This October, WAAPA‘s final Premier Visiting Artist for 2027 will light up the stages of the new Minderoo Centre for Performance Excellence at ECU City.
Seven-time Grammy Award-winning composer and bandleader Maria Schneider will visit Perth to workshop, conduct, and collaborate with WAAPA’s Music students, proudly supported by the Minderoo Foundation’s Premier Visiting Artist Fund.
The highlight of the visit will be Maria Schneider: Live at ECU City, performing at the McCusker Recital Hall for just two nights only on Friday, October 16 and Saturday, October 17. Schneider will direct the WAAPA Big Band, performing her celebrated works with the up-and-coming jazz musicians in one of Perth’s most acoustically advanced venues.
Her visit promises to be a landmark event not only for WAAPA, but for the wider jazz community and Perth music fans.
On top of the live performances, Schneider will share her expertise with the general public through a free conversation session and workshop.
On Tuesday, October 13, Perth audiences will have a rare opportunity to hear directly from a globally influential voice in music at Beyond the Score: A Conversation with Maria Schneider. She will discuss her compositional process, her influences and inspirations, her advocacy for artist’s rights and more in this free professional development session.
The McCusker Recital Hall will also host Big Band Rehearsal Techniques and Q&A with Maria Schneider. Watch the WAAPA Big Band rehearse with the internationally acclaimed conductor live, as Schneider offers insights and expertise not just relevant to the students, but to educators, arrangers, performers and music lovers.
Perth’s musicians, composers, educators and jazz community will have the chance of a lifetime with this Premier Visiting Artist visit, with a collaborator of David Bowie and Pulitzer Prize Finalist in their midst thanks to the Minderoo Foundation.
Maria Schneider: Live at ECU City will perform at the McCusker Recital Hall on Friday, October 16, and Saturday, October 17. Tickets are on sale now at waapa.ecu.edu.au
