| Seiji
Ozawa (Conductor) |
 Born
in 1935 in Shenyang, China, to Japanese parents, Seiji Ozawa
started piano lessons at an early age. After graduating from
Seijo Junior High School in Tokyo, he studied conducting under
the late Hideo Saito at Toho School of Music, graduating with
first prizes in composition and conducting.
In 1959 he won first prize at the International Competition of Orchestra
Conductors held in Besancon, France, and was invited to Tanglewood by
Charles Munch, then Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and
a judge at the competition. In 1960 Ozawa won the Tanglewood Music Center's
highest honour, the Koussevitzky Prize for outstanding student conductor.
While a student of Herbert von Karajan in West Berlin, Ozawa came to
the attention of Leonard Bernstein and was appointed Assistant Conductor
of the New York Philharmonic for the 1961-62 season. In 1964 he became
Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Ravinia Festival,
a position he held for five summers, and in the same year he took the
post of Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for four seasons.
After his conducting experience with the Boston Symphony for four summers
at the Tanglewood Festival, Ozawa conducted the Orchestra at Symphony
Hall for the first time in January 1968. In 1970 he became Artistic Director
of the Tanglewood Festival, and in December of the same year he took
the post of Conductor and Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony.
In 1973 he became the 13th Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
He retired from his San Francisco post in the spring of 1976, but later
in the 1976/77 season, was made Music Advisor of the San Francisco Symphony.
Ozawa held his post as Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra
for 29 years ,,an incredibly long period in the history of American orchestras.
Over those years the Orchestra's reputation rose considerably, not only
within the United States but worldwide, making the Orchestra one of the
top orchestras in the world.
In autumn of 2002, Ozawa assumed the post of Music Director of the Vienna
State Opera. Preceding this appointment, on 1st January 2002, Ozawa became
the first Japanese conductor in history to appear on the podium for the
Vienna Philharmonic's New Year Concert. This concert was broadcast in
65 countries, receiving acclaim from audiences around the world. The
live recording was immediately released and achieved phenomenal sales,
receiving a Platinum Disk Award in the Orchestra's home country of Austria,
and a Classic of the Year Award at the 16th Nihon Gold Disk Award in
Japan. Upon the Japan tour of the Vienna State Opera in October 2004,
Ozawa conducted Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart), which were
both received with great acclaim.
In 1978 Ozawa was officially invited by the Chinese government to work
with a Chinese orchestra for a week. A year later, in March 1979, Ozawa
visited China again, this time with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In
addition to the orchestra performances, he facilitated important cultural
and musical exchanges through discussions and teaching sessions with
Chinese musicians.
Ozawa also enjoys a great reputation and popularity in Europe; he regularly
conducts orchestras there, including the Berlin Philharmonic, and with
the Vienna Philharmonic has often led tours within Europe and to Japan.
His operatic credits include several well-received appearances at La
Scala, Milan, and l'Opera National de Paris, among others. In 1983 he
conducted the world premiere of Olivier Messiaen's only opera, Saint
Francois d'Assise, at l'Opera National de Paris, which was widely acclaimed.
In 1984, Seiji Ozawa and Kazuyoshi Akiyama formed an orchestra to commemorate
the late Japanese music educator, Hideo Saito. This orchestra, the Saito
Kinen Orchestra, formally embarked on a path to greatness in 1987 and
has since become legendary. In 1992, the orchestra became the focus of
Ozawa's artistic dream to found Japan's first international music festival:
the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto. The Festival, which has been held
every September since it's commencement in 1992, has drawn the enthusiastic
attention of the music world both at home and abroad. In 1998 Seiji Ozawa
and the Saito Kinen Orchestra joined forces with l'Opera National de
Paris to produce Francis Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites at the Festival,
and then mounted the same production at l'Opera National de Paris in
November 1999. In the same year at the Festival, with director Robert
Lepage, Berlioz's Opera, La Damnation de Faust was presented and highly
praised. In December 1999 and January 2000, Ozawa conducted the Saito
Kinen Orchestra in performances of Mahler's Resurrection Symphony in
Matsumoto and in Tokyo, receiving a resoundingly positive response brilliantly
captured on a live audio recording which received the Japan Record Academy
Award. In May 2004, Ozawa led the Saito Kinen Orchestra on a highly successful
European Tour, performing in six cities throughout Europe (Valencia,
Berlin, Vienna, Paris, London, and Milan). In 2004, Ozawa conducted Wozzeck
(Berg), with Peter Mussbach as director and the architect Tadao Ando
as set designer. The performance, which took place at the Matsumoto Performing
Arts Centre, was sensational.
