June 10, 2024
NEW YORK, NY (JUNE 7, 2024) - BMI’s 35th Annual Jazz Composers Workshop Summer Showcase, held at The Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater in New York City on June 5th, featured the best new big band and jazz orchestra compositions created in the workshop during the 2023-2024 season. The evening was hosted by Musical Director Andy Farber and Assistant Musical Director Alan Ferber and judged by a panel of esteemed jazz musicians and composers; David Berger, Don Braden and John Fedchock.
The BMI/New York Jazz Orchestra performed eight works, including: “Bar Talk” by Michael Dudley, “Passacaglia” by Mike Malone, “If I Were a Wind of Spring” by Migiwa Miyajima, “Moon” by Naoya Ogura, “Silent Screams” by Meg Okura, “New York Moment” by David Sneider and “Year of the Globe” by John Sturino. After an evening of incredible performances, Takumi Kakimoto’s “Two-Faced Dance” was chosen as the winning piece by the judges. In addition to receiving the prestigious Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize, the BMI Foundation also awarded Kakimoto the $3,000 Manny Albam commission—named in memory of the workshop’s late founder and longtime music director—to compose a new piece that will premiere at next year’s showcase.
The evening concluded with 2023 Charlie Parker Prize recipient Joseph Herbst debuting his commissioned composition, “Epilogue: Dreams Reborn.”
For more information on this renowned workshop and its history, click here.
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Celebrating over 80 years of service to songwriters, composers, music publishers and businesses, BMI® is a global leader in music rights management, serving as an advocate for the value of music. BMI represents the public performance rights in over 22.4 million musical works created and owned by more than 1.4 million songwriters, composers, and music publishers. The Company negotiates music license agreements and distributes the fees it generates as royalties to its affiliated writers and publishers when their songs are performed in public. In 1939, BMI created a groundbreaking open-door policy becoming the only performing rights organization to welcome and represent the creators of blues, jazz, country, and American roots music. Today, the musical compositions in BMI’s repertoire, from chart toppers to perennial favorites, span all genres of music and are consistently among the most-performed hits of the year. For additional information and the latest BMI news, visit bmi.com, follow us on X and Instagram @BMI or stay connected through BMI’s Facebook page. Sign up for BMI’s The Weekly™ and receive our e-newsletter every week to stay up to date on all things music.
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