The fifth annual SteelStacks High School Jazz Band Showcase is Feb. 14 - March 20, Musikfest Café, ArtsQuest Center, SteelStacks, Bethlehem.

The 2016 jazz band showcase is the largest in the event’s history, with 16 bands set to take the stage during the three preliminaries, including newcomers Wilson Area High School, Emmaus High School and Delaware Valley High School. The event’s top three finalists receive the chance to open for artists at the RiverJazz jazz series, April and May 2016.

The scholastic jazz groups perform for an audience and judging panel of music educators. The event’s preliminaries are Feb. 14 and 21. Six groups, as determined by the judges, advance to the finals March 20.

The SteelStacks High School Jazz Band Showcase is a music-in-education program of ArtsQuest and the Moravian College Music Department’s Jazz Studies Program and is made possible in part by King, Spry, Herman, Freund & Faul, LLC, in association with 69-WFMZ-TV and Greenleaf Productions. The jazz band showcase schedule is:

Feb. 14, Noon: Belvidere High School, Kutztown High School, North Penn High School, Wilson Area High School;

Feb. 21, Noon: Brandywine Heights High School, Easton High School, Freedom High School, Phillipsburg High School, Pocono Mountain East High School, Warren Hills High School;

Feb. 21, 4 p.m.: Delaware Valley High School, Emmaus High School, Joe’s Jazz Café (Quakertown High School), Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts, Saucon Valley High School, Quakertown High School

Ticket information: steelstacks.org, 610-332-3378