Carnegie Hall

This week, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute (WMI) is proud to announce the launch of NYO Jazz, a four-week intensive summer program designed to nurture and showcase the talents of exceptional young American jazz instrumentalists (ages 16–19), beginning in the summer of 2018.

This new program will bring together outstanding jazz musicians from across the US to collaborate with their peers and experience in-depth training under the guidance of a world-class faculty, as well as a different celebrated guest artist each year. In its inaugural year, trumpeter, composer, and educator Sean Jones will lead NYO Jazz as its first artistic advisor, directing the big band’s debut performance at Carnegie Hall in July 2018, followed by a tour of Europe’s great music capitals and prestigious festivals.

NYO Jazz builds on the success of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA) and NYO2 programs created by WMI in 2013 and 2016, respectively, which bring together the finest young classical musicians from across the country each summer. NYO Jazz aims to be one of the nation’s most distinctive summer jazz programs for student musicians, combining training, performance, and international touring. As with NYO-USA and NYO2, NYO Jazz will be offered free-of-charge to all participants.

“We are excited to extend our acclaimed NYO initiatives from the classical realm to the world of jazz,” said Clive Gillinson, Carnegie Hall’s Executive and Artistic Director. “NYO Jazz will offer the country’s brightest young jazz musicians unique opportunities to make music together, alongside the chance to be mentored by the finest jazz players, led by Sean Jones, a distinguished artist and dedicated educator with a deep commitment to cultivating young musicians. There is a wealth of talent across the country due to the variety of well-developed school and community jazz programs. NYO Jazz seeks to further develop students’ musical gifts and share their artistry with American and international audiences as superb musical youth ambassadors for the US.”

Sean Jones is a Grammy Award–nominated trumpeter, composer, and educator. He is chair of the Brass Department at Berklee College of Music, artistic director of the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra, and regularly offers master classes and clinics around the world. He served for six years as the first-chair trumpeter for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and has performed and/or recorded with Joe Lovano, Chico O’Farrill, Jimmy Heath, Nancy Wilson, Stevie Wonder, and Dianne Reeves, as well as with Marcus Miller, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter in the 2011 Tribute to Miles tour. Mr. Jones tours regularly with his own quartet, and is a member of The SFJAZZ Collective. His eighth recording for Mack Avenue Records, Live from Jazz at the Bistro, is scheduled for release in May 2017.

“I am incredibly honored to have been invited by Carnegie Hall to be the artistic advisor and featured guest artist for NYO Jazz in its first year,” said Mr. Jones. “I look forward to sharing what promises to be an unforgettable, life-changing educational and cultural experience with the students who will come together to create NYO Jazz, as well as inspiring audiences with memorable performances that place the spotlight on our gifted youth and America’s beloved musical genre.”

As with NYO-USA and NYO2, NYO Jazz musicians will be in residency for two weeks at Purchase College, State University of New York, located in Westchester County, just north of New York City, where they will participate in their initial training and rehearsals. In addition to coaching and mentoring by top jazz artists, there will also be side-by-side music-making and artistic collaboration among the three NYO ensembles. All rehearsals and training will be centered at Purchase College’s highly-regarded Performing Arts Center, as well as in the rehearsal studios of its School for the Arts Conservatory of Music.

Information on NYO Jazz’s inaugural European tour will be announced in the fall of 2017.

Photo of Sean Jones by Jimmy Katz.