Multi-instrumentalist Dave Schroeder and pianist Antonio Figura have been music collaborators since 2016. While they have performed together across a wide variety of group settings, it is their intimate duo work that has produced some truly expressive performances that transcend musical genres. Their original compositions, written specifically for the unique arsenal of instruments he has mastered including, sopranino saxophone, bass flute, chromatic harmonica, Mongolian ever buree, and bass ocarina, to name a few, intertwine perfectly with Figura’s classical infused piano improvisations. While they are commonly featured at jazz festivals and clubs, the delicacy of sounds they create fits best within the concert hall setting.

SCHROEDER BIO

Dave Schroeder is Chair of the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions at NYU Steinhardt. He is a jazz musician, historian and author of the book From The Minds of Jazz Musicians: Conversations with the Creative and Inspired. Schroeder is also the creator and host of the NYU Jazz Interview Series on YouTube that has over a million followers.

As a performer, aside from the Schroeder/Figura Duo, he is the artistic director for Combo Nuvo, the NYU Jazz Faculty-in-Residence Ensemble that appears regularly at such landmark NYC music venues including the Blue Note Jazz Club, Birdland and Jazz at Lincoln Center and has been featured with the Costa Rica National Symphony, The United Arab Emirates Philharmonic in Abu Dhabi and in Ulaanbaatar with the Morin Khuur Ensemble; the National Symphony of Mongolia.

Schroeder’s interest in combining the power of music with social and political change issues is demonstrated in his project One World Suite. Along with his faculty and student group Combo Nuvo, One World Suite + 500 Harmonicas has been performed frequently at climate change events in Washington D.C. as well as for the United Nation’s International Day of Peace in Greenwich Village’s Washington Square Park. The finale of the suite includes Schroeder’s composition The Oceans where every audience member is given harmonica to play along with the group to reinforce that everyone has a voice on our planet and by combining our voices through music, we create a unified positive message for solving climate issues.

 FIGURA BIO

Pianist/composer Antonio Figura is an adjunct professor at NYU Steinhardt’s Department of Music & Performing Arts Professions, as well as a professor of music at Marino Centro in Rome, Italy. He holds graduate music degrees from the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory in Firenze and Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. Since 1996, Figura has performed throughout Europe and the United States with a broad array of artists and projects. In 2016, he was appointed vice-president of the PSMSAD Fund (Painters, Sculptors, Musicians, Writers and Authors Dramatic), whose aim is to supporting collaborations with institutions with similar interested throughout Italy and abroad to support training, development, and successful outcomes in bolstering international collaborations. Figura’s current duo collaboration with Dave Schroeder has brought him to NYU as an Artist Diploma candidate while pursuing their Duo Lecture/Performances soiree’s across the Eastern seaboard. Their musical collaborations have produced three CD recording projects.