Thursday, January 23, 2014

MEET THE BAND!


Jay Rodriguez is a Grammy Nominated Saxophonist, Flautist, Clarinetist, Film Composer, Producer and Arranger. He was born Hernan Ramiro Rodriguez-Sierra in the coastal port city of Barranquilla Colombia on September 17, 1967. His family immigrated to NYC when he was 3 in 1970. He commenced his musical studies at the age of 7 on clarinet. When he turned 10 he began studying alto saxophone and conducting with Tito D Rivera (Father of the famed Paquito D’Rivera ). Mr Tito D Rivera was a famed Classical saxophonist of his generation. By the time Jay turned 12, he had begun studying saxophone with Joe Allard. Other teachers included Saxophonist/flautist – Jesus Garcia, Mark Friedman, Kenny Hitchcock, and Emile De Cosmo. At 13 Paquito D Rivera would take Jay to sit in and play with him around town. He featured him as a guest soloist at the famed Salsa Meets Jazz concerts at the then well known Village Gate. There he met Jazz legends like Stanley Turrentine, Ray Barretto, Tito Puente, Victor Venegas and Dizzy Gillespie to name a few. He went on to work with the well known Jazz and Latin artists like Wilfredo Vargas, Bross Townsend, Vincente Pacheco, Celia Cruz, Jose Alberto, Candido and many more. At 14 he was chosen to attend the High School for the Performing Arts (now known as La Guardia) in NYC at the time located on 46th st. His classmates at the time included Billy Charlap, Jon Gordon, Jennifer Aniston and Justin Robinson.

Jay began studying with saxophonist Phil Woods and Pianist Michael Wolf. He continued working and learning in the Latin Jazz world and began to study flute with Julius Baker at the time principle flautist with The New York Philharmonic. Jay went on to study at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music at it’s inception under a full scholarship. The Jazz and Contemporary music program had just been founded by Arnie Lawrence and David Levy. During that time he studied with Sir Roland Hanna, Barry Harris, George Coleman, Kenny Werner, Gil Goldstein, Walter Davis Jr., John Gilmore, Jim Pepper and Joe Henderson. His classmates at the time included Roy Hargrove, Larry Goldings, John Popper and Brad Meldau.

Jay co founded the NYC phenomenon of the early 90’s the Groove Collective which influenced bands like the US 3, Roots, a Tribe called Quest and Modern Hip Hop and Dance music.


He has performed, produced recorded and or arranged for artists like Elvis Costello, Medeski, Martin and Wood, Roy Hargrove, Fred Wesley, George Porter Jr, Teruo Nakamura, Bobby Sanabria, Musiq Soulchild, Natalie Cole, Little Louie Vega, Dennis Ferrer, Melissa Manchester, Film Directors Godfrey Reggio, Shawn Batey and Michele Stephenson, Mino Cinelu, Alex Foster, Alex Blake, Patti Labelle, Sara Dash,Guru, DJ Nicodemus, DJ Premiere, Chucho Valdez, Victor Jones, Arturo O Farrill, Bernie Worrell, Roy Hargrove, The Roots, The Mingus Big Band, Al Macdowell, Widespread Panic, Mike Clark, Kenny Barron, Dave Schools, Widespread Panic, Irakere, Mongo Santamaria, Eddie Palmieri, Selah Sue, Jerry Wonda, The Gil Evans Band, Celia Cruz, Doc Cheatham, Miles Davis, Prince amongst many. He has taught/lectured all over the world including the Royal Academy of Music in Denmark, Berlin, Estonia, Japan, University of Cairo, Uninorte in Colombia and Unam in Mexico. Some of Jay Rodriguez’s achievements have been recorded in Leonard Feather-Ira Gitler’s The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz.

Jay currently is busy as a TV, film/documentary composer, arranger and soloist on his respective instruments. He has been a guest on the Jimmy Fallon Show with the Roots as a soloist for English sensation singer song writer Michael Kiwanuka and Jim James of my Morning Jacket.




Salim Washington is a highly accomplished jazz artist whose instruments are the tenor saxophone, flute, and oboe.

