Above: St. Mark’s students and faculty will be joined at their annual jazz festival by a singer/songwriter and jazz players from Algonquin and Trottier. (cropped image of flyer)
This weekend, St. Mark’s School is holding its annual jazz festival. The Cutler Jazz Festival features guest performers along with the school’s Jazz Band. The public is invited to attend for free or stream live!
The year’s featured guest performer is Grace Darko, singer/songwriter and St. Marks Class of 2018 alum.
The private school also invited Southborough’s public school jazz musicians to be part of the music festival. Trottier Middle School Big Band will play, along with Algonquin Regional High School’s Jazz I Ensemble.
Darko’s website’s bio describes her as a vocalist whose work lives at the intersection of jazz, soul, and diasporic storytelling:
A 2026 Motif Rhode Island Music Award winner (Favorite R&B / Soul Act) and runner-up for Favorite Jazz Act, Grace is recognized for honoring tradition while creating contemporary, emotionally resonant performance experiences. . .
Jazz and R&B/Soul are foundational Black American art forms — born from resistance, improvisation, innovation, and community care. Grace approaches this lineage with intention, blending warmth, rhythmic depth, and lyrical clarity in both standards and original work.
Her performances invite audiences into spaces that feel intimate yet expansive — where every note carries purpose.
You can learn more about her here. But to get a feel for her work you can find videos of past performances here and check out this clip of her performing one of her original songs below:
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The St. Mark’s concert will take place Sunday, April 12th at 6:30 pm. The event will be in the Class of ’45 Hall inside Putnam Family Arts Center (#13 on the campus map).
The annual celebration of jazz is supported by the Cutler Music Fund, in memory of Tim Cutler ’89, to honor “his legacy through an evening of vibrant musical expression”.
No registration is required to attend. But if you prefer to watch from home (or elsewhere) you can live stream the performance here.
