Press Releases

 

March 25, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA ADVISORY

JAZZ COMPOSER CONDUCTS FINAL TORONTO CONCERT

(TORONTO) - Young, genre-bending composer Caitlin Smith will lead her orchestra, the Tiny Alligator Large Band, for one final Toronto performance tomorrow. A dynamic conductor, Smith's music is highly narrative and engaging, influenced by jazz, pop and rock musics.

Performing in this unique 17-piece ensemble are some of Toronto's finest classical and jazz musicians, including Kevin Turcotte and Lina Allemano, jazz trumpeters, Kristin Mueller-Heaslip, operatic soprano, and and Jennifer Ryan, jazz vocalist. "Writing for these fantastic musicians for the past several years has been a great opportunity for me to stretch out as a young composer," says Smith.

Smith is leaving in April to spend a year in New York City. There, she will study composition under the renowned Jim McNeely on a study grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. McNeely has been the pianist and composer-in-residence for the Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra for over ten years, and played with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra.