New York’s famed Apollo Theater has announced a new artistic partnership with trumpeter and composer Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, which, according to a press release, “will include a range of annual themed events and programs that will celebrate the origins of jazz, the continued innovations within the genre and build a younger audience for the art form.”
Under the multi-year partnership Mayfield will serve as Jazz Artist-in-Residence, “actively overseeing multiple presentations on the Apollo’s Mainstage, Soundstage space and in New Orleans at Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra’s new home, the Peoples Health New Orleans Jazz Market.” The partnership, says the release, will include newly commissioned works by Mayfield; a special New Orleans-themed concert in October 2015; an extension of the Apollo Music Café series with presentations in New York and New Orleans; a celebration of the city of New Orleans’ tri-centennial in 2018; education and cultural activities; and a book signing.
