How Does an Independent Big Band Work? Behind the Scenes of Orquestra Urbana

During my doctorate, I had a conversation with composer Maria Schneider that stayed with me for many years.

Em conversa com Maria Schneider ao piano na Frost School of Music, durante a entrevista que integrou minha pesquisa de doutorado.

At the time, I already admired her work deeply. Her music had directly influenced my decision to study in the United States and expanded my understanding of what a big band could be. I saw her as one of the leading figures in contemporary large ensemble writing and imagined that someone in her position spent most of her time composing, rehearsing, and performing her music.

À esquerda, com Maria Schneider depois de uma apresentação de sua orquestra em New Jersey, anos antes da entrevista que abre este texto. Naquela ocasião, conversamos sobre meus planos de estudar composição nos Estados Unidos, e ela compartilhou conselhos sobre esse caminho. À direita, meus exemplares de Evanescence, Coming About e Concert in the Garden, autografados e acompanhados de pequenas dedicatórias escritas por ela.

At some point, our conversation turned to the reality of leading an independent composer-led big band. What stayed with me most was not an observation about composition, but one about everything surrounding it. Maria described a routine in which much of her energy was consumed by organizing tours, coordinating musicians, securing funding, managing her projects through the ArtistShare platform, communicating with supporters, and handling countless activities without which the music would never reach the stage.

I left that conversation with a curious feeling. On one hand, it dismantled a fantasy I still carried about the life of a composer and big band leader. On the other, it brought an unexpected sense of familiarity. That reality was already beginning to emerge in my own projects.

As I began organizing my own groups, that conversation made more and more sense. The audience sees the concert. Those involved in the project also witness everything that must happen for it to exist.

→ Read more: Behind the Scenes of a Study on Jazz, Concert Music, and Musical Languages

The Music Is Only the Beginning

There is a relatively common image of a composer's work: someone sitting at a piano, a computer, or a sheet of paper, making decisions about sounds, forms, and structures.

That image describes an important part of the process, but it is far from showing everything involved in realizing a project like this.

Especially when we are talking about an independent project involving eighteen musicians, composition is usually only the beginning of a much larger chain of events. A piece may be complete, an arrangement may be finished, and an artistic vision may be clearly defined. Even so, none of this guarantees that the music will actually be performed.

Between the last note written and the first note played lies a world of decisions, schedules, resources, institutions, negotiations, and people that must converge in the same direction.

Working with Orquestra Urbana made this increasingly clear. Much of the energy required to keep a project of this nature active is not necessarily connected to writing music, but to the challenge of transforming an artistic idea into something that can exist in the real world.

Passagem de som da Orquestra Urbana no Sesc Pompeia, antes do concerto de lançamento de Pelos Ares (2016).

→ Read more: Why Create a Composer-Led Big Band Today? The Story of Orquestra Urbana

What Happens Before the First Rehearsal?

The path to the first rehearsal does not always follow the same sequence. Sometimes an artistic idea comes before the conditions needed to realize it; at other times, an opportunity provides the context for developing something that has already been taking shape. Throughout Orquestra Urbana's history, projects have generally emerged from the meeting of these two dimensions.

That was the case with Pelos Ares. I already wanted to consolidate the artistic work I had been developing for big band and the collaboration built with Orquestra Urbana. The project's approval through ProAC, the Programa de Ação Cultural, a São Paulo state government arts funding program, created the opportunity to bring that repertoire together in an album and give the collaboration a recorded form.

Com a Orquestra Urbana no Sesc Campinas, em uma das apresentações realizadas durante a preparação para a gravação de Pelos Ares (2015).

→ Read more: Pelos Ares: Inside Orquestra Urbana's First Album

Something similar happened years later when Orquestra Urbana resumed its activities and performed at Sala São Paulo. There was a desire to reactivate the group, develop new works, and resume a process that had been interrupted by different circumstances. But it was the existence of a concrete opportunity, with a date, a venue, and a favorable context, that allowed everything to begin moving again.

Regendo a Orquestra Urbana durante nossa apresentação na série Matinais da Sala São Paulo, em 2025.

From there, the opportunity must be converted into a working plan. The repertoire has to be defined, the musicians assembled, schedules coordinated, scores prepared, spaces secured, a timeline established, and the entire production and communication structure built so that the music can happen.

