Winners
Synthesis
Undergraduate College Large Jazz Ensemble
DownBeat Magazine’s 36th Annual Student Music Awards
DownBeat’s Annual Student Music Awards span a variety of categories for student performers at the junior high, high school, and university levels and are regarded as one of the world’s top student music competitions.
Synthesis – All That Jazz in Brazil
A highlight of the BYU Synthesis three-week tour in Brazil was performing at the world-renowned Rio das Ostras Jazz and Blues Festival, a five-day gathering that showcases 60 hours of smooth, rhythmic jazz melodies. The one thing Synthesis didn’t expect were the 20,000 people who watched their performances at the festival–with another 20,000 listening from outside.
[toggle title=”Click to read more…”] “It was kind of surreal,” says Eric Backman, a member of Synthesis. “We had heard that it was big, but I don’t think we realized exactly how big it would be. It was massive–just crazy.”Dr. Ray Smith, director of Synthesis, says the group had the opportunity to perform the opening number in the town square of the Rio das Ostras Festival and then opened the following night on the main stage. Though this festival was their biggest performance, the group regularly performed for thousands of others throughout their tour.
“We can play concerts in the de Jong Concert Hall on the BYU campus for 1,200 if we sell out,” says Synthesis member Jory Woodis.
In Brazil, however, Synthesis often played for more than 1,500. In their first stop they performed for 1,700 at PalÁ¡cio das Artes. Troy Streeter, the tour manager for Synthesis, says that he particularly enjoyed the audience’s reaction there.
“PalÁ¡cio das Artes was a beautiful venue with a top-notch staff and a very enthusiastic crowd for the show,” Streeter says. “The audience just couldn’t get enough of the music; I think we could have kept them entertained with several more encores!”
Synthesis then traveled to the cities of Contagem, Ouro Preto, and Santa Teresa, where they attended the Santa Teresa Jazz and Bossa Festival, a three-day celebration of jazz and bossa nova that includes many famous international and Brazilian artists.
Synthesis also played at two firesides for more than 1,700 people in Belo Horizonte and held several workshops, including an hour-long session with FAMES, a music school in VitÁ³ria.
“With most of the workshops there were opportunities for performances from Synthesis and from the group we were visiting,” Streeter says. “As a spectator I enjoyed seeing the communication play out. Verbal translation of music and technology terms was always a bit of a challenge, but there was never a problem when it came down to the music–everyone understood that language.”
The second week of the tour was spent in Rio de Janeiro, Campos, and at the famous Rio das Ostras Jazz and Blues Festival. In Rio de Janeiro, Synthesis also had some wonderful sightseeing experiences at the Christ the Redeemer statue, Sugarloaf Mountain, and the beautiful Rio beaches. Backman describes it as “the most beautiful city in the world.”
The tour ended in SÁ£o Paulo with meaningful visits among local Church members, devotionals, a dance attended by 3,000 people, and a trip to the zoo. “We all loved the ‘zoofari’ at the zoo in SÁ£o Paulo,” Streeter says. “Even the skeptical ones couldn’t argue that having ostriches eat out of your hand wasn’t pretty cool!”
The overall experience of the tour was so positive that many couldn’t decide on just one part they loved most about Brazil. Smith says they had so much fun getting to know Brazil that it was hard to leave the wonderful culture and their new friends behind: “Between the geography and the food and the people and then the music, usually after three or four weeks you’re ready to go home. But my wife said, ‘I don’t know if I want to go home!’?”
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