For almost three decades, John Zorn’s epic Masada project has redefined the concept of Radical Jewish music – aiming to create a new Jewish music by blending Jewish musical traditions with other genres like free jazz. Composer and bandleader Sam Eastmond has the singular honour of being the only British artist selected by Zorn to give this body of work new life.
Following a performance at EFG London Jazz Festival in November 2025, NYJO and Eastmond join forces for a national tour of the masterful music of Zorn’s Masada, performed by a 17-piece orchestra of talented young musicians. Hear it at B:Music’s Symphony Hall in the second event as part of our residency.
Expect tight punchy horn lines, a relentlessly driving rhythm section, soaring solos, and Eastmond’s signature punk energy.
‘Nothing is more exciting to me than the roar of a big band, the intricate possibilities of spectrums afforded by a large ensemble, given voice by an outrageous collective’ Sam Eastmond
This performance of John Zorn’s Masada is part of the contemporary and diasporic practice of Radical Jewish Music. While the title of the project references the real ancient site of Masada, later invested with a range of symbolic meanings, its use by Zorn sits entirely outside of any national or political ideology.
Radical Jewish Music is radical both in its fusion of Jewish sonic traditions with contemporary jazz and improvisation, and that it celebrates a Jewish identity that is cultural, diasporic and independent. It is in this spirit that we have programmed Masada.
Image: Wilson Tse