The first rehearsal, therefore, does not mark the beginning of the project. It is the moment when extensive preparation finally begins to become audible. The more I work with large ensembles, the clearer it becomes that artistic realization depends on the meeting between what we want to create and the concrete conditions that allow that creation to be set in motion.

The People Are the Project

From the outside, a project of this scale may be associated primarily with the person leading it. This makes sense to a certain extent. After all, there is an artistic direction, a repertoire, and a body of choices that help guide the work.

Com os músicos da Orquestra Urbana no Sesc Pompeia, durante o lançamento de Pelos Ares (2016).

Orquestra Urbana, however, has always been built collectively. Although it has an artistic direction, its continuity depends on a network of collaborators who, at different moments, invest time, energy, and trust in the project.

In the case of Orquestra Urbana, one of those people was trumpeter João Lenhari. In addition to being part of the group's original lineup, João played a fundamental role in coordinating with the musicians, organizing schedules, and managing the complex pattern of substitutions that inevitably arises when nearly twenty artists maintain active careers and multiple professional commitments.

João Lenhari, um dos principais articuladores da criação da Orquestra Urbana, durante uma visita à University of Miami e no concerto de lançamento de Pelos Ares, no Sesc Pompeia (2016).

João's participation exemplifies how a musician's contribution to a project of this nature can extend far beyond making music. His work also included behind-the-scenes coordination, initiatives, and logistical decisions. Although it was not always apparent from the outside who was carrying out this work, it was indispensable to bringing the musicians together and making different stages of the project possible.

Other people also became central to the orchestra's history. One of them is drummer Rodrigo Marinônio, known as Banha, who has been part of the project since its early years. His presence became important both for his musical contribution and for the way he engaged with the repertoire and the continuity of the work.

In a big band, the drums help define the pulse, energy, sense of motion, interaction with the improvising soloists, and many of the dynamics that shape the musical experience. Banha contributed to this identity through his curiosity about the repertoire, his interest in understanding what each work proposed, and the creativity with which he responded musically to those ideas.

Rodrigo Marinônio (Banha), em três etapas da Orquestra Urbana: na gravação de Pelos Ares, em 2015, e durante a passagem de som no Sesc Pinheiros e a gravação do nosso segundo álbum no Estúdio Arsis, em 2026.

This involvement can also be seen in the generosity of time and energy his participation requires. Banha teaches at the Conservatório de Tatuí, while most Orquestra Urbana rehearsals and performances take place in São Paulo or Campinas. This entails frequent travel, long journeys, and often the additional logistics of transporting drums, cymbals, and equipment.

These aspects are not visible to an audience during a performance, but they help convey the extent of his engagement with the project. His long-standing participation in Orquestra Urbana combines an interest in the repertoire, musical creativity, a willingness to collaborate, and a considerable personal investment in the continuity of the work.

João Lenhari liderando o naipe de trompetes e Rodrigo Marinônio (Banha), na bateria, durante uma apresentação da Orquestra Urbana no Jazz nos Fundos, em São Paulo.

Working with João, Banha, and so many other musicians also opened space for conversations that became an important part of the band's musical identity. Many decisive contributions did not arise only from reading the notes on the page. They emerged in discussions about dynamics, interpretation, the character of a groove, the direction of a section, the accompaniment of a solo, or musical references that helped clarify a compositional intention.

These exchanges do not always appear in album credits or concert descriptions, but they profoundly influence the final result.

For this dynamic to work, certain musical skills are fundamental. Fluency in reading music is essential because I often bring new arrangements and compositions to relatively short rehearsals, where musicians need to arrive with the scores already understood and prepared. Experience playing within a section and adapting to the group, instrumental command, stylistic versatility, and familiarity with the musical genres in the repertoire are also important. For positions that involve solos and improvisation, the particular skills required to occupy those spaces within the music must also be present.

In Orquestra Urbana, these choices are based primarily on knowing each musician's work, hearing or performing with them, and receiving recommendations from trusted collaborators. Within this process, how someone works with others, their reliability, willingness to collaborate, genuine interest in the project, and contribution to the human environment of the band have become equally important criteria.

Regendo a Orquestra Urbana durante um dos ensaios de preparação para a gravação de Pelos Ares no Estúdio Mafra, em São Paulo (2015).

In Orquestra Urbana, we generally have only one, two, or at most three rehearsals before a concert, a series of performances, or a recording. This limited time makes the way each musician participates in the process even more important. Their contribution can be heard both in the preparation and realization of the scores and in the curiosity, dedication, and musical, professional, and human qualities they bring to the work. This combination makes it possible to build an artistic environment to which musicians want to contribute.

