Maria Schneider leads the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra on Monday, February 4, 2008 at 8 PM in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater
Concert follows weeklong residency at Juilliard Jazz
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Members of the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra include: William Reardon-Anderson, Eddie Barbash, Peter Reardon-Anderson, Thomas Gardner, and Paul Nedzela on saxophones, clarinets and flutes; Kyle Athayde, Aaron Kleinstub, Etienne Charles, and Christopher Burbank on trumpets; James Burton, Marques Young, Willie Applewhite, and Paul Tarussov on trombones; Kenneth Oshodi on guitar; Kris Bowers on piano; Ben Williams on bass; and Ryan Hayden on drums.
FREE tickets are required and are available at the Juilliard Box Office located at 60 Lincoln Center Plaza. Box Office hours are Monday through Friday from 11 AM to 6 PM. To reach the Box Office, take the elevator or escalator located on West 65th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue to the plaza level.
Upcoming Juilliard Jazz concerts include Juilliard Jazz Ensembles performing the music of Juilliard Jazz bachelor’s and master’s students (Jazz Emergent I) on Tuesday, January 22 at 8 PM in Paul Hall (enter at 144 West 66th Street). FREE tickets are available January 8 at the Juilliard Box Office. The music of Billy Strayhorn will be performed by Juilliard Jazz Ensembles on Monday, February 25 at 8 PM in Paul Hall. FREE tickets are available February 11 at the Juilliard Box Office.
Maria Schneider’s music has been described as evocative, majestic, magical, heart-stoppingly gorgeous. Born in Windom, Minnesota, Ms. Schneider arrived in New York City in 1985 after studies at the University of Minnesota, the University of Miami, and the Eastman School of Music. She sought out Bob Brookmeyer to study composition and at the same time became an assistant to Gil Evans, working on various projects with him.
Ms. Schneider formed her own band in 1993 – the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra. In addition to performing at the Greenwich Village nightclub, Visiones, for five years in Manhattan, the group performed at festivals and concert halls across Europe, as well as in Brazil and Macau (Hong Kong). She received numerous commissions and invitations from American and European orchestras, guest conducting in Brazil, Italy, Portugal, France, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Slovenia, Austria, Canada, Scotland, Australia, Greenland, and Iceland, as well as across the U.S. Commissions include the Norrbotten Big Band’s and Danish Radio Orchestra’s commission to arrange and conduct concerts with Toots Thielemans. Other commissioning organizations include the Metropole Orchestra, Stuttgart Jazz Orchestra, Orchestre National de Jazz, Carnegie Hall Jazz Orchestra, Monterey Jazz Festival, University of Miami Concert Jazz Band, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, among others.
Ms. Schneider’s newest fan-funded ArtistShare® recording, Sky Blue, was released in July 2007. With this project, Ms. Schneider continues to deepen her relationship with her fans through sharing her creative process and utilizing their participation to fuel her work. The composition of the centerpiece work, Cerulean Skies, as well as the album’s entire recording process was fully documented through her Web site at www.mariaschneider.com. Her debut recording, Evanescence, was nominated for two 1995 Grammy Awards. Her second and third recordings, Coming About, and Allegresse, were also nominated for Grammy Awards. Concert in the Garden, released only through her Web site, was a watershed in her career when she won the 2005 Grammy Award for “Best Large Ensemble Album.”
Coming up next for Ms. Schneider is a commission from the Kronos Quartet, and a collaboration with flamenco guitarist Tomatito to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Barcelona’s Palao de la Música Catalana.
The 2007-08 season marks the 7th anniversary of Juilliard Jazz. Juilliard offers an undergraduate jazz program, awarding a bachelor of music degree to those completing its four-year curriculum. This past fall 2007, Juilliard began its master of music degree program in jazz. The two-year program is designed for advanced performers who want to maximize their professional opportunities, onstage, and in the academic world. Students in the program will have equal opportunity for performance and tailored studio and coursework. An artist diploma is also offered through the Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies and is a collaboration between Juilliard and Jazz at Lincoln Center. For more information, go to www.juilliard.edu.
Last season, the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra and Juilliard Jazz Ensembles traveled to Doha, Qatar, the Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis, Missouri, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and performed at the IAJE conference. In summer 2007, they traveled to Snow College in Utah, the Costa Rica International Jazz Festival, the Vitoria Jazz Festival (Vitoria, Spain), the Craftsbury Festival in Vermont, and the Detroit Jazz and Heritage Festival. This upcoming season, the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra will tour Aiken, South Carolina, and the Juilliard Jazz Ensembles will be traveling to St. Louis, Missouri. Carl Allen is interim artistic director of Juilliard Jazz.