Blackstar Symphony: The Music of David Bowie (February 7, 2025)

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. David Bowie saw McCaslin perform as soloist for the Maria Schneider Orchestra and brought in McCaslin’s progressive jazz quartet that came to define Blackstar’s visionary stylistic fusion. As David Hadju wrote in The Nation, “Donny McCaslin was David Bowie’s David Bowie.” In turn, Bowie influenced McCaslin, who fused alt-rock and jazz on his first album with lyrics, 2018’s BLOW.  Donny McCaslin now brings you the Blackstar Symphony, the most electrifying presentation of Bowie’s final work to date.

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 aka flymyspcshp, is a contemporary electronic musician and keyboardist from Brooklyn, NY, widely known for his post-jazz, IDM-influenced group, Now Vs Now, and for his unique keyboard and synth work on David Bowie’s final Grammy-winning album ‘★’ (blak-stär), for which producer Tony Visconti called Jason a “Godsend”. 

With an artistic identity spanning genres, cultures, formats, and technologies, Jason is a frequent performer and collaborator in the underground experimental electronic and DJ communities, actively exploring cross-sections of live electronic music and spontaneous improvisation for immersive sonic journeys both on and off the dance floor, playing everything from raves to meditative wellness sessions, both as a solo artist and in collaboration with a growing list of luminaries including Currency Audio, Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto), Mulatu Astatke, Saha Gnawa, Nikki Nair, Toribio, JKriv, Greg Paulus (No Regular Play), Salami Rose Joe Louis, LNDFK, Tatyana, Kimbra (Exo-Tech), Nu Jazz, No Eyes, Hybrid Movement Company, Sidra Bell, Poncili Creacion, Lauryn Hill, Meshell Ndegeocello, Angelique Kidjo, Danny Elfman. The late groundbreaking synthesizer designer and MIDI pioneer, Dave Smith, wrote that Jason “brings a fearless sense of improvisation to not only rhythm, melody, and harmony, but also to sound.”

Jonathan Maron is a Grammy nominated electric bassist, composer and producer. Maron’s unique approach, propulsive basslines and big sound travel with him always, regardless of the musical setting.

Early in his career, Jonathan co-founded New York’s now legendary Groove Collective, a band that has toured internationally, released eight albums including their Grammy-nominated, “People People Music Music.” The band’s dance-floor blend of afro-cuban rhythms, jazz, funk and house music has provided aperfect showcase for Maron’s playing and writing. With other artists, Jonathan can be heard on over 200 records ranging widely in style, including Maxwell’s platinum selling “Ascenscion (Don’t Ever Wonder).”

Maron has also performed with Meshell Ndegeocello, Mike Doughty, Tupac Shakur, Shujaat Khan, Dave Douglas, Jewel, India.Arie and Kurt Rosenwinkel, among many  others. In 2021 Maron released his own record, ‘Wide Open Lazy Eye,’ and performs as a leader regularly.

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

For a partial list: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/nate-wood-mn0000184076/credits

“Nate Wood pulls us into an industrial, neon dystopia with tunes that stand alone as headphone music without the accompanying visuals, meticulously crafted and with precise execution. This isn’t novelty music. You’re hearing (and seeing) a mastermind songwriter and mad scientist at work.” – Colin Marshall (NPR “Tiny Desk”)

John Cameron Mitchell 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 (2006), Rabbit Hole (2010, Oscar nom for Nicole Kidman) and Neil Gaiman’s How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017). 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. His musical podcast series Anthem: Homunculus stars Glenn Close, Cynthia Erivo, Patti Lupone and Laurie Anderson and he’s released a solo album called New American Dream Pts.1&2. He’s presently touring a new concert Cassette Roulette with Amber Martin, as well as developing a scripted podcast series Cancellation Island and a musical TV series with Linda Perry called The Disciples.

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 his untimely death 2016. She 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. Poe has written and performed songs and scores for American Repertory Theater, the LA Dance Project, Rambert Dance, the Malala Fund, Harvard Dance, and Shadowland by Pilobolus. He has produced recordings for other artists including Regina Spektor, Brendan Hines, and Kraig Jarret Johnson. He is a composer fellow of the Sundance Institute. www.linktr.ee/davidpo

Ryan O’Gara

Broadway- Thoughts of a Colored Man.  US Tour-  The Wiz, On Your Feet, Million Dollar Quartet- Christmas, A Night with Janis Joplin, Blippi, Vocalocity, The Walking Dead Experience, The Little Prince.  Cirque Du Soleil’s Paramour in Germany. CLUE- Paper Mill and Cleveland Play House.  Out of Shadowland Disney Tokyo Sea.  NY- NBCU upfront at Radio City Music Hall, Santuary, Tail! Spin!, Useless, Lady Day at the Little Shubert Theatre, The Mysterious Hat, Brazil Brazil, Knuckle Heads Zoo and Black Violin at the New Victory Theatre, Michael Count’s- Moses in Egypt for New York City Opera, play/date at Fat Baby plus THE RIDE, Andrea Thome’s- Pinkolandia, Lourds Lane’s- Chix 6/ Super You, John Maran’s- A Raw Space and A Strange and Separate People, Stephen Stahl’s- Straight to Hell and Norman Doesmen, David Straussman’s- Dummy plus various designs for The Sonnet Repertory Company, Lincoln Center Festival, NYU/Playwrights Horizons and Westbeth Theatre Center.  Regional- TUTS, Paper Mill Playhouse, Walnut Street Theatre, Drury Lane- Chicago (2019 Jefferson Nomination) Cleveland Play House, Syracuse Stage, Baltimore Center Stage,  Signature Theatre DC, Capital Repertory Theatre, Bucks County Playhouse, North Carolina Theatre, 15 productions at the Bristol Riverside Theatre most recently Man of LaMancha (Barrymore Award).  O’Gara has designed extensively in the dance world for: American Ballet Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, MOMIX, gloATL, Ballet Hispanico, Ron DeJesus Dance, Cedar Lake Ensemble, Dance Works- Chicago, Ballet Augsburg, Gauthier Dance, Neos Dance Theatre, Giordano Jazz Dance, Luna Negra Dance Theatre, Revolution at the Joyce Theatre and the Nike Rockstar Workout with Jamie King.  On Broadway he has served as the Associate Lighting Designer for: POTUS, Ain’t too Proud, Summer, Prince of Broadway, Come From Away, Bronx Tale, Paramour, Hamilton, Dr. Zhivago, Honeymoon in Vegas,  Bronx Bombers, After Midnight, A Christmas Story, Jesus Christ Superstar, Magic/Bird, How to Succeed…, Baby It’s You,  Long Story Short,  Lombardi, Million Dollar Quartet, All About Me, West Side Story, To Be or Not To Be, Cry Baby, Gypsy, In the Heights, Xanadu, Love Musik and Avenue Q.  O’Gara is a graduate of the School of Design and Production from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

