Kristen Strom
“With a tone that's lithe and lustrous, Kristen Strom embodies her musical philosophy in every note she plays.” - Andy Gilbert, San Jose Mercury News
Saxophonist Kristen Strom has been a mainstay on the Bay Area music scene for nearly two decades, acclaimed for beautifully rendered melodies, exceptional tonality, and accomplished musicianship. Strom has played alongside many well-known artists, including Manhattan Transfer, Gladys Knight, Natalie Cole, Roberta Flack, Johnny Mathis, Jimmy Heath, Steve Turre, Pamela Rose, and Jon Faddis.
In addition to her solo albums, Intention, Sojourn and Moving Day: The Music of John Shifflett, she has recorded more than 40 CDs with various jazz and pop artists, including the international jazz group Crossing Borders, John Worley and Worlview, Pamela Rose, Ed Johnson and Novo Tempo, Wally Schnalle, Tammy L. Hall, The Jim Norton Collective and poet Paul Zarzyski. Moving Day: The Music of John Shifflett was included in the Best Jazz Albums of 2018 by the Mercury News. Her touring schedule has included performances across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia.
Kristen is on the faculty of Santa Clara University, West Valley College and the Stanford Jazz Workshop. She is an endorsing artist and clinician for Selmer saxophones.
Pamela Hart
Pamela Hart is a pillar in the Austin jazz community. She has devoted over 25 years of her life towards singing jazz and keeping the jazz genre alive. In addition to regular performances and concerts, Pamela co-produces the annual Women in Jazz Concert Series. She also presents vocal performance workshop and private vocal coaching. Pamela loves to sing for and teach young people about jazz and jazz performance. She also presents an “Uplift Jazz Project” performing in senior community centers and nursing homes. Pamela performed Sunday livestream house concerts most Sundays in 2020 to soothe the soul during Covid-19 sheltering. She was inducted into the Austin Jazz Society Hall of Fame in 2018. She released a CD, “Happy Talk” in May 2021.
Juliana Silveira
Juliana Silveira is a Brazilian pianist graduated from Santa Marcelina University (São Paulo-Brazil). She took part in a wide range of different bands from the rich music scene in São Paulo, from big bands and singers projects to piano solo concerts, having performed in various important stages in the city. In 2017 she moved to Austin, Texas, where she continues her work as a performer and educator. In 2023 Juliana finished her studies at University of Austin at Texas and now holds a master degree in Jazz Piano Performance.
Danielle Reich
Danielle Reich is a Houston-based jazz, swing, and French chanson vocalist. Danielle has been featured at the Trinity Jazz Festival, the Manouche NW Concert Series, the Houston Composers Salon, the Austin Jazz Festival, Houston Fringe Festival, and the Western Swing Hall of Fame. She performs with Houston trad jazz ensemble Boomtown Brass Band and jazz manouche ensemble Swing Rendezvous, as well as with avant-garde composer/bassist Thomas Helton‘s Relative Dissonance improvising ensemble, and performs new works for musicians and dancers with the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble in Houston and New York.
Peggy Stern
In 2020, LuluFest became virtual out of necessity, because of Covid-19. Music being presented on film - even if live-streamed was not feasible for LuluFest 2021, so we used the space and time, to create an archive of Festivals over the years. Hence, the mini-Doc to be shown at LuluFest 2022, memorializing all 17 years of the Festival(s), and the women who participated. This is our re-entry into the live festival tradition, and we are very much looking forward to presenting another eclectic and joyous celebration of women band leaders!
Previous LuluFest Artists
Sara Caswell
Grammy® Nominee Sara Caswell “is a brilliant world-class violinist...one of the very best of the present generation of emerging young jazz stars” according to the late David Baker, internationally-renowned jazz educator and Director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. Rooted in an early exposure to a variety of musical genres, Sara’s technical facility intertwined with her gift for lyricism continue to attract growing attention to her artistry as a jazz soloist, sideman, and teacher.
Sara’s artistry and unique sound led international recording artist/violinist Mark O’Connor to write: “Most good violinists will never experience what Sara creates with her instrument. It is beautifully refined emotion that lifts the spirit…Jazz violin needs a universal ambassador...a player who can pick up where the last generation left off. Sara is well on her way to extending that tradition to touch new audiences.”
