The Boston Globe | Jazz artist Maria Schneider on making music, and making a living

The Boston Globe's Jon Garelick spoke with Maria Schneider in advance of her NEC residency March 2 – 4 and concert March 10:

For the composer and bandleader Maria Schneider, who comes to New England Conservatory for an artist residency March 2-4, the limitations of Zoom-centric life during the coronavirus pandemic must carry a particular kind of irony. Her 2020 double-CD, “Data Lords,” devoted one disc to “The Digital World,” the second to “Our Natural World.” [...]

The NEC residency, as in normal times, will include panel discussions and a concert performance with students, all free and open to the public. Except that now, of course, the audience will attend online only, including the March 10 concert, prerecorded during the residency.

But Schneider, who lives in New York, will be coming to Boston to take part in the panels and rehearse and lead the band in person. The visit will require multiple COVID tests as well as extreme social distancing for Schneider and NEC’s student orchestra. [...]

“It’s crazy times,” says Schneider, “but when I rehearse, I’m very diligent about details and expression, and I’m going to push past these hurdles that we’re in and give everybody the very best educational and musical experience I can when I’m there.” The program will include selections from “Data Lords” and other Schneider compositions.