Vince Mendoza has been at the forefront of the Jazz and contemporary music scene as a composer, conductor and recording artist for the last 20 years. He has written scores of compositions and arrangements for big band, extended compositions for chamber and symphonic settings while his jazz composing credits read like a “who's who” of the best modern instrumentalists and singers in the world today. Mendoza is the Music Director and Chief conductor of the Netherlands Metropole Orchestra, the only full time symphonic Jazz orchestra in the world. He is frequently seen working with the Metropole Orchestra at concerts, festivals and recordings with the likes of Elvis Costello, Herbie Hancock, The Brecker Brothers, Vicente Amigo, Joe Lovano and Ivan Lins and with repertoire of composers as diverse as Bernstein, Stravinsky, Ellington, Josef Zawinul and Ennio Morricone. In addition, he appears frequently as a guest conductor with orchestras throughout Europe, the U.S., Japan, Scandinavia, and the U.K. He conducted the premiere of Mark Anthony Turnage’s “A Man Descending” with the Scottsh Chamber Orchestra. Mendoza’s performance of the music of Brazilian guitarist Guinga with the Los Angeles Philharmonic was part of a U.S. national broadcast. His early solo albums on Blue Note Records, 'Start Here' and 'Instructions Inside', were critical triumphs that featured such artists as John Scofield, Joe Lovano, Ralph Towner, Bob Mintzer, Randy Brecker, Peter Erskine and others. 'Start Here' was voted one of Jazziz Magazine's 'Top Picks' and Mendoza was recognized as 'Best Composer/Arranger' by Swing Journal's critics poll in Japan. His 6th solo CD, "Epiphany" features his compositions played by the London Symphony Orchestra. Mendoza's arranging has appeared on many critically acclaimed projects that include dozens of albums with song writing legends such as Björk, Chaka Khan, Al Jarreau, Bobby McFerrin and Joni Mitchell. He has 4 Grammy awards and 16 nominations. He was the orchestral voice behind the score to Lars van Trier's "Dancer in the Dark" featuring Björk, as well as the orchestrations on her CD titled "Vespertine", and the orchestral CDs of Joni Mitchell, “Both Sides Now” and “Travelogue”. Mendoza has also written commissioned compositions and arrangements for the Turtle Island String Quartet, the Debussy Trio, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, the Metropole Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, West Deutsche Rundfunk and the BBC. His music was featured at the Berlin Jazz Festival . He has performed major works at the Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals. His new CD of chamber music Blauklang (ACT 9465-2) will be released by ACT music in fall 2008. Blauklang is the final part of an ACT trilogy in collaboration with Vince Mendoza and the WDR that began in 1992 with the Grammy-nominated Jazzpaña (ACT’s very first production, ACT 9212-2) and continued with Sketches (ACT 9215-2).

When you think of an orchestra, you think classical music. That’s not the Metropole Orkest. Playing jazz, pop, world, cabaret, film scores and folk, the Metropole Orkest have shared the stage with legends such as Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Brian Eno, Pat Metheny, Stan Getz, Bono and Steve Vai. The Metropole Orkest invest just as much in playing with the next generation of stars, like Antony and the Johnsons, Snarky Puppy, Laura Mvula and Gregory Porter. The Metropole Orkest is a regular guest on The Netherlands’ main stages such as the Amsterdam Paradiso and has played both the Barbican and the Royal Albert Hall in London. The Orkest also play many festivals including North Sea Jazz, Holland Festival, Pinkpop, Lowlands and the 3FM awards, BBC Proms and Musikfest Bremen to name but a few. The Metropole Orkest has produced more than 150 albums and thousands of radio and television broadcasts, requiring over 600 arrangements per year in every imaginable style. Despite this musical versatility, people all over the world can recognise inimitable sound, style and identity of the Metropole Orkest. As the world’s leading pop and jazz orchestra, the Metropole Orkest is always looking to experiment and to be part of spectacular performances including events such as concerts in highway tunnels with Junkie XL or participation in the world’s first crowd funded opera videogame! The Metropole Orkest moves audiences. That is, after all, the real purpose of music.