The Harvard University Ph.D. is a scholar and an in-demand lecturer as well as a composer and an arranger who leads the Harlem Arts Ensemble. Washington has performed with many of New York’s finest musicians, including Randy Weston, Pharoah Sanders, John Hicks, Hilton Ruiz, Charles Tolliver, Oliver Lake, David Murray, and Billy Bang. His body of work—spanning three decades, from Mozambique to Mexico—has been lauded as one of the most compelling modern voices in jazz. Dr. Cornel West celebrates Salim’s work as a “new synoptic vision of what jazz can be and do. The fundamental spirit behind this music…lives on in new ways and novel sounds.”

Salim Washington has emigrated to Durban, South Africa, after many years of following the music, culture and history of that nation, starting in 1976 at the time of the Soweto rebellion. Finally arriving as a Fulbright Senior Scholar/Artist in 2009 (would not be an "honorary white" in the 70s, supported the boycott in the 80s, was raising children in the 90s) he experienced the great potential of this country. Salim has accepted a position in musicology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, but also teaches for the Centre of Jazz and Popular Music. He has led workshops in various townships, including Soweto, Thembisa, KwaMashu, and others, performed in various cities, including Grahamstown, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Irini, and leads a big band built primarily of orphaned youths at the Durban Music Centre. Washington will also be participating in the 8th Pan African Congress to be held in Joburg in January 2014.




 Livio Almeida is a young emerging voice on saxophone. A Brazilian native, Livio has already played with renowned figure in the jazz scene such as Grammy winner Arturo O'Farrill, Boris Koslov, and Reuben Rodriguez among others. His approach and sound are a promising and refreshing blend of international musics that have earned him much recognition from the jazz press.

“Almeida delivers his most impressive solo work on the album here, perfectly capturing the soul and energy that dwells in this piece…”.(All About Jazz review of Giant Peach

“Saxophonist Livio Almeida appeared to paint his incessant signature as the element of change as he inadvertently sprayed streams of brilliant colors on the canvas to improvise a sonically unblemished montage of melodies on “Face It.” (Rob Young, music author and journalist) 




Benjamin Barson is a composer, saxophonist, and political activist. He is the coordinator of the Red, Black, and Green Revolutionary Eco-Music Tour and Baritone Saxophonist.

He has played with diverse cross-section of leading New York City jazz musicians, such as Fred Ho, Arturo O’Farrill, and Frank Lacy, and has performed at New York's leading musical institutions such as the Guggenheim Museum, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Lincoln Center. He regularly performs at and curates the music program for the iconic Red Rooster and Ginny's Supper Club in Harlem. Ben does not separate culture from politics and considers cultural work to be essential to the construction of a revolutionary project for the 21st century. His influences are drawn from the world over but he owes a special debt to the music of African American artists. Currently he is working on a revival of the work of activist-musician Calvin Massey, an overlooked 1960s composer who worked with the Black Panther Party as well as John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, and who left a deep legacy on his musical generation. Ben is a member of the revolutionary collective Scientific Soul Sessions, and its sister project, Ecosocialist Horizons. He lives in Harlem, where he engineers and hosts the radio show The Ecosocialsit Horizons Hour.


 Winston Byrd was initially bitten by the 'jazz bug' as a seventh grader when he heard Maynard Ferguson's playing of 'Give It One.'

Soon after, he witnessed Dizzy Gillespie and Jon Faddis trading solos on 'Groovin High' on a 1986 Grammy Awards telecast. A 1991 graduate of Gateway Regional High School in southern New Jersey, Mr. Byrd has had a career more like his forbears than his contemporaries; like jazz musicians of the mid-20th century, he developed his chops and style on the road in bands big and small, rather than in the classroom. Planning to go New York University to study Clinical Psychology, he detoured to go on the road (initially with the Stylistics), and never returned to college.

Enamored of high note playing, he worked at being able to articulate in the 'stratosphere', and then the young trumpeter became a multi-talented improviser in swing, hard-bop, bebop, funk, smooth jazz as well being versed in studies of classical trumpet. He earned gigs as a lead trumpeter in big bands including those of Illinois Jacquet, David Murray, Slide Hampton, Louie Bellson and Oliver Lake, as well as the Count Basie Orchestra, Duke Ellington Orchestra and Blood, Sweat and Tears. Trumpeter Jon Faddis became an early role model and mentor, and Mr. Byrd has played in the trumpet section of the Faddis-led 'Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band'.

