èßäAV

Donny McCaslin is best known as the saxophonist on David Bowie’s last album, Blackstar. The noted composer and bandleader has released a dozen albums over his genre-defying, Grammy-nominated^® career.  McCaslin began playing at age 12, and as a teenager, performed in his vibraphonist father's band in Santa Cruz. By high school, he had appeared multiple times at the Monterey Jazz Festival. After attending Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship, McCaslin became a sought-after player in New York City.

View MoreView Less

Grammy-winning^® composer, arranger, and conductor, Jules Buckley has collaborated on a staggering discography of over 70 albums. Buckley has curated live and recording projects reimagining styles from jazz, disco, and soul to electronica, global and avant garde for orchestra with some of the hottest names in music including: Quincy Jones, Snarky Puppy, Michael Kiwanuka, Jacob Collier, Bokanté, Lianne La Havas, Massive Attack and many more. Buckley is co-founder and conductor of the Heritage Orchestra, Honorary Conductor of the Metropole Orkest (following his tenure as Chief Conductor) and Chief Artist in Association with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Tim Davies is a Grammy-nominated^® and Annie-winning composer, arranger, orchestrator, and conductor. He is a respected lead orchestrator and regular conductor in studios from Los Angeles to London. His credits for film and television include La La Land, Free Guy, Frozen movies, both Ant-Man movies, and many others. He also recently conducted his own award-winning score to Maya and the Three, recorded in Sydney, Australia. No stranger to the concert hall, he has led a number of live concerts, including for the National Symphony Orchestras of both the US and Taiwan.

Jason Lindner also known as flymyspcshp, is a musical explorer, sonic sorcerer, and rhythm wizard who takes his listeners on a journey. Since the release of his breakout album on Chick Corea's Stretch label, he has gained recognition for critically acclaimed albums with his group Now Vs Now and for his work on David Bowie's Blackstar and No Plan albums, which were created in collaboration with his long-time contemporaries, Mark Guiliana, Tim Lefebvre, and Donny McCaslin.

View MoreView Less

Throughout his wide-ranging career, Tim Lefebvre has amassed a reputation for being one of the world’s most innovative bassists. The Foxboro-native’s creative playing style is an addictive blend of vintage rock, improvisation, soundtrack undertones, and electronic grooves that can be heard on his appearances on over 150 recordings, ranging from Grammy award-winning^® albums such as David Bowie’s Blackstar to the soundtracks of classic films such as The Departed and Ocean's 12.  From 2013 to 2018, Lefebvre was the bassist of the dynamic blues rock ensemble Tedeschi Trucks Band, and he can be heard on their three most recent releases, Let Me Get By, Live From The Fox Oakland, and Signs. Before joining the group, he worked with artists such as Wayne Krantz, Boomish, Uri Caine, Chris Botti, and Leni Stern and was the sub bassist in Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. 

View MoreView Less

Nate Wood is also a world-renowned mastering engineer, having mastered hundreds of records from around the globe.

The 2024–2025 season is the National Symphony Orchestra’s 94th season and Music Director Gianandrea Noseda’s eighth season. Since its founding in 1931, the NSO has been committed to performances that enrich the lives of its audience and community members. In 1986, the National Symphony became an artistic affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where it has performed since the Center opened in 1971. The NSO participates in events of national and international importance, including the annual nationally televised concerts on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol, live-streamed performances on medici.tv, and local radio broadcasts on WETA 90.9 FM.

View MoreView Less

co-created the rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch for which he won two Tony Awards^®, Best Director at Sundance, a Golden Globe nomination^® and a review from David Bowie: “John, you got it right.” He directed the films Shortbus, Rabbit Hole, and Neil Gaiman’s How to Talk to Girls at Parties. On TV he’s appeared in Girls, Shrill, The Good Fight, Netflix’s The Sandman, Apple’s upcoming City on Fire, and as Tiger King’s Joe Exotic in Peacock Channel’s Joe Vs Carole.

View MoreView Less

Gail Ann Dorsey is known as one of David Bowie’s longest-serving bandmates as bassist and vocalist, recording, and touring the world many times over since 1995 to 2016. Dorsey sang lead vocals live on the showstopper "Under Pressure," taking the part originally recorded by Freddie Mercury. She has toured and recorded countless acts including Tears for Fears, Lenny Kravitz, Bryan Ferry, and served as bandleader for Gwen Stefani. Recently, she was a featured vocalist on albums by The National and Matt Berninger and has released three solo albums: The Corporate World, Rude Blue, and I Used To Be…

“David Poe gives the singer-songwriter genre a much-needed jolt,” writes Rolling Stone. The Village Voice calls Poe “the major domo of songwriters.” His songs have been featured in TV and film projects like Nashville and Dexter, performed by a diverse array of artists, and recorded by Grammy-winning® producers T Bone Burnett, Larry Klein, and Buddy Miller.