Over time, Orquestra Urbana has come to function for me as a creative community gathered around a shared musical project.

The Invisible Work

A significant part of Orquestra Urbana's behind-the-scenes work revolves around the scores. Between writing a piece and realizing it in rehearsal, performance, or recording, the full score and individual parts must be revised, prepared, printed, organized, and updated as the repertoire evolves.

I have always had a very dynamic relationship with the compositional process. Even after completing a piece, I tend to continue revising, adjusting, and reconsidering details. Sometimes the changes involve small matters of articulation, dynamics, or voicing. In other cases, entire passages are rewritten after I hear how the music works in practice.

Durante um dos primeiros ensaios, em 2014, os saxofonistas abriram por inteiro algumas das partes em formato sanfonado e revelaram a extensão das partituras que utilizávamos naquele repertório.

This cycle of revision became a recurring part of how I worked with Orquestra Urbana and was encouraged by the way the projects themselves were organized, allowing me to test the works and return to the writing between one encounter and the next. The musicians used to joke that every rehearsal brought a new version of the scores, and often that was exactly what happened.

I remember occasions when I needed to leave Campinas for a late-afternoon rehearsal in São Paulo. The night before, I would still be finishing adjustments to the music and revising the parts. On the day of the rehearsal, I would spend the morning and early afternoon printing, sorting, taping, and organizing more than a hundred pages before leaving for the trip.

Because the works continued to develop in practice, every rehearsal, performance, or recording could reveal the need for adjustments in articulation, balance, dynamics, or orchestration. The scores had to keep pace with this process, and each printed version documented the most recent stage of the work.

Regendo uma sessão de leitura gravada de novos arranjos da Orquestra Urbana no Estúdio Cachuera, em São Paulo (2024).

To follow this development, I would record rehearsals and reading sessions. Listening to these recordings afterward allowed me to notice details that had escaped me while I was conducting or following the performance. Those observations became new notes and revisions in the full scores and instrumental parts, beginning another stage of the same working cycle.

Trecho da grade orquestral de Raiar, com anotações feitas durante a revisão da escrita e da orquestração para a gravação do segundo álbum da Orquestra Urbana.

→ Read more: Building a Musical Language of My Own: Revisiting Pelos Ares, My First Album with Orquestra Urbana

Balancing Art and Reality

Leading an independent big band requires working in two complementary but profoundly different dimensions. On one side is the artistic work, which includes composing, arranging, rehearsing, choosing the repertoire, and providing musical direction. These activities demand study, experience, and a great deal of work, but they belong to the professional field I chose to inhabit and are guided primarily by the needs of the music.

On the other side is the task of building the conditions that allow this artistic vision to be realized. This dimension involves planning, administration, financial resources, institutional relationships, communication, logistics, and production feasibility. It responds to forces different from those that guide musical creation and requires skills that are not necessarily developed in the education of a composer or music director.

Although they operate differently, the two dimensions depend on each other. However clear an artistic vision may be, it will struggle to reach the stage without a structure capable of supporting it. Likewise, resources and opportunities become a coherent project only when an artistic direction determines how they will be used. Leading Orquestra Urbana requires continually bringing these two sides together, converting concrete possibilities into rehearsals, performances, recordings, and appropriate conditions for everyone involved.

The recording of Orquestra Urbana's two albums offers a concrete example of how artistic intentions encounter different conditions of realization. Although both projects emerged from the desire to develop and record original big band repertoire, each had to find its own production model.

Pelos Ares became possible after the project was selected through a ProAC grant program and received public arts funding. Within that structure, we organized a series of rehearsals and performances that allowed us to work on the repertoire, test the pieces before an audience, and develop the interpretations before entering Estúdio Sincopa in 2015. The recording could therefore be concentrated into a previously planned sequence of sessions.

Sinalizando aos músicos que estávamos prontos para começar um take durante a gravação de Pelos Ares no Estúdio Sincopa, em Campinas (2015).

Os músicos de sopros durante uma das sessões de gravação de Pelos Ares no Estúdio Sincopa, em Campinas (2015).

The second album, recorded about ten years later, followed an entirely independent path. Orquestra Urbana's appearances in performances connected to different projects became opportunities to prepare the new repertoire gradually. Each concert allowed us to return to the works, listen to the band, make adjustments, and move one step further before taking them into the studio.

