Friday, February 24, 2012
Maria Schneider Orchestra to Debut New Music at the Newport Jazz Festival® Produced by Newport Festivals Foundation™ August 3 - 5, 2012
George Wein Shares An Advance Look at the 2012 Newport Jazz Festival®
With "the most significant big band jazz composer of our time" (The Christian Science Monitor) at the helm, the Maria Schneider Orchestra is sure to impress at the Newport Jazz Festival on Sunday, August 5.
Maria Schneider's music has been called evocative, majestic, magical, heart-stoppingly gorgeous and beyond categorization. With compositions that reach across genres, the arranger, composer and big band leader has been commissioned by a variety of prestigious institutions, ranging from the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association to the Carnegie Hall Jazz Orchestra to the Metropole Orchestra in the Netherlands.
Since its formation in 1993, the Maria Schneider Orchestra has released six albums and has received nine Grammy award-nominations and two Grammy awards. Their 2004 album, Concert in the Garden, was the first Grammy award-winning record sold exclusively on the internet.
The orchestra consists of: Maria Schneider, composer, conductor; Steve Wilson, Charles Pillow, Rich Perry, Donny McCaslin and Scott Robinson, reeds; Tony Kadleck, Greg Gisbert, Laurie Frink and Ingrid Jensen, trumpets; Keith O'Quinn, Ryan Kaberle, Marshall Gilkes and George Flynn, trombones; Lage Lund, guitar; Frank Kimbrough, piano; Jay Anderson, bass; Clarence Penn, drums; and an accordion player.
Schneider was one of the first artists to use the crowd-funding website ArtistShare, which allows the general public to directly fund creative projects. With two ArtistShare projects under her belt, her third project is currently being funded and will debut this year at the Newport Jazz Festival.
Although Schneider quips, "Nothing like self-imposing the pressure of a Newport premiere on myself," she is certainly up to the challenge.
Schneider's appearance this year will be her second at the Newport Jazz Festival, with the first highlighted by a performance of a song about sailing called "Coming About," performed against the majesty of the sailboat-filled water surrounding Fort Adams.
Schneider says she is "really happy and really blessed to be asked to play" at Newport again, and is looking forward to unveiling something “new and special his year."
Stay tuned for more exciting news about the 2012 Newport Jazz Festival produced by George Wein and the Newport Festivals Foundation August 3 - 5. The complete schedule will be announced on Tuesday, March 13, and tickets will go on sale March 15. For more information on the Newport Jazz Festival and Newport Festivals Foundation, visit www.newportjazzfest.net and www.newportfestivalsfoundation.org.
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Contact: Carolyn McClair / CMPR
(917) 686-0854 / Carolyn@CarolynMcClairPR.com
Carolyn McClair
