Maria Schneider Orchestra

APR 16–19 | Big Band Week

Apr 16, 2020

Miner Auditorium

PLEASE NOTE:
This page is an archive of a past production

Please visit our calendar for all upcoming SFJAZZ shows.

Original show description below.

ALL SFJAZZ SHOWS AND EVENTS CANCELED THROUGH AUGUST 16

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, we have made the decision to cancel the remainder of the 2019–20 Season, including all shows and education events that were previously scheduled from March 11–May 31, the 38th Annual San Francisco Jazz Festival, which was scheduled from June 9–21, and Summer Sessions 2020 which was scheduled from July 9–August 16.

If you have tickets to this show, or any of the canceled shows, we ask you to consider donating your tickets back to SFJAZZ to help us address the immediate needs of SFJAZZ, the artists we serve and the education programs we provide.

Donate Tickets

If you would like to make other arrangements, please contact our Box Office at boxoffice@sfjazz.org or call 415.788.7353. For more information, visit the SFJAZZ ticket policies page.

The “pre-eminent big band composer of our time” (Slate), Maria Schneider is a five-time GRAMMY award winner. Her swirling, whirling compositions possess the “sweep and drama of tone poems” from the classical repertoire (The New York Times), yet her 18-piece orchestra remains steeped in the jazz tradition, delivering her works with fire and swing. In San Francisco, the group – “A Who’s Who of New York jazz aces” (San Jose Mercury News) – will perform selections from Data Lords, Schneider’s new album, with the composer conducting.

A Minnesota native, Schneider attended the Eastman School of Music before moving to Manhattan where she was mentored by legendary jazz arrangers Gil Evans and Bob Brookmeyer. As Evans’s copyist and assistant, she collaborated on music for a tour with Sting and helped score The Color of Money, the 1986 film directed by Martin Scorsese. In the early ‘90s, she formed the Maria Schneider Orchestra and began to receive accolades for her recordings, including Concert in the Garden, Sky Blue and The Thompson Fields, all resplendent with billowing Ravel-like textures. Her collaborators have ranged from David Bowie to operatic soprano Dawn Upshaw, and her band has included many top jazz soloists, including saxophonists Donny McCaslin and Steve Wilson, pianist Frank Kimbrough and drummer Johnathan Blake. Described as “a national treasure” by NPR, Schneider is an advocate for musicians’ rights and has testified before Congress about copyright issues and free online streaming. She has critiqued big data companies for their impact on privacy and culture; hence, the title of her new recording, Data Lords.

Described as "a national treasure" by NPR, Schneider has critiqued big data companies for their impact on privacy and culture; hence, the title of her new recording, Data Lords.

WITH GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM
Bill & Margie Holdnak