Tying this diverse concert together are comedic anecdotes involving the cartoons and their composers. The band is on a musical mission of equal parts performance, preservation, and education. Expect the unexpected from repertoire that includes the Golden Age of animation, cult cartoon classics, modern animation, and elements of a musical circus!
Since their inception in 2015, The Queen’s Cartoonists have brought their unique sound to performing arts centers in over 20 states, and have opened for the New York Philharmonic. The 6 members, all currently living in Queens, New York, are world-class professional musicians. The band has been featured in numerous major publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, Mashable, and on NPR.
The Queen’s Cartoonists play music from classic cartoons and contemporary animation. The performances are synchronized to video projections of the original films, and the band leads the audience through a world of virtuosic musicianship, multi-instrumental mayhem, and comedy.
Behind the project is a single question: is it possible to create jazz and classical music in the 21st century that appeals to everyone? Even people who normally wouldn’t go to concerts? The Queen’s Cartoonists present a concert for everybody - regardless of age, gender, or familiarity with the concert hall.
“As I watched The Queen’s Cartoonists slip and slide through decades of cartoon music in a matter of minutes, with the animations projected on a large screen behind them, I followed a captivated crowd of young and old consciously connect what they were watching with what they were hearing. The pleasure of the perfect synchrony of sound and pictures was instantly recognizable.”
- Mashable
“Who needs another Broadway show when you can hire a jazz combo playing music from Bugs Bunny cartoons?”
- The Wall Street Journal
“If you watch - and only watch - cartoons, you’re missing something!”
- The Chicago Tribune
"The result is an interactive, multi-generational concert that, at most, may convert young people into jazz fans and, at least, will keep them engaged for a night."
- The San Diego Union-Tribune
“Enthusiastic renditions so infectious that they brought instant smiles on the faces of the listeners. I was in such rapture listening to them that I had tears of joy.”
- Queens Law Review
“Bringing a fresh, yet vintage, sound to the ears of audiences through the city.”
- The Queens Courier
“Audience members chuckled and danced in their chairs!”
- The Sigourney News-Review
“Audience members both young and aged tapped their toes along to the instantly recognizable tunes!”
- The News-Review
“They are an incredible band with very tight precision… Whether you are 15 or 85, they are playing music from cartoons that we all remember growing up watching.”
- Tillamook County, Pioneer