Seiji Ozawa's achievements have earned him France's high honour Chevalier
de la Legion d'Honneur (1998), an Honorary Doctorate from Harvard University
(2000), membership in the Academie des Beaux-Arts de l'Institut de France
(October 2001), and in November 2001, recognition from Japan for his
outstanding cultural contributions to the country. He received the Austrian
Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class, from Austrian President
Thomas Klestil (2002), the Mainichi Art Award and Suntory Music Prize
(2003), and an Honorary Doctorate from the Sorbonne University of France
(March 2004).
The year 2000 marked the beginning of "Seiji Ozawa Ongaku-juku Opera
Project," designed as an educational program for young musicians.
The first five of its productions, Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Cosi
fan tutte, Don Giovanni, J. Strauss II' s Die Fledermaus, and Puccini's
La Boheme received popular attention from audiences and critics impressed
by the progress shown by the young musicians. In addition to these projects,
Seiji Ozawa continues to perform on a regular basis with the New Japan
Philharmonic, an orchestra with which he has worked closely since its
founding; and also with the Mito Chamber Orchestra as Advisor.
Seiji Ozawa conducted two comic operas, L'heure espagnole (Ravel) and
Gianni Schicchi (Puccini), in collaboration with l'Opera National de
Paris in April 2003. The production, performed in Yokosuka, Kawaguchi
and Tokyo, was very successful; it was also performed eight times from
March to April 2004 at l'Opera National de Paris. In March 2005, he conduted
R. Strauss's Electra and contributed to the successful launch of the
Tokyo Opera Nomori as the Artistic Director. |
| Marcus
Roberts (Piano) |
 Marcus
Roberts is from Jacksonville, Florida and to this day his music is influenced
by the early exposure to his mother's gospel singing and the music
of the local church. A few years after losing his sight at age five,
he began to teach himself to play piano; he received his first formal
lesson when he was twelve. He soon decided to become a jazz pianist after
hearing the music of Duke Ellington and others on the radio. At 18, Roberts
went to Florida State University to study classical piano with Leonidus
Lipovetsky, a student of the noted Russian piano teacher Rosina Lhevinne.
During this period, Roberts won his first of many awards and competitions,
the young artist's competition at the 1982 National Association of
Jazz Educators annual conference. The next year he won the Great American
Jazz Piano Competition, followed by first prize at the Thelonious Monk
International Jazz Competition a few years later. He was honored to receive
a National Academy of Achievement award in 1995 and, in 1998 he received
the award that he considers his highest honor, the Helen Keller Award
for Personal Achievement. In 2003, Roberts was inducted into the Jacksonville
Jazz Hall of Fame.
At age 21, Roberts joined Wynton Marsalis' band and toured and recorded
with the trumpeter for the next six years. Roberts signed his first recording
contract with BMG/Novus in 1988 and completed six recordings for them
before signing with Columbia Records early in 1994. All of his recordings
have been critically acclaimed, and several have reached the No. 1 spot
on Billboard's traditional jazz chart. Roberts' recording legacy reflects
his tremendous versatility as an artist - with recordings that include
solo piano, duets, and trio arrangements of jazz standards, original
suites of trio music, large ensemble works, and symphony orchestra. His
recording of George Gershwin's signature classic, “Rhapsody in Blue”
(Portraits in Blue, 1996) with symphony orchestra and jazz band was nominated
for a Grammy. Roberts' most recent recording, New Orleans Meets Harlem,
is a celebration of how the early roots of jazz with its ragtime, blues,
and New Orleans' influences, can be combined with the virtuosic Harlem
styles to create an entirely new sound.
Marcus Roberts is one of the most diverse artists of our time. His deep
respect for the contributions and achievements of the great masters of
jazz and classical music has undoubtedly shaped the development of his
recognizable sound and unique style and philosophy of jazz improvisation.
When Roberts performs, the contributions of Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton,
Ellington, Monk, John Coltrane, Ahmad Jamal and others are integrated
with his own perspective to create a thoroughly modern sound. The same
could be said of the Marcus Roberts Trio, with bassist Roland Guerin
and drummer Jason Marsalis. The trio has been together for ten years
and their unity as a group is evident in their performances. Their virtuosic
individual styles combine with their finely honed group reflexes to yield
a fun and riveting evening of music for audiences of all ages.
Roberts has been instrumental to the training and development of a large
number of young musicians, including such great jazz artists as trumpeters
Marcus Printup and Nicholas Payton, trombonist Ronald Westray, and drummer
Jason Marsalis. Last year, Roberts became more involved in the formal
instruction of young musicians and composers by serving as a “Housewright
Scholar” at the School of Music at Florida State University. The experience
was such a success that this year, Roberts has joined the faculty of
the School of Music as an Assistant Professor where he teaches whenever
he is not touring. When out on tour, the trio also regularly provides
master classes, workshops, school shows, and residency programs. Roberts
and his trio work hard to expose as many young people to jazz music as
possible. They consider it their mission to help build audiences for
the music all over the world, but especially here in the United States
where jazz had its origin.
