The Frost School of Music at the University of Miami recently announced the appointment of five-time Grammy Award winning recording artist and 2019 NEA Jazz Master Maria Schneider as artistic director of the Frost School’s Henry Mancini Institute.
The announcement was made jointly by Dean Shelton G. Berg and Stephen James Guerra Jr., managing director of the Henry Mancini Institute.
Schneider’s appointment will be a school-wide residency crossing and blending musical genres. Schneider, who attended the FSOM in 1983, is scheduled to be in residency for a week in the spring of 2019, the fall of 2019 and the spring of 2020. To launch the association, a concert and VIP reception is scheduled for Apr. 5, details of which are forthcoming and will be announced on www.Frost.Miami.edu.
“I am thrilled to welcome Maria Schneider back to our Frost family as artistic director of the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra,” Dean Berg said. “This is truly a match made in music heaven. Not only is Maria a multi-Grammy winner, NEA Master and one of the most celebrated composers of our time, she is a trailblazing advocate for music industry rights and education. We look forward to the brilliance she will bring to our school and students.”
Schneider, commenting on her new association with the Frost School, said, “The Henry Mancini Institute offers a most powerful and rare opportunity to young musicians.
“I am thrilled at the chance to help the Institute to create fertile ground to inspire young writers and players to think boldly, to search for the most expressive and create possibilities they can find, and to use this tremendous opportunity to discover potential and gather skills that they can build on for a lifetime,” she added.
“What an extraordinary opportunity for our HMI fellows!” Guerra said. “Her unparalleled understanding of music from many genres including Jazz, Latin American, and Contemporary Classical is a perfect fit for the mission and goals of HMI. Maria’s perspective on performance, composition, and career building will provide our students with extremely unique and enriching experiences that will better prepare them for their own professional endeavors.”
Schneider’s music has been hailed by critics as “evocative, majestic, magical, heart-stoppingly gorgeous, and beyond categorization.” She and her orchestra became widely known starting in 1994 when they released their first recording, Evanescence.
There, Schneider began to develop her personal way of writing for what would become her 18-member collective, made up of many of the finest musicians in jazz today, tailoring her compositions to distinctly highlight the uniquely creative voices of the group. The Maria Schneider Orchestra has performed at festivals and concert halls worldwide. She has received numerous commissions and guest conducting invites, working with over 85 groups from more than 30 countries.Schneider’s music blurs the lines between genres, making her long list of commissioners quite varied, stretching from Jazz at Lincoln Center, to The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, to collaborating with David Bowie. She is among a few to have received Grammys in multiple genres, have received the award in both jazz and classical categories, as well as for her work with David Bowie.
