The seven-time Grammy award-winning Maria Schneider Orchestra has been hailed by critics as “evocative, majestic, magical, heart-stoppingly gorgeous and beyond categorization.” In 2019, the National Endowment for the Arts named Schneider an NEA Jazz Master. Schneider’s latest album, “Data Lords,” won the Grammy for Large Jazz Ensemble Album in 2021.
The Maria Schneider Orchestra has performed at festivals and concert halls worldwide. She has received numerous commissions and guest conducting invites, working with over 90 groups in over 30 countries. Her 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 small few to have received Grammy’s in multiple genres, having received the award in both jazz and classical categories, as well as for her work with David Bowie.
She and her orchestra have a distinguished recording career with 14 Grammy nominations and 7 Grammy awards. Unique funding of projects has become a hallmark through the trendsetting company, ArtistShare. Her album, “Concert in the Garden” (2004) became historic as the first recording to win a Grammy with internet-only sales; even more significantly, it blazed the crowdfunding trail as ArtistShare’s first release. It was also selected to be in the Library of Congress’s very select National Recording Registry. Schneider and her orchestra have received many honors by the Jazz Journalists Association, Downbeat and JazzTimes Critics and Readers Polls. In 2012, the University of Minnesota, Schneider’s alma mater, presented her with an honorary doctorate. ASCAP awarded her their esteemed Concert Music Award in 2014.