Carnegie Hall’s new national youth jazz orchestra, NYO Jazz, featuring 22 gifted young jazz musicians from across the country, will make its Carnegie Hall debut this Friday, July 27 at 8:00 p.m.
NYO Jazz’s performance features bandleader and trumpeter Sean Jones, alongside Grammy Award-winning vocalist Dianne Reeves and trombonist Wycliffe Gordon. The program will range from big band standards to the first Carnegie Hall-commissioned works for NYO Jazz, a new piece by saxophonist Miguel Zenón and several new arrangements, as well as other contemporary pieces that explore jazz’s influence on hip-hop, R&B, and pop music.
After their Carnegie Hall debut, the ensemble, along with Sean Jones and Dianne Reeves, depart for NYO Jazz’s inaugural European tour, flying first to London for a performance in Bury St. Edmunds (July 31) and Cadogan Hall (August 1), followed by a concert in Amsterdam at Robeco SummerNights at the Royal Concertgebouw (August 2). They continue in Edinburgh with a concert at Usher Hall at the invitation of the Edinburgh International Festival (August 5), then a performance in Kassel, Germany at Kultursommer Nordhessen (August 8). The tour concludes in Berlin with a concert at the Young Euro Classic Festival at the Konzerthaus (August 10).
This Friday’s Carnegie Hall debut is the culmination of NYO Jazz’s two-week intensive training residency at Purchase College, State University of New York, during which the promising young players train with leading jazz players from across the US. As part of their touring activities, NYO Jazz players will share their artistry with international audiences while experiencing European culture. They will have the opportunity to explore the countries in which they are touring and interact with local musicians from the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO), making meaningful connections as cultural ambassadors around the world.
