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NYO Jazz, Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra, Announces Debut Tour to South Africa

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NYO Jazz, Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra, Announces Debut Tour to South Africa:

First-ever tour to Africa by one of Carnegie Hall’s three acclaimed National Youth Ensembles to include debut performances in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town from 22 July – 5 August 2024. Program to include big band classics, new arrangements and a new Carnegie Hall-commissioned work by South African composer Sibusiso Mash Mashiloane. Artistic Director and Bandleader / Trumpeter Sean Jones leads Ensemble with vocalist Alicia Olatuja as Special Guest at Carnegie Hall and on SA tour.

(New York, USA – May 2024) – This July and August, Carnegie Hall’s critically-acclaimed national youth jazz orchestra, NYO Jazz, returns for its seventh season of extraordinary music-making and embarks on its first-ever tour to South Africa. This remarkable ensemble, created by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute in 2018, annually brings together some of the most outstanding teen jazz musicians from across the United States to train, perform and tour with some of the world’s greatest artists while also serving as music ambassadors, sharing America’s greatest artform with audiences around the globe.

NYO Jazz will perform at Carnegie Hall in New York on 20 July, before beginning their historic visit to South Africa. The tour includes debut performances at The Market Theatre, Johannesburg (26, 27 & 28 July); The Playhouse, Durban (1 August); and Artscape, Cape Town (2 & 3 August) as well as music-making with local South African musicians. This tour marks the first time that one of Carnegie Hall’s three acclaimed national youth ensembles will perform on the African continent. It follows successful international tours by NYO Jazz to some of the most prestigious concert halls and music festivals across Europe, Asia, and the United States. NYO Jazz was previously scheduled to tour South Africa in 2020, but the tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Celebrated Artistic Director and bandleader / trumpeter Sean Jones leads NYO Jazz, joined by vocalist Alicia Olatuja, who has been praised by The New York Times as “a singer with a strong and luscious tone,” as special guest for their annual Carnegie Hall concert and on tour. As part of its South African tour, the band will also be joined by local guest soloists to be announced in June.

Ahead of their South African tour, the musicians will arrive in New York in early July to begin an intensive 10-day training residency. They will work with world-class jazz masters on the campus of Purchase College, State University of New York, located just north of New York City. Immediately following the residency, NYO Jazz will perform its annual concert at Carnegie Hall on 20 July which will be livestreamed on the Hall’s website and later released on its on-demand streaming platform Carnegie Hall+.

NYO Jazz’s 2024 South African tour offers America’s finest young musicians the opportunity to experience the richness of the country’s culture and history while sharing their remarkable artistry with audiences throughout the country. Complementing their performances, the players’ schedule will also include exciting opportunities for cultural exchange and peer-to-peer activities with local young people, an element that has become a hallmark of international tours by all three of Carnegie Hall’s national youth ensembles.

“We are thrilled to have NYO Jazz make its debut in South Africa this year—the first visit to Africa by any of our national youth ensembles,” said Clive Gillinson, Executive and Artistic Director of Carnegie Hall. “Given South Africa’s extraordinarily rich music traditions, which include a deep passion for jazz, we know this tour will be a tremendous opportunity for musical and cultural discovery for these brilliant young players. We are proud to showcase their incredible depth of talent and the high level of musicianship found across the United States as we connect the members of NYO Jazz with young musicians and music lovers in South Africa.”

For NYO Jazz’s 2024 concerts, Carnegie Hall has commissioned a new work by South African composer Sibusiso Mash Mashiloane. The ensemble’s diverse program will also include big band classics by Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and Mary Lou Williams; a new big band arrangement from Terri Lyne Carrington’s project “New Standards: 101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers”; Lakecia Benjamin’s “Trane,” arranged by Jhoely Garay; and other contemporary pieces, showcasing jazz as a living and limitless art form.

“South Africa is indeed a motherland where jazz resonates deeply within our souls, and we are thrilled to host the gifted NYO Jazz musicians,” said Sibusiso Mash Mashiloane. “My composition for NYO Jazz is an invitation to a musical dialogue celebrating South African ways of musicking. We will weave together the joyful spirit of the legendary Hugh Masekela with many of our other diverse musical influences, creating a powerful and unforgettable sound of our home: South Africa.”

NYO Jazz Tour dates

The Market Theatre, Johannesburg.

Friday, 26 July at 19h00.
Saturday, 27 July at 15h00 & 19h00.
Sunday, 28 July at 15h00.

Bookings via Webtickets.
For reduced-price block bookings (of 10 or more) and school groups, contact Anthony Ezeoke, (Audience Development), at AnthonyE@markettheatre.co.za or 083 246 4950 and Mamello Khomongoe mamellok@markettheatre.co.za or 081 572 9612.

The Playhouse, Durban.

Thursday, 1 August at 19h00.

Bookings via Webtickets.
For reduced-price block bookings (of 5 or more) and school groups, contact Gugu at marketingcoordinator@playhousecompany.com

Artscape, Cape Town.

Friday, 2 August at 19h00.
Saturday, 3 August at 15h00 & 19h00.

Bookings via Webtickets.
For reduced-price block bookings (of 10 or more) and school groups, contact Artscape Dial-a-Seat on 021 421 7695.

To learn more about NYO Jazz, visit carnegiehall.org/NYOJazz
Like NYO Jazz on Facebook
Follow NYO Jazz on Instagram
Follow on Twitter at #NYOJazz
See more on YouTube.

Issued on behalf of Carnegie Hall by TPW, South Africa.
Contact: Benjy Mudie – benjy@tpwagency.co.za / +27 (0) 82 490 2743.

South African Tour produced by Arte Viva Management.
Contact: Nikki Froneman – nikki@artevivamanagement.com / +27 (0) 84 2266 556.

NYOJ Carnegie Hall. Photo: Todd Rosenberg
Carnegie Hall NYOJ

Video: NYO Jazz, Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra, Announces Debut Tour to South Africa

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The FNB Stadium: The “Calabash” of a Nation

While the original stadium was built in 1989, its current iconic form was the result of a massive reconstruction for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The design, led by the architectural firm Boogertman + Partners, is deeply rooted in African symbolism. Its exterior is modeled after a calabash, the traditional African gourd or “melting pot.” The facade is composed of thousands of fiber-cement panels in eight different earth-toned colors, mimicking the fire and earth used to kiln the traditional pot. At night, the stadium is illuminated from below, creating the visual effect of a glowing fire beneath the “pot,” a symbol of the warmth and hospitality of the African continent.

The stadium’s capacity is a staggering 94,736, making it the largest stadium in Africa and the fourth largest in the world. But its significance transcends its scale. The site is a “theatre of history.” In 1990, just days after his release from 27 years of imprisonment, Nelson Mandela delivered his first speech to a massive, roaring crowd at the original FNB Stadium. It was here that he effectively signaled the beginning of the end of Apartheid. Decades later, in 2013, the same stadium hosted his memorial service, bringing the world together in a final farewell to “Madiba.”