Manhattan School of Music

The National Arts Centre Orchestra presents the 2022 Northern Cadence International Jazz Series : three mini jazz concerts from three schools in three different countries!

The Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, the Manhattan School of Music in New York, USA, and the Schulich School of Music of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, have prepared 30-minute concerts featuring their faculty and students performing original and standard repertoire together. 

Inspired by the NAC Orchestra’s 2022 Tour, Truth in Our Time, in which NACO presents the world premiere of Philip Glass’s newest work, each school’s jazz ensemble will select repertoire based around this theme.

The MSM Jazz Ambassadors

PROGRAM

Trust, Dayna Stephens

Truth To Power, Dayna Stephens

Speak, Philip Dizack

Hues, Dayna Stephens

QUESTION PERIOD (20 minutes) 

The MSM Jazz Ambassadors

Dayna Stephens, saxophone

Yuko Kawasaki, voice

Nicola Caminiti, alto Saxophone

Remee Ashlee, trombone

Tommaso Perazzo, piano

Rafael Enciso, bass

Quinten Cain, drums

MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC

Founded as a community music school by Janet Daniels Schenck in 1918, today MSM is recognized for its more than 960 superbly talented undergraduate and graduate students who come from more than 50 countries and nearly all 50 states; its innovative curricula and world-renowned artist-teacher faculty that includes musicians from the New York Philharmonic, the Met Orchestra, and the top ranks of the jazz and Broadway communities; and a distinguished community of accomplished, award-winning alumni working at the highest levels of the musical, educational, cultural, and professional worlds. 

The School is dedicated to the personal, artistic, and intellectual development of aspiring musicians, from its Precollege students through those pursuing doctoral studies. Offering classical, jazz, and musical theatre training, MSM grants a range of undergraduate and graduate degrees. True to MSM’s origins as a music school for children, the Precollege program continues to offer superior music instruction to 475 young musicians between the ages of 5 and 18. The School also serves some 2,000 New York City schoolchildren through its Arts-in-Education Program, and another 2,000 students through its critically acclaimed Distance Learning Program.

ABOUT THE MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC JAZZ ARTS

Manhattan School of Music was one of the first conservatories in the United States to acknowledge the importance of jazz as an art form by establishing undergraduate and graduate degree programs in jazz. The program is one of the richest of its kind, combining systematic and rigorous conservatory training with a myriad of performance and networking opportunities in New York City. In addition to a variety of small combos, student ensembles include the LatinX Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Orchestra, and the Jazz Philharmonic. The program is under the leadership of Interim Associate Dean and Director of Jazz Arts and jazz trumpet faculty member Ingrid Jensen. 

In addition to studies with a faculty drawn from the highest ranks of the jazz world, students are provided opportunities to play for and observe world-renowned guest artists. Master classes in recent years have been presented by Terrence Blanchard (trumpet), Billy Childs (piano, composition), Buster Williams (bass), Ron Carter (bass), Christian Scott (trumpet), Barry Harris (piano), Stefon Harris (vibraphone), Maria Schneider (composition), Vijay Iyer (piano), Jason Moran (MM ’97) (piano), Christian McBride (bass), Jimmy Heath (tenor saxophone), Jon Faddis (trumpet), Gary Burton (vibraphone), and Wycliffe Gordon (trombone). 

Every concert season, prominent guest artists are featured with our large ensembles, providing enriched performance experiences for students. Guest artists have included Omar Thomas, Jim McNeely, Jane Monheit, Candido, Dave Liebman, Randy Weston, Joe Lovano, Bob Mintzer, Randy Brecker, Jon Faddis, Paquito D’Rivera, and Miguel Zenón (MM ‘01). 

Join us in these casual jazz encounters where three schools collide and learn from each other. Audience participation is encouraged! Ask your questions in the chat during the live session.

On April 2, the three 30-minute concerts will be featured as a 90-minute concert, presented by the NAC and live streamed from our website and on Facebook.

About NACO’s Truth In Our Time 2022 Tour

NACO is back on the road this spring with the Truth in Our Time 2022 Tour, making stops in Toronto, New York, and Ottawa.

Under the direction of Alexander Shelley, and featuring violin soloists James Ehnes (Gramophone Artist of the Year 2021) and Blake Pouliot, NACO presents the world premiere of Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 13, a work commissioned by the Orchestra on the theme “Truth in Our Time”, as well as exhilarating and moving pieces by Canadian composer Nicole Lizée, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Erich Korngold. Celebrate with us this exciting orchestral experience!

Philip Glass’s moving Symphony No 13 is a tribute to Canadian-American journalist Peter Jennings. Mr. Jennings was not only a highly respected news anchor for ABC News, he was also a trustee of Carnegie Hall during his years in New York City, the founding director of the American chapter of the Friends of the NAC Orchestra, and served as a lifelong champion of Canadian artists.