Another influence and current mentor is Arturo Sandoval. Winston has also performed, recorded, and/or toured with a myriad of big name jazz and pop artists and orchestras including The Chi-Lites, Patti Austin, The Dells, The Grateful Dead, Lionel Hampton, Michael Bolton, Illinois Jacquet Big Band, Roy Hargrove Big Band, Pieces Of A Dream, Claudio Roditi, David Murray, Oliver Lake Big Band, Larry Coryell, Aretha Franklin, Charles Tolliver Big Band, The Stylistics, Natalie Cole, Arturo Sandoval, The Village Vanguard Orchestra, Mary Wilson (of the Supremes), Chucho Valdes, Louie Bellson, T.S. Monk, David 'Fathead' Newman, Chaka Khan, Clark Terry (who suprise-guested with Winston on his All-Star 31st birthday concert!), James Moody, The Dramatics, Shirley Horn, Paquito d' Rivera, Lucky Peterson, Bernard Purdie, Diane Schuur, Don Rickles, Usher, Abbey Lincoln and the Charles Mingus Big Band among others!

For the last three years, Mr. Byrd, who leads his own band (one in New York, one in Los Angeles) has just recorded his first CD, 'Soul Searchin', which is currently available in stores and on the internet at www.winstonbyrd.com and his compositions can be heard here and on T.S. Monk's latest release, 'Higher Ground' in which Mr. Byrd is a former member of the T.S. Monk Band. Since moving to Los Angeles (as well as keeping a base in New York City as well), Winston has been keeping busy with even MANY more artists on the West Coast as well such as the Gerald Wilson Orchestra, the Frank Capp Juggernaut, the Buddy Collette Big Band, Steve March Torme, Eric Benet, The Don Ellis Reunion Big Band, Craig Robinson (of the NBC hit show, The Office), Ernie Andrews and also performing on the L.A. based award shows such as the Grammys & the B.E.T. awards!!! Along with these many attributes, Mr. Byrd has organized his Los Angeles based Jazz Orchestra which has been leaving audiences speechless since being formed just a year ago with some of L.A.'s finest and hottest players!!! 

 
Jon Mark McGowan, from Oakland, CA, is a second generation trumpeter, one of the most brilliant of his generation, who has worked with Barry Harris, David Murray, Lionel Hampton, the Ellington Band, Mulhal Richard Abrams, Harold Vick, Rodney Kendricks, and many well known musicians in the tristate area. He also writes and arranges his own distinctive songs.


Nabate Isles is a trumpeter/composer/educator, born and raised in New York City.


He went on to receive a BM at the Eastman School of Music and MA from New York University. He has participated in the Thelonious Monk Institute's Jazz Aspen and its Jazz Gala at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. He was a featured soloist with the Rochester Pops Orchestra and toured with the José Limon Dance Company. Nabaté has performed and/or recorded with numerous esteemed musicians such as James Newton, Mike Longo, Charli Persip, Steve Coleman, Ravi Coltrane, Buster Williams, Grady Tate, Uri Caine, Jay Hoggard, Marty Ehrlich, Christian McBride, David Gilmore, and the Mingus Big Band. He has also composed scores for 3 short films. 


Adam O'Farrill is a 18-year old jazz trumpeter born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Being the grandson of Afro-Cuban jazz composer and arranger Chico O'Farrill, and the son of Grammy-award winning Latin jazz pianist and composer Arturo O'Farrill, Adam clearly has a rich musical background. Having started studying classical piano at age six, and starting trumpet at age eight, he has been playing music for almost his whole life. 

Ever since then, he has had many achievements in the world of music. He has had the privilege of playing in many well-known venues, such as Birdland Jazz Club, the Jazz Standard, Mount Fuji Jazz Festival 2009, the White House, Madison Square Garden, and Symphony Space. He has had the opportunity to perform with critically acclaimed artists such as Stefon Harris, Curtis Fuller, Randy Weston, Arturo O’Farrill, and Benny Golson. He received the Outstanding Soloist Award at the 1st and 2nd Annual Charles Mingus Competitions, was chosen to participate in the 2010 GRAMMY Jazz Ensemble, and was commissioned to write a piece for Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra in the fall of 2009. He has studied with Jim Seeley, Michael Rodriguez, Bobby Shew, and Nathan Warner, and is a student at Laguardia High School for the Performing Arts and the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division, where he received the 2009-2010 Jazz Scholarship.




