Third Stream Residencies

A Radical (r)evolution of Third Stream

Orbert Davis has contemplated a radical (r)evolution of Third Stream music; one where jazz, with its tradition of collaboration, openness, and improvisation becomes the ethos of an orchestra.

Chicago Jazz Philharmonic travels 3-5 of its core musicians to partner with universities, professional orchestras, middle school and high school bands to lead workshops, master classes, and rehearsals culminating in a performance. This residency program works to educate musicians on the personal, cultural, societal, and musical benefits of combining classical and jazz.

[This] was genuinely the most fun I’ve ever had in a performance. It was so fun that I got emotional halfway into the concert because I had so much fun playing.

-University of Louisville orchestra student

What is the Residency about?

Connection

This residency works to bridge the gap between often disconnected classical orchestral and jazz ensemble programs

Cultural Competence

Students will experience Third Stream as a tool in enlarging the role of jazz to help understand human relations, especially around DEI.

(R)evolution

Third Stream prepares the next generation of musicians by opening minds and musical ears to the myriad of possibilities that exist in today’s musical world.

83%

• New York
• Las Vegas
• San Francisco

• New York
• Las Vegas
• San Francisco

83% of participants say they have a greater understanding of how jazz can inform human relationships, especially around DEI.

80%

• New York
• Las Vegas

• New York
• Las Vegas

80% said “this residency "bridged the gap" between the classical orchestra and the jazz ensemble”

For schools that are looking to prepare musicinas for the real world and for the future, this is something they need to do.

University of Louisville

Where have we done residencies?

• Middle School Band and Orchestra Residencies

  F. E. Peacock Middle School, Itasca, IL 2023

  This program, long offered to professional orchestras and universities, was the inaugural adaptation for a middle school band. Students of the F.E. Peacock Middle School spent a week working directly with Maestro Davis playing arrangements of his music and building the courage and skills to improvise. The week culminated in a concert with members of the CJP orchestra and for many students, this was their first experience improvising in front of a live audience! We had a blast, and the students were phenomenal. Bravo!

• University Residencies

  University of Louisville, USA, 2020

  In February 2020 Orbert Davis and members of the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic traveled to Louisville, KY for a week of masterclasses, rehearsals, and concerts teaching the jazz and classical music departments how to connect through improvisation, collaboration, and openness.

  Universidad de las Artes (ISA), Cuba, 2015

  In 2012, on a people-to-people trip, Orbert Davis encountered music students at the Universidad de las Artes (ISA) in Havana. A promise was made then to return to Havana to conduct a residency. In December 2014, Orbert Davis and CJP musicians returned to Havana to work with the entire ISA orchestra and presented a world premiere of a new Orbert Davis composition as part of the Havana International Jazz Festival. In November 2015, thirty-five ISA student musicians traveled to Chicago for a collaborative performance with CJP, “Scenes from Life: Cuba!”.

  Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music, Poland 2009

  Orbert Davis and Chicago Jazz Philharmonic (CJP) were invited to perform at the 4th Annual “Made in Chicago" festival in Poznań, Poland. CJP partnered with a student orchestra from the classical institution Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań for the Polish premiere of Davis’ “Collective Creativity Suite”. The November 28, 2009 performance at Aula Nova, Poznań’s most modern concert hall, was preceded by approximately 30 hours of scheduled rehearsal time with the Poznań Orchestra which consisted of workshops and master classes led by Davis and other CJP musicians

• Professional Orchestral Residencies

  Ruse Philharmonic, Bulgaria, 2016

  In cooperation with the Ruse Philharmonic, members of Chicago Jazz Philharmonic and Orbert Davis' Sextet, will perform educational concerts, a jazz concert and a full orchestra presentation of CJP repertoire, and featuring a piano concerto by Bulgarian jazz artist Lyubomir Denev.

Featuring the University of Louisville Symphony Orchestra | February 2020