After these performances, I personally invested in the sessions required to record the music. Instead of concentrating the entire album into a single period, the recording took place gradually across three studio sessions held between 2025 and 2026. The two albums therefore emerged from related artistic intentions but were realized through very different financial structures, schedules, and production strategies.

Regendo durante um dos takes da primeira sessão de gravação do segundo álbum da Orquestra Urbana, realizada no Estúdio Arsis, em São Paulo, em 21 de agosto de 2025.

Os quatro trompetes e os quatro trombones durante a primeira sessão de gravação do segundo álbum da Orquestra Urbana no Estúdio Arsis, em São Paulo (2025).

The two processes also show that planning an independent project does not always follow a fixed sequence of stages. Opportunities, available resources, and the circumstances of each moment help determine the schedule and production model. Adaptation becomes necessary in order to preserve the artistic objective within the real conditions in which the work can be carried out.

Com os músicos da Orquestra Urbana ao final da primeira sessão de gravação do nosso segundo álbum no Estúdio Arsis, em São Paulo (2025).

Out of respect for the time, energy, and musical knowledge each participant contributes, I see it as part of my responsibility as leader, composer, and music director to create the best professional conditions possible within the reality of each project. I feel deeply privileged to work with people who believe in Orquestra Urbana's vision and invest dedication and trust in its continuity. Whatever production model we adopt, that commitment must be considered in every decision, from organizing the work to recognizing and compensating each participant within the resources available.

The economic reality of an independent big band rarely makes it possible to offer all the conditions we would consider ideal. For this reason, a significant part of leading the project consists of bringing artistic ambition closer to what can be accomplished responsibly, deciding what to do, when to do it, and under what conditions. These decisions are as important to Orquestra Urbana's continuity as those made while preparing the repertoire.

Why Does Orquestra Urbana Continue to Exist?

When Orquestra Urbana began in 2014, my attention was focused on building relationships with the musicians and making that music a reality. Today, it is a joy to see the orchestra preparing its second album, developed through recording sessions held between 2025 and 2026 and now moving through post-production and release, about ten years after Pelos Ares.

The path between these two albums was not linear. Different musicians participated in the various phases of Orquestra Urbana, and I am deeply grateful to everyone who contributed to the project at some point. These changes occurred for many different reasons, while schedules, professional circumstances, and new projects created different possibilities for coming together.

My own circumstances also changed. When the orchestra began, I was already living in Miami. Later, my move to New York created a new personal and professional context, and then the pandemic interrupted in-person activities. There were periods of greater activity and others when the group was less active, but the repertoire and the relationships built around it allowed the work to resume whenever new conditions emerged.

Vista superior da sessão de leitura gravada de novos arranjos da Orquestra Urbana no Estúdio Cachuera, em São Paulo (2024).

In this context, continuity does not mean maintaining an uninterrupted calendar of activities. It means preserving relationships, repertoire, and possibilities for collaboration that can be reactivated and reorganized at each new stage.

Production, financial resources, and logistics have always been part of Orquestra Urbana's history, but its continuity has depended primarily on the people who chose to invest time, energy, talent, and trust in the project. The concerts, albums, and works are the most visible part of this history. Much of what allowed it to remain alive happened within the network of relationships built over the years.

Com os músicos da Orquestra Urbana ao final da sessão de leitura e gravação realizada no Estúdio Cachuera, em São Paulo (2024).

After more than a decade leading Orquestra Urbana, I clearly recognize both sides of this choice. There is the freedom and pleasure of developing a self-directed artistic project with musicians who participate because they want to be there, believe in its vision, and help build an artistically generous environment, even when the conditions are far from ideal. There is also the challenge of sustaining this work independently.

My primary vocation lies in composition, music direction, and artistic leadership, but making this work possible requires me to take on much of the organization, production, and decision-making that bring art and reality together. I understand the weight of these responsibilities, but it does not diminish my desire to continue sustaining and developing Orquestra Urbana and other projects like it for many years to come.

Listen to the Album

Listen on Spotify

---

About the Author

Rafael Piccolotto de Lima is a composer, arranger, music director, and educator. A Latin Grammy-nominated composer and recipient of multiple international awards, including 13 DownBeat Awards and honors from ASCAP, he develops artistic projects that connect Brazilian music, jazz, orchestral writing, improvisation, recording production, research, education, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

→ Explore his artistic journey and projects

→ Discover courses, lessons, and resources on music creation