Earl McIntyre is a critically-acclaimed performer on the Bass Trombone, Euphonium, Tuba, and Didjeridoo, as well as a composer-arranger


Born in Brooklyn N.Y. Earl received his
first musical training from his father (a very gifted amateur musician) who saw to it that the entire family became proficient at playing brass instruments. While attending the High School of Music & Art he studied trombone with John Clark, Jack Jeffers, Alan Raph and Benny Powell. It was during this period that he also developed relationships with composer William S.Fischer and tubaist Howard Johnson. At Mannes College of Music he studied Bass trombone with Simone Karasick and tuba with Thompson Hanks, and later studied arranging with Slide Hampton and Bob Brookmeyer. He also studied privately with the famous brass teacher Carmine Caruso. Since then he has played with Gil Evans, the Apollo stage band, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Taj Mahal, Lester Bowie, The Band, Stevie Wonder, McCoy Tyner, Carla Bley, George Russell, Lou Rawls, Jeffrey Osborne, Deniece Williams, the Count Basie Orchestra, the Ellington Orchestra, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra (with whom he was associated for over 20 years), Slide Hampton, George Gruntz, the Mingus Big Band, Cecil Taylor, the Carnegie Hall Jazz band, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, Chico O'Farrill, Renée Manning and others.

McIntyre served as guest conductor for the Brooklyn Philharmonic, directed and wrote large ensemble compositions for the Musicians of Brooklyn Initiative Big Band (an organization founded by Lester Bowie, Oliver Lake and others). Mr. McIntyre was musical director for Town Hall's "Ragtime to Broadway" featuring music from 1900-1909. His arranging and orchestrating credits include Roberta Flack, Luther Vandross, the "Saturday Night Live" band, Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy, Johnny Copeland, Renée Manning, the Mel Lewis Orchestra, The Mingus Big Band, Elvis Costello, Steve Turré, Bob Stewart, Jon Faddis, the Art Ensemble of Chicago (for whom he's edited and arranged a catalogue of big band orchestra and small group compositions), arrangements for the "Big Man" tribute to Cannonball Adderley at the JVC Festival in 1976, and others. He has composed an orchestra work called "Sketches for Dunbar" which he conducted at a Town hall premiere. He also arranged and conducted Lester Bowie's Brooklyn Works (Behind The Rainbow). His compositions include a large work for Nat Adderley and Jazz orchestra (which was played at the Cannonball Adderley Festival in Tallahasee Florida). He wrote and conducted orchestral arrangements for McCoy Tyner and the Brooklyn Philharmonic. He served as musical supervisor, copyist, and orchestrator on J.J. Johnsons's Brass Orchestra CD.

At the Brooklyn Conservatory, Earl McIntyre & Renée Manning unveiled Unsung Heroes a 15 piece World Beat Jazz ensemble featuring compositions by Earl, Renée, and notable composers from the African Diaspora. WBGO's children series included Earl McIntyres & Renée Manning's group Jazzimon. The two of them are preparing a much anticipated children's album and debuting their web site. Earl has received the National Endowment for the Arts grants for jazz study, jazz composition, and instruction. He is a receipient of grants from the New York State Council of the Arts, Meet the Composer, and others. He has been nominated for the "Most Valuable Player of The Year" award from the NARAS, as well as sitting on various arts and grants panels. Mr McIntyre's broadway credits include: "My One and Only", "The Mystery of Edwin Drood", "Anything Goes", "Meet Me In St. Louis", "Shogun", "Nick & Nora", "Guys & Dolls", "Rosa", "Steel Pier", and "Ragtime". He has been on the faculty at Long Island University, The New School for Social Research, and SUNY at Purchase. He does performances for young audiences and clinics through various arts organizations. Currently, he serves as producer for the Jazz at The Conservatory series at The Brooklyn Conservatory, presenting artists like Jimmy Heath, Benny Golson, and Roy Hargrove, and serves as the Director for the Jazz division.



