Maria Schneider

<strong>Maria Schneider</strong>’s music has been hailed by critics as “evocative, majestic, magical, heart-stoppingly gorgeous, and beyond categorization.” Schneider became widely known through the orchestra she founded in 1992 in New York City, which appeared at Visiones in Greenwich Village every Monday night for five years and subsequently has performed at festivals and concert halls worldwide. Since that time, Schneider has been the recipient of numerous commissions and guest-conducting invitations, working with over eighty groups from over thirty countries spanning Europe, South America, Australia, and the United States. Commissions include the Doris Duke Award to compose a dance work for the American Dance Festival, Vienna’s New Crowned Hope Festival (produced by Peter Sellars), the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Orchestra, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Ojai Festival, and numerous other groups and festivals. Her six recordings with the Maria Schneider Orchestra have received many honors, including two Grammy Awards and nine Grammy nominations. Her album Concert in the Garden, fan funded through ArtistShare, made history as the first album to win a Grammy Award with Internet-only sales. Her upcoming recording, Maria Schneider–Dawn Upshaw, Chamber Works with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra (also fan funded through ArtistShare), will be released December 31, 2012.