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Maria Schneider |
Born: November 27, 1960
Born in Windom, Minnesota, she earned her BM degree from the University of Minnesota, studied at the University of Miami, and received a Master's degree from the Eastman School of Music. After moving to New York City, she received a National Endowment for the Arts grant to study composition with Bob Brookmeyer. Later she became an assistant to Gil Evans, during which time she helped with scoring projects for the movie "The Color of Money" and Sting's 1987 European tour. At the 1993 Spoleto Music Festival and the 1996 JVC Jazz Festival in NYC Maria conducted the Gil Evans Orchestra in a concert of selections by Evans.
In 1994 she was commissioned to write music for and conduct concerts with Toots Thielemans and the Norrbotten Big Band of Sweden. She and Thielemans continue to work together with various European orchestras including the Stockholm Jazz Orchestra, the UMO Orchestra (Finland), the Brussels Jazz Orchestra (Belgium), and Blechschaden Big Band (Germany), the Danish Radio Big Band, the Metropole Orchestra (Holland), and the Orchestre National de Jazz (Paris).
Her own jazz orchestra performed at Visiones in Greenwich Village every Monday night for five years (1993-1998). They have also performed in Macau, Brazil and extensively in Europe. Maria's debut recording "Evanescence" on the Enja label was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1995. Her second recording, "Coming About" (1996), was also nominated for a Grammy Award. Maria received the Critics' Choice "Best Composer" award at the 1998 New York Jazz Awards at Lincoln Center.
Email: devra@lushlife.com Website: www.lushlife.com/mariaschneider
Publications by Maria Schneider