Richard Harper has played keyboard, trombone, baritone horn and vocals with artists such as Makanda McIntyre, James Jabbo Ware, Fred Ho, Bill Laswell, Miles Griffith, and Anthony Braxton.


He has served as musical director for Off-Broadway and regional theater as well as arranged for numerous original dance, theater and musical productions. Formerly Chair of the American Music, Dance and Theater Program at SUNY Old Westbury, he has been honored with three distinguished teaching awards.

Ernesto Villalobos is the eldest brother and virtuosic violinist composer in the esteemed "Villalobos Brothers" ensemble.

Masterfully blending the indigenous rhythms and melodies of their native Veracruz, Mexico with the intricate harmonies of jazz and classical music, the Villalobos Brothers deliver an intoxicating brew of musical brilliance, cadence and virtuosity that awakens the senses as it redefines the notions behind Latin music. The Villalobos Brothers have been acclaimed as one of today’s leading World Music and Contemporary Mexican ensembles. A trio of virtuoso violinists, singer-songwriters, composers, and arrangers, they were the winners of the Vox-Pop Award at the 2013 Independent Music Awards in the Best Song-World Beat category for their song, “El Pijul”.

Fighting against all odds, in April of 2013 they became the Borough Winners and representing band for the borough of Manhattan at the “2013 Battle of the Boroughs”, one of National Public Radio’s flagship competitions sponsored by The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, WNYC and WQXR’s in New York City. In June of 2013, the Villalobos Brothers went on to win the “Ultimate Battle” at this same competition, defeating the top picks from Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and The Bronx in a grand finale at the Greene Space in SOHO.

Following their victory at the “2013 Battle of the Boroughs”, they became the first band from Mexico to ever play at the Apollo Theater as “featured guest artist” at “Amateur Night at the Apollo”. In addition, they have performed at the Latin Grammy Awards, Carnegie Hall, the Guggenheim Museum, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the 60th Anniversary of the United Nations, Rockefeller Center, the New York Mets field at Shea Stadium, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, New Victory Theatre, and Teatro Amadeo Roldán in Havana among other historic venues.

The Villalobos Brothers have collaborated and recorded with legendary musicians, including Grammy winners Paddy Moloney and The Chieftains, Dolly Parton, Pierre Boulez, and Eddie Palmieri. Other collaborations include Morley, Graciela, Leni Stern, Lila Downs, Adam Feder and the Shul Band, Ramón Ponce and Mariachi Real de México, and Dan Zanes and Friends. In 2005 award-winning guitarist Humberto Flores joined the band and they debuted together at Carnegie Hall. In recognition of their artistic contribution, in late 2012 the Villalobos Brothers were granted a Proclamation by the Council of the City of New York and a Diploma by the President of the Borough of Brooklyn.

The Villalobos Brothers were born and raised in Xalapa, Mexico. They spent their childhood listening to their grandmother Cristina Vásquez play music for enjoyment after a day’s work. They took up the violin as children and soon learned to sing and play other instruments, including guitar and piano. They eventually moved on to specialize in classical violin and composition, studying under Vienna Philharmonic veteran Carlos Marrufo. The eldest brother developed his own style of playing, called “Fast-Chatting Violin” consisting in a rapid succession of notes and percussive sounds.


Adam Fischer is a rare combination of cellist, composer, and vocalist, known for writing music that moves freely between jazz, tango, and classical styles.

A graduate of Juilliard and Harvard University, Mr. Fisher appears regularly at New York venues such as Symphony Space, Joe’s Pub, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the Jazz Standard. As a cello sideman, he has lent his unique flexibility to projects ranging from Octavio Brunetti's traditional Tango Orchestra to Fred Ho’s avant-jazz big band to “None More Eleven, a Spinal Tap Tribute”, for which he composed rock string quartet arrangements of Spinal Tap classics. He was a featured composer on the inaugural season of the Flea Theater's "Music With a View" series, and has performed his original compositions at Carnegie Hall. As a vocalist, he leads his own band, Adam and the Argentinians, performing his hilarious and poetic animal songs. He lives in Harlem with his two children.



