Perhaps the phrase “talent catalyst” best sums up the role that Steven Saporta has played over his rich and diverse career. As such, Blackstar Symphony represents a kind of crowning achievement of his decades-long journey as manager, creative confidant, entrepreneur, producer, music business innovator, and consultant. Nurtured in the New York art underground, Saporta’s career has been guided from the outset by a sensibility that has always compelled him to seek out, develop, and present the kind of new and alternative art and artists that resonate far beyond their emergence. He was one of the earliest pioneers of the transformative role that video would play in promoting music, serving as Executive Producer of four major concert television specials and countless groundbreaking clips that succeeded in launching or re-inventing the careers of Whitney Houston, Van Morrison, Rod Stewart, Run-DMC, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, Sting, and the Highwaymen, which brought together country music icons Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings.

For more than thirty years, the company that he founded with Peter Casperson, Invasion Group Ltd, has exemplified the spirit and cutting edge of the indie music movement, becoming home to legendary rebels and maverick visionaries like producer Bill Laswell and artist Ani DiFranco. Among them is saxophonist Donny McCaslin, recruited by Bowie to play a critical role as bandleader of Blackstar, who serves as this show’s Artistic Director. Saporta has always recognized Bowie’s bold, envelope-pushing creativity as the aesthetic template for his career, as the foundation for his belief that a progressive consciousness about art also translates into the best kind of business in the long run. As he puts it. “I can’t think of a better example of that sensibility than Blackstar Symphony.”