News release
The annual Downs Fischer Jazz Festival is scheduled to return to Golden Valley High School on Friday, hosted by the Golden Valley High School Music Department and the GVHS Band and Color Guard Boosters.
The event begins at 5 p.m. in the Golden Valley High School gym.
Admission is $15 for adults and $10 for children 12 and under. Tickets can be purchased online and will also be available at the door.
Admission includes a full evening of live jazz performances, plus a pizza and salad dinner with a drink and dessert. Advance tickets can be purchased at my.cheddarup.com/c/downs-fischer-jazz-festival-2026/items.
The festival will feature performances by jazz ensembles from across the William S. Hart Union High School District, including: Arroyo Seco Junior High, Canyon High School, Castaic High School, Castaic Middle School, Golden Valley High School, Hart High School, La Mesa Junior High, Rancho Pico Junior High, Saugus High School, Sierra Vista Junior High, Valencia High School and West Ranch High School, with special performances from the College of the Canyons Jazz Band and the Go Jazz Big Band.
The Downs Fischer Jazz Festival began in the 1970s at COC and has grown into a long-standing tradition in the Santa Clarita Valley. The festival was established by noted composer, arranger, and longtime COC music educator Stewart “Dirk” Fischer to recognize the immense contributions of Robert K. Downs, a pioneering music educator who laid the foundation for the high-caliber music programs in the Hart district and at COC, said a news release from the Golden Valley band boosters.
Beginning at Hart High School — then the district’s only high school — Downs built the music program into a successful, award-winning department, particularly in jazz, the release said. “His influence extended beyond the district, helping high school jazz bands develop a more contemporary style of performance.”
Downs later established the music department at COC, where he eventually served as Fine Arts Department chair. Many of his students went on to perform professionally and semi-professionally. His leadership also brought other high-quality educators into the community, including longtime Hart High band director Larry Thornton and Fischer, who succeeded Downs in leading the COC jazz program.
Fischer directed the COC Jazz Department for 27 years before semi-retiring in 2005. He founded the R.K. Downs Jazz Festival as a tribute to Downs and as an opportunity for local high school jazz bands to perform in an informal, collegial setting ahead of the competitive spring season. After Fischer’s death in 2013, Hart district band directors added his name to the festival in recognition of his lasting impact, the release said.
Community members are invited to attend and support local student performers. Golden Valley High School is located at 27051 Robert C. Lee Parkway in Santa Clarita.
For more information, go to www.goldenvalleyhsband.org.