Zack O'Farrill is a drummer and percussionist who has already amassed a long list of credits at the young age of 22.


He has performed in some of New York City's most prestigious jazz venues such as the Jazz Gallery, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Cornelia Street Café, and Birdland, and has played around the world in clubs and festivals in Spain, Japan, Switzerland, and Cuba. Zack and his brother, Adam, have recently released their second CD "Sensing Flight" with their group, The O'Farrill Brothers Band, on Zoho Records.

A dedicated teacher, he has been on the faculty of Samba Meets Jazz, the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, the Flynn Center Jazz Camp, and afterschool programs in the New York City public schools.

His drum teachers have included Dave Meade, Vince Cherico, Victor Jones, Kendrick Scott, and Ferenc Nemeth. 



Amanda Ruzza is an electric bass player and composer based in New York City.

Born in São Paulo, Brazil to a Chilean mother who loved opera and an Italian father who loved rock n’ roll, Amanda developed an eclectic musical ear at an early age. Fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and English, music was one more language that she learned to used to communicate across international cultural boundaries. While growing up, there were always records playing at her house, and Amanda started playing bass at the age of 12. By age 13, she was already gigging professionally. While in Brazil, she worked with distinguished Brazilian producers and arrangers, including Grammy Award-winner Moogie Canazio, Maestro Jobam and Sony Music Japan's Osny Mello. 

Currently, she performs with groups in a variety of styles, such as Global Noize, and Chris Stover’s Caetano Veloso Project, as well as with her own band, the Amanda Ruzza Group. Amanda’s multicultural background has influenced her passion for composing music that incorporates elements of funk, jazz and South American rhythms. Her group was formed while she obtained her dual degree in Jazz Bass Performance and Liberal Arts at The New School in New York City. In addition, Amanda is also a session bassist having participated in recordings with Bebel Gilberto, Jason Miles, Simone Giuliani and Simon Katz (Jamiroquai).

As the recipient of the highly competitive Latin American World Tour Scholarship, Amanda moved to the U.S.A to study bass performance and contemporary writing and production at Berklee College of Music. 


Albert Marques, born in 1986, is an accomplished pianist who graduated in 2008 from the prestigious Conservatory of El Liceu in Barcelona, Spain. He recorded his first album at age 22, leading a trio that included the celebrated guitarist Jordi Bonell, who has performed with musicians such as Chet Baker and Serrat. In Spain, Marques also performed with Perico Sambeat, Marc Miralta and other respected musicians

In Paris, the European capital of jazz, Marques played with the renowned Pierre Perchaud and Rémi Vignolo, culminating in a one-year stint as pianist in the quartet of legendary American minimalist drummer Leon Parker. From there he moved to New York City, where he plays in a Latin jazz big band conducted by the Grammy award winner Arturo O’Farril and teaches jazz piano in the NYC public schools with the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance. He has performed at Birdland, Fat Cat, Duc des Lombards, Jamboree and other venues and festivals in Europe and America including the legendary Montreal Jazz Festival.


Marie Incontrera is a composer and conductor living in Brooklyn, New York.  She has been a recipient of the Miriam Gideon Composition Award for women composers, a winner of the Remarkable Theater Brigade Art Song Competition, a winner of the 2011 Vocalessence/American Composers Forum “Essentially Choral” readings, and was a finalist in the Iron Composer 2010 competition. She was awarded a Meet the Composer Metlife Creative Connections award, a Foundation for the Contemporary Arts Grant, a Puffin Grant, and a New York Women Composers Seed Money Grant. Commissions have come from the Young New Yorkers Chorus, Remarkable Theater Brigade, ANALOG arts, Brooklyn Art Song Society, ANIKAI Dance Theater, and The Atlanta Opera. Her work has been performed in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Kaufman Center, Symphony Space, the Meridian Arts Festival in Bucharest, Roulette, Galapagos Art Space, WOW Cafe Theatre, the highSCORE Festival in Italy, and others. Marie has been named the conductor for the Green Monster Big Band for a series of upcoming engagements, for some of which she is also a guest composer and arranger. She currently studies composition and conducting privately with Fred Ho.