Remy Le Boeuf to lead Nordkraft Big Band

Remy Le Boeuf is the Director of Jazz and Commercial Music Studies at the Lamont School of Music.

While he is younger than the typical chief conductor, Remy Le Boeuf has already left his mark on the international jazz scene. Le Boeuf is a Grammy-nominated composer and saxophonist whose music is rooted in the jazz tradition and overlaps into contemporary classical and indie-rock realms. He is also the founder and director of the jazz orchestra Assembly of Shadows. Le Boeuf has worked with a range of collaborators including the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Linda Oh, HAIM, JACK Quartet, Dayna Stephens, Prefuse 73, and his identical twin brother Pascal, with whom he co-leads the experimental jazz quintet, Le Boeuf Brothers.

With his debut jazz orchestra release, Assembly of Shadows (2019), Le Boeuf established himself as a unique voice with a penchant for cinematic majesty and melody-driven themes. Hailed by the New York Times for his music’s “overwhelming beauty,” he quickly earned two Grammy nominations for Best Instrumental Composition & Best Arrangement the following year. In 2021, Le Boeuf released a complementary sequel, Architecture of Storms, showcasing his acrobatic saxophone playing while exploring the diversity of his emotions and influences. This past year he also made an appearance in DownBeat magazine's top five rising star alto saxophone players. 

At 36, Remy Le Boeuf is the youngest conductor in Nordkraft Big Band’s history. He will focus on the orchestra’s musical and artistic development as he contributes fresh ideas and a more modern approach to big band music.

“We've got a name that very soon will become really big on the international music scene,” says manager of Nordkraft Big Band, Peter Lund Paulsen. “We have previously worked with established names such as John Clayton and Bob Mintzer, but this is something very special. We have got our hands on a relatively young name, which in these years is storming the music scenes all over the world and it fits perfectly into our own development right now.”

Le Boeuf will be working with the Nordkraft Big Band in 2023 and 2024, where he will both conduct and perform as a featured soloist. Among other things, he will write new music for this collaboration and make recordings with the Danish big band.

Le Boeuf's list of honors include commissions from Chamber Music America, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra, as well as seven ASCAP Young Composer Awards, the BMI Foundation's Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize, the Sammy Nestico Award, and the Copland House Residency Award. He has received additional awards from the American Composers Forum, Jerome Foundation, Copland Fund, YoungArts, Cafe Royal Cultural Foundation, New York Youth Symphony, International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers, and the Society of Composers. An active educator as well, Le Boeuf is the Director of Jazz and Commercial Music Studies at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music.

Nordkraft Big Band has established itself as one of the most active, visionary, and serious ensembles within rhythmical contemporary music in Denmark and enjoys wide recognition for their recordings and concerts. It was founded in 2010 in Aalborg (Northern Denmark) to present high-level performances and strengthen the local area artistically. Rooted in the big band tradition, and previously led by American bass player/big band leader John Clayton (2017-19), the 17-member ensemble continually explores the format with ground-breaking projects. Nordkraft Big Band’s recordings have been played on Danish Radio P8 Jazz, and in the summer of 2022, they released the fifth album, Avannaata Pissaanera (Power of the North) – a collaboration between Greenland and Denmark.

Nordkraft Big Band has collaborated with several prominent musicians, including John Clayton (US), Bob Mintzer (US), Robben Ford (US), Sinne Eeg (DK), Roger Neumann (US), Aalborg Symphony Orchestra (DK), Nikolaj Bentzon (DK), Zika (GL), Aviaja Lumholt (DK/GL), and many more.

This announcement originally appeared on the Nordkraft Big Band website.