View MoreView Less

O’Gara is a graduate of the School of Design and Production from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

Based in Southern California, Troy has been the audio engineer for the of LaLa Land in Concert World Tour, Love Actually in Concert, and Revolution: Music The Beatles'–A Symphonic Experience.  He has also worked with Herbie Hancock and Danny Elfman. 

Michael R. Dudley Jr. is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and orchestrator based in Upstate New York. Since earning a degree in Commercial Music Production at the University of Cincinnati, Dudley has participated in many ensembles and concert series. These include multiple Grammy Award-winning^® bands, such as the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Christian McBride Big Band, Brian Lynch Big Band, and the John Daversa Big Band, with which he recorded on the multi-Grammy Award-winning^® album, American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom (Featuring DACA artists).

View MoreView Less

has been at the forefront of the contemporary music scene as a composer, conductor and recording artist for the last 30 years, writing scores of compositions and arrangements for big band, chamber and symphonic settings. His credits read like a “who's who” of the best modern instrumentalists and singers in the world today. He has six Grammy awards® and 34 nominations. 

View MoreView Less

Maria Schneider's music, largely composed for her collective made up of many of the finest musicians in jazz today, has been hailed by critics as “evocative, majestic, magical, and heart-stoppingly gorgeous.” Blurring lines between genres, she’s received 14 Grammy nominations^® and seven Grammy awards^® in Jazz, Classical, and for her work with David Bowie.

View MoreView Less

Jamshied Sharifi is a New York-based composer, producer, and keyboardist. He has composed the scores for the feature films Harriet The Spy, Down To Earth, Clockstoppers, and Muppets From Space, as well as contributing music to numerous other films and television shows.  As a producer, arranger, and keyboardist, he has recorded and performed with Paula Cole, Ray Charles, Dream Theater, Laurie Anderson, Hassan Hakmoun, Snatam Kaur, and many others, and has written orchestrations for the Broadway shows The Last Ship and The Band’s Visit, for which he won a Tony Award® in 2018. 

Three-time Grammy-winner^®, Tony Visconti, was born in Brooklyn and moved to London in 1967 to begin a career that led to him becoming one of the most important music producers in history.

Since Bowie released his eponymous album, David Bowie, produced by Visconti in 1969, Tony has been a vital part of Bowie’s career including his final album, Blackstar, winning two Grammy Awards^® and Album of the Year at the Brit Awards^®. Visconti also produced iconic music by T. Rex, Morrissey, Sparks, the Moody Blues, Thin Lizzy, The Good, The Bad & The Queen and many others.

Ruth & Stephen Hendel conceived and produced the musical FELA!, which ran on Broadway, London's Royal National Theater, and on tour all over the world. Ruth has been involved as a co-producer in many Tony Award-winning^® Broadway shows. Stephen is the executive producer of Alex Gibney's documentary, Finding Fela, and the Hendel’s are executive producers of Saul Williams' film, Neptune Frost. Last spring, the Hendel’s presented A Walk on the Moon at George Street Playhouse. Additional upcoming productions include Monsoon Wedding, and The Devil's Arithmetic. 

Perhaps the phrase “talent catalyst” best sums up the role that Steven Saporta has played over his rich and diverse career. As such, Blackstar Symphony represents a kind of crowning achievement of his decades-long journey as manager, creative confidant, entrepreneur, producer, music business innovator, and consultant. Nurtured in the New York art underground, Saporta’s career has been guided from the outset by a sensibility that has always compelled him to seek out, develop, and present the kind of new and alternative art and artists that resonate far beyond their emergence.

View MoreView Less

is the founder and President of Selby Artists Management and Selby Creative Productions. With a critical eye for recognizing exceptional talent, Selby’s many accomplishments include producing the first Off-Broadway hip hop musical, Jam on the Groove with the Rock Steady Crew , which earned a Drama Desk Award Nomination and toured internationally. She toured the Tony Award-winning^® Broadway production of Fela! across the United States and to London’s Sadler’s Wells, and The Holland Festival.

View MoreView Less