Two Needham Students to Perform with the New England Conservatory Youth Jazz Orchestra Conducted by Needham Resident Ken Schaphorst

Two Needham students - 8th grade trombonist Michal Sabin and 10th grade trumpeter Samuel Atallah - will perform with the New England Conservatory Youth Jazz Orchestra conducted by Needham resident Ken Schaphorst at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 11 at NEC's Brown Hall, 290 Huntington Avenue, Boston.

The free concert will feature music of Duke Ellington, Gerald Wilson, Sun Ra, Imogen Heap, John Klenner, Joe Henderson, Harold Arlen, and Thad Jones. The NEC Youth Jazz Orchestra is comprised of middle and high school students from across the region. For more information, log on to http://necmuisc.edu/nec-youth-jazz-orchestra-schaphorst or call 617-585-1260.

Founded in 2008 by NEC Jazz Studies Department chair Ken Schaphorst, the YJO is the only community jazz orchestra of its kind in the Boston area, open by audition to all musicians high school age or younger. The ensembles strives to give young musicians opportunities to learn and perform together in an environment of high expectations and standards.

The NEC Youth Jazz Orchestra includes Eamon Sheil on alto and soprano saxophones, Kira Daglio Fine on alto saxophone, Josh Noel and Ryan McLean on tenor saxophones, Grace-Mary Burega on baritone saxophone, HYun Shin, Samuel Atallah, Diego Opperman and Nate Williams on trumpets, William Hess, Gibson Leavitt, Michael Sabin and Harrison Miller on trombones, Noah Landis on piano, Richard Oates on guitar, Noah Harrington on bass and Noah Klavens on drums.

Ken Schaphorst performs in Jordan Hall on Thursday, December 12 to conduct the NEC Jazz Orchestra in a concert of his own compositions and arrangements.

NEC's Jazz Studies Department was the first fully accredited jazz studies program at a music conservatory. The brainchild of Gunther Schuller, who moved quickly to incorporate jazz into the curriculum when he became President of the Conservatory in 1967, the Jazz Studies faculty has included six MacArthur "genius" grant recipients (three currently teaching) and four NEA Jazz Masters, and alumni that reads like a who's who of jazz. Now in its 44th year, the program has spawned numerous Grammy winning composers and performers. As Mike West writes in Jazz Times: "NEC's jazz studies department is among the most acclaimed and successful in the world; so says the roster of visionary artists that have comprised both its faculty and alumni." The program currently has 114 students; 67 undergraduate and 47 graduate students from 12 countries.