The trio has a busy year-round touring schedule, including performing
frequently with symphony orchestras around the world. In the summer of
2002, Roberts was honored to participate with his trio in the gala farewell
weekend of concerts with Maestro Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony
Orchestra at Tanglewood. Other honors in recent years include a Chamber
Music America commissioning award, serving as the Artistic Director for
a Franco-American celebration of Louis Armstrong's legacy at the Opera
House of Versailles, participating in the Cultural Olympiad as an artist-in-residence
for the 2002 winter Olympic Games, and in 2003, premiering his new arrangement
of Gershwin's Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra in Japan with the
New Japan Philharmonic and in Europe, with the Berlin Philharmonic. In
the fall of 2004, Roberts' busy schedule included performing at the grand
opening of Lincoln Center's Rose Hall in New York City and completing
a sold-out six-city tour in South Korea. His current projects include
performing with his trio at the closing of the Sundance Film Festival
in January of 2005 as well as completing two separate commission works
? one for trio and one for a larger jazz ensemble. |
| Roland
Guerin (Bass) |
| Roland
Guerin is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He has always had a fascination
with stringed instruments. He began his music studies with the viola
in elementary school and started playing guitar in eighth grade. He switched
to playing bass after listening to his mother play bass lines on the
instrument. While Guerin's primary instrument remains the upright
acoustic bass, he enjoys playing his five-string electric bass whenever
he has the opportunity. Guerin began his study of jazz music at Baton
Rouge High Magnet School and, in 1986, he went on to attend Southern
University in Baton Rouge to study with world-renowned jazz clarinetist,
Alvin Batiste. After graduating in May of 1991, he toured and recorded
with the Mark Whitfield Band. Marcus Roberts first called Guerin for
a show in May of 1995 after hearing him play with Ellis Marsalis. Guerin
brings a deep and resonant bass sound to the trio and during the past
six years, he has played an instrumental role in the development of the
trio concept that was first presented on Roberts' Time and Circumstance
recording. He is featured both on Roberts' Portraits in Blue record
of 1996, performing with symphony orchestra and jazz band, as well as
the 1997 big band recording, Blues for the New Millennium. He is also
featured on Roberts' trio recordings, In Honor of Duke (Columbia,
1999), Cole After Midnight (Columbia, 2001), and New Orleans Meets Harlem
(2004). Guerin has already mastered and redefined the slap bass style,
and always enriches any musical environment with his musical wit, strong
country groove, and relaxed swing. His debut recording under his own
name, The Winds of the New Land, was released by Turnipseed Music in
1998. His second recording, Roland Guerin Sextet Live at the Blue Note
was released in May of 2000 and his third, “You Don't Have to
See it to Believe It”, just a few months later. Guerin's most
recent recording, “Groove, Swing, and Harmony”, was released
in 2003. When he is not touring with Roberts, you will most likely find
him performing somewhere in the New Orleans area. |
| Jason
Marsalis (Drum) |
| Jason
Marsalis is the youngest son of pianist Ellis Marsalis, the father of
one of America's most musical families. Jason began playing drums at
the age of three but he began his formal musical training two years later
on the violin. At age six, he began studying with the legendary drummer,
James Black. After six years of studying both instruments, he finally
dropped his violin studies and focused entirely on the drums. Marsalis
spent his high school years at the New Orleans Center for the Creative
Arts, graduating in 1995. He then studied music at Loyola University
in New Orleans. Jason Marsalis and Marcus Roberts have had a long association,
but Marsalis began performing regularly with Roberts in November of 1994
when he was 17. He has held the drum chair in the Marcus Roberts Trio
since that time. Marsalis has been featured on all of Roberts' group
recordings since 1995?Portraits in Blue, Time and Circumstance, Blues
for the New Millennium, In Honor of Duke, Cole After Midnight and New
Orleans Meets Harlem. He has been instrumental to the development of
the unique philosophy and style of the Marcus Roberts Trio. He draws
heavily from drum styles that are not traditionally associated with the
jazz trio, such as Jo Jones, Max Roach, Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes, and
Tony Williams, as well as the sounds and philosophy of the great trios
of Errol Garner, Ahmad Jamal, Nat Cole, and Oscar Peterson. Marsalis'
style is characterized by strong, intricate modern grooves and creative
syncopation. He has perhaps the strongest voice on his instrument in
his generation, unafraid to celebrate swing through rhythmic tension
and release. His debut recording under his own name, The Year of the
Drummer, was released in 1998 and his second recording, Music in Motion,
was released in April of 2000. Marsalis continues to reside in New Orleans
where he performs regularly with his father and other New Orleans groups. |
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