Preston Dunnavant is a live sound audio engineer and music producer from Lexington, South Carolina. He has held the role of festival audio engineer at Spoleto Festival USA for the past three years, and spends the “off season” collaborating with an array of musicians, artists, and local Charleston venues. An alumni of Clemson University, Preston is excited to make his debut in sound design with Finding Freedom: The Journey of Robert Smalls, and the Charleston Gaillard Center

Jules Buckley Grammy winning composer, arranger, and conductor, Jules Buckley has collaborated on a staggering discography of over 70 albums.

Jules 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.

Jules 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. More info: julesbuckley.com| Management: harmonicartists.com

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, Michael 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). He has shared the stage with the likes of John Williams, Quincy Jones, Maria Schneider, Take 6, Steve Miller, and many other notable artists across the music world. Michael is a recent graduate of the University of Miami – Frost School of Music with masters and doctoral degrees in jazz trumpet performance, and now is Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music.

Vince Mendoza 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 6 Grammy awards and 34 nominations.  Mendoza is the composer in residence with the West Deutsche Rundfunk in Köln and the Conductor Laureate of the Netherlands Metropole Orkest. Mendoza’s new recording “Freedom Over Everything” features his compositions with Antonio Sanchez, Julia Bullock, MC Black Thought and the Czech National Symphony. www.vincemendoza.net

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 7 GRAMMY awards in jazz, classical, and for her work with David Bowie. Honors also include numerous awards from the Jazz Journalists Association, DOWNBEAT and JAZZTIMES, ASCAP’s Concert Music Award (2014), the nation’s highest honor in jazz, “NEA Jazz Master” (2019), and election into the 2020 American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her album, Concert in the Garden, featuring Donny McCaslin’s GRAMMY®-nominated solo, received the distinct honor of being inducted into the 2019 National Recording Registry.

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/or 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). 

Tony Visconti 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 Grammys 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 (Executive Producers) 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 (2014), and Ruth and Steve are executive producers of Saul Williams’ film, Neptune Frost (2022). Last spring, the Hendels presented A Walk on the Moon at George Street Playhouse. Additional upcoming productions include Monsoon Wedding (Qatar, November 2022; St. Ann’s Warehouse, Spring 2023), and The Devil’s Arithmetic. 

Steven Saporta (Producer)

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. He was one of the

earliest pioneers of the transformative role that video would play in promoting music, serving as Executive Producer of four major concert television specials and countless groundbreaking clips that succeeded in launching or re-inventing the careers of Whitney Houston, Van Morrison, Rod Stewart, Run-DMC, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, Sting, and the Highwaymen, which brought together country music icons Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings.

For more than thirty years, the company that he founded with Peter Casperson, Invasion Group Ltd, has exemplified the spirit and cutting edge of the indie music movement, becoming home to legendary rebels and maverick visionaries like producer Bill Laswell and artist Ani DiFranco. Among them is saxophonist Donny McCaslin, recruited by Bowie to play a critical role as bandleader of Blackstar, who serves as this show’s Artistic Director. Saporta has always recognized Bowie’s bold envelope-pushing creativity as the aesthetic template for his own career—as the foundation for his belief that a progressive consciousness about art also translates into the best kind of business in the long run. As he puts it. “I can’t think of a better example of that sensibility than Blackstar Symphony.”

Margaret Selby (Producer and Booking Agent) 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. A special concert version of Fela! was featured in the Adelaide Festival, the Auckland Festival, Kennedy Center, Central Park, Saratoga Performing Arts, and House of Blues Boston. The production continues to tour today.  For over 15 years she has been touring the Tony Award winning production Slava’s Snowshow throughout North and South America. Most recently, she produced Blackstar Symphony, David Bowie’s final album re-imagined for a 65-piece orchestra and the highly acclaimed Olivier Award Nominated Turn It Out With Tiler Peck & Friends in London and the United States.  Selby has worked with luminaries of the dance world such as Twyla Tharp, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mark Morris, and Suzanne Farrell. Her current roster is comprised today’s most in demand and important artists including Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Ballets Jazz Montréal’s DANCE ME The Music of Leonard Cohen, BODYTRAFFIC, Camille A. Brown & Dancers, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, DIAVOLO, Compagnie Hervé Koubi, Miami City Ballet, MOMIX, Parsons Dance, Sergio Bernal Dance Company, and Turn It Out With Tiler Peck & Friends. Her extensive experience supporting performances and touring throughout the world makes her a valued partner for artists and presenters alike.