NYO JAZZ to Embark on Asia Tour Led by Kris Johnson With Dee Dee Bridgewater
The Carnegie Hall ensemble will also perform at SFJAZZ and stops in Taichung, Shanghai, and Beijing.
This August, Carnegie Hall's national youth jazz orchestra—NYO Jazz, led this summer by bandleader/trumpeter Kris Johnson in his Carnegie Hall debut—will return for its ninth season of extraordinary music-making, culminating in a concert at Carnegie Hall on Saturday, August 1, 2026 followed by the band's debut performance in San Francisco and return tour to Asia from August 4–15.
This ensemble, created by Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute (WMI) in 2018, annually brings together 22 of the most outstanding teen jazz musicians from across the United States to train, perform, and tour with some of the world's greatest artists while also serving as music ambassadors, sharing America's greatest artform with audiences around the globe. This year, Grammy Award-winning vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater returns as special guest to join NYO Jazz for their annual Carnegie Hall concert and on tour.
NYO Jazz's summer tour kicks off in San Francisco (SFJAZZ Center on August 4) prior to departing to Asia for return visits to Taichung (National Taichung Theater on August 8 and 9); Shanghai (Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai on August 11 and 12); and Beijing (Beijing Performing Arts Center on August 14). This summer's concerts follow successful national and international tours by NYO Jazz in previous summers to some of the most prestigious concert halls and music festivals across Europe, Asia, the United States, South Africa, and Latin America.
NYO Jazz's diverse repertoire showcases big band jazz as a limitless art form, one that bridges genres, generations, and borders. For the ensemble's summer 2026 concerts, Carnegie Hall has commissioned a new work by Korean American composer Jihye Lee. NYO Jazz's stylistic range will be further highlighted in big band favorites by the Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Thad Jones/Mel Lewis orchestras, as well as genre-crossing contemporary works and new arrangements written specifically for the ensemble by John Clayton and Kris Johnson. The exciting program also features a new arrangement by NYO Jazz and SFJAZZ High School All-Star alum Skylar Tang through an NYO Jazz commissioning project highlighting new arrangements of compositions from Terri Lyne Carrington's New Standards: 101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers.
NYO Jazz's 2026 tour offers America's finest young musicians the opportunity to experience the richness of Asia's culture and history while sharing their remarkable artistry with audiences. Complementing their performances, the players' schedule will also include exciting opportunities for sight-seeing as well as cultural exchange and peer-to-peer activities with local young people, an element that has become a hallmark of international tours by all three of Carnegie Hall's national youth ensembles.
The members of the 2026 NYO Jazz ensemble—ages 16–19, hailing from multiple regions of the United States—have been recognized by Carnegie Hall as being among the finest players in the country, following a comprehensive and highly competitive audition process. Click here for the complete roster of musicians, including the names, instruments, and hometowns of the 2026 ensemble members. NYO Jazz is offered free of charge to all participants, ensuring that all invited musicians have the opportunity to take part.
In preparation for their performances and tour, the musicians will arrive in New York to begin an intensive two-week training residency (July 18–31). They will work with world-class jazz musicians on the campus of Purchase College, State University of New York, located just north of New York City. Click here to see biographies for Kris Johnson and Dee Dee Bridgewater as well as a full list of this year's faculty.
Program will include a new Carnegie Hall-commissioned work by Korean American composer Jihye Lee. NYO Jazz's stylistic range will be further highlighted in big band favorites by the Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Thad Jones/Mel Lewis orchestras, as well as genre-crossing contemporary works and new arrangements written specifically for the ensemble by John Clayton and Kris Johnson. The exciting program also features a new arrangement by NYO Jazz and SFJAZZ High School All-Star alum Skylar Tang through an NYO Jazz commissioning project highlighting new arrangements of compositions from Terri Lyne Carrington's New Standards: 101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers.
The tour schedule is as follows:
(All concerts taking place at listed local times)
Tuesday, August 4 at 7:30 p.m.
SFJAZZ Center (San Francisco)
Saturday, August 8 at 4:00 p.m.
Sunday, August 9 at 4:00 p.m.
National Taichung Theater, Grand Theater (Taichung)
Tuesday, August 11 at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
with Dee Dee Bridgewater as special guest
Wednesday, August 12 at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
with Kris Johnson as soloist
Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai (Shanghai)
Friday, August 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Beijing Performing Arts Center, Concert Hall (Beijing)
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