The Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory is a center for musical studies which opened in the fall of 2007 in the sub-metropolitan city of Lalitpur, just outside Kathmandu, Nepal. Since we open we ccomplished what no other music institution did in Nepal before: to put professional music education on the hands of everyone. We are proud to be leading Nepal’s education. Our comprehensive curriculum allows students to choose from among a variety of courses including applied lessons in various instruments, music arranging, improvisation, jazz and Hindustani music theory and history, ear training, midi instruction, studio recording – subjects not offered elsewhere in Nepal. To achieve this we are recruiting teachers from abroad to help train the Nepali people so in the future the school will feature a highly skilled, competent and fully Nepali staff.

We have more than 300 students per semester, and trained hundreds more. Dr. Gene Aitken, one of the leading music educators in the world, inaugurated KJC and is our mentor and adviser. NMES, Nepal Music Educators Society, a non-profit organization that is in partnership with KJC, is the first society about music education in the country and with more than 50 members. NMES, is running a 20-month training program funded by the Danish Embassy in Kathmandu. www.nmes.org

We hold regular workshops and have brought many international musicians to do free workshops for all of our students. We have the only Aebersold Jazz Practice Room in South Asia, donated directly by Mr. Jamie Aebersold, the Jazz Educator.

KJC has the first and only Big-Band in Nepal, the KJC Jazz Orchestra. Since January 2008 KJC keeps running its famous Concert Series, monthly concerts that take place the last Saturday of the month and are free to the community. Katjazz Records, KJC’s record label, with its state-of-the-art facility, continues to grow. Great bands recorded their albums with us: 1974 AD, Kutumba, NIGHT, jindabaad, Shuva Prabhat, Albatross and many others. Definitely one of the best studios in KTM with the most professional staff, the perfect place to learn audio engineer.

We at KJC want to keep growing. Producing music professionals that care and make a difference in their community. We want to develop outreach programs, shows, discovering new talented musicians and keep improving our facilities and faculty.