Maria Schneider Orchestra

Hailed as a “national treasure” (NPR), Maria Schneider is one of the greatest big-band composers and leaders in history. Schneider and her 18-member collective of “stratospheric” (The New York Times) jazz geniuses first entered the international spotlight in 1994 with the release of their debut album, Evanescence. Today Schneider and her orchestra have earned 12 GRAMMY nominations and five GRAMMY awards across multiple categories, a reflection of the group’s musical depth, variety, and ability to seamlessly blur the lines between genres. Lauded for taking her music to “a seemingly impossible height” (All About Jazz), Schneider has received a GRAMMY (Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals) for her collaboration with David Bowie, was awarded three first-place rankings in the last DownBeat International Critics Poll, and most recently earned a Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album GRAMMY for her newest recording, The Thompson Fields. “From the lustrous opening chords of a Maria Schneider concert, you can feel you are swept off your feet and falling through space—but with the certainty that someone with a lot of emotional intelligence is there to catch you” (The Guardian).

Performance Santa Fe is thrilled to offer a master class with Maria Schneider and her 18-member collective to NMSA and University of New Mexico music students on Friday, March 2 at 2:00 pm.

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For interviews and photos, please contact Lily Carbone: lily@performancesantafe.org or 505 984 8759