Maria Schneider Orchestra

The Maria Schneider Orchestra is beyond categorization—there is nothing else in the jazz world that comes even close. Schneider blurs the lines between genres, and is among the handful of artists to have received Grammys in both classical and jazz categories (with 12 nominations and five wins, including two in 2016 alone). Maria Schneider Orchestra's concert at McCarter will include new music, classic staples, and selections from her Grammy Award-winning album, The Thompson Fields (Best Large Jazz Ensemble), which The New York Times called “an extravagant show of her strengths: precise, expressive harmony; ribbons of diaphanous texture; and a rhythmic that doesn’t feel propulsive so much as wind-borne. It places her in the pantheon of big-band composer-leaders, just below Strayhorn, Ellington, and Gil Evans—which is saying something.”

“Maria Schneider has a handsome collection of Grammys, and the accolades are well deserved. This protégé of the late bandleading and arranging genius Gil Evans fronts the most polished modern jazz orchestra on the planet, a vehicle for her lush, intricate and refreshingly accessible works.” – Time Out New York