On Saturday, January 26, 23 Portsmouth Abbey students loaded their musical gear onto a bus and headed to Berklee College of Music for the annual High School Jazz Festival. Representing the School were the jazz band and Enharmonix, a vocal jazz group.

The festival, which is free and open the public, drew more than 200 high school jazz ensembles and more than 5,000 attendees. It is comprised of three competitive categories: Large Ensembles, Combo Ensembles, and Vocal Jazz ensembles. Big bands, combos, and vocal jazz ensembles performed and competed throughout the day. All ensembles were adjudicated by a panel of Berklee’s top faculty and received a written critique of their performance.

The big winner of the day was Rory O'Neill '19, who took home the Outstanding Musician award for the Vocal 2 category. "All of our Abbey students sang, or played very well," Director of Music Jeff Kerr says. "Our musicians should be extremely proud of what they accomplished as they were excellent musical ambassadors for our program, and the School, at the largest festival of its kind in the entire country."