirk MacDonald, Derrick Gardner, Lorne Lofsky, Brian Dickinson, Neil Swainson, Bernd Reiter &Virginia MacDonald (Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, 11 May 2022. Live review by Charles Rees) The Canadian Jazz Collective (L-R: Brian Dickinson, Virginia MacDonald, Lorne Lofsky, Derrick Gardner, Neil Swainson, Kirk MacDonald & Bernd Reiter). Photo credit: Robert Crowley The modern jazz audience has […]

Ottawa Citizen – by Peter Hum – Nov 14, 2021 Toronto-based clarinetist Virginia MacDonald recently returned from a trip to the Maritimes, where, among other things, she did this: That prestigious performance in Halifax was MacDonald’s 10th show this fall, and she has eight more gigs before the end of November, in Toronto, Montreal, Waterloo […]