The legendary Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis will make its long-awaited Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) debut on Sunday 6 March 2016.
Nine-time Grammy winner and Jazz at Lincoln Center Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis leads this superlative big band featuring 15 of the finest soloists, ensemble players and arrangers in jazz music today, who share a passion for personal expression, team spirit and musical celebration. Their unique take on jazz classics and original compositions and arrangements continually fills halls right across America and Europe.
Trumpet legend Wynton Marsalis has recorded more than 70 albums and is the first and only artist to win both classical and jazz Grammy Awards in the same year…a feat he achieved two years in a row. He is also the first jazz artist to be awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in music for his oratorio Blood on the Fields, which was commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center.
For Wynton Marsalis “jazz is a metaphor for democracy” and the orchestra is committed to enriching people’s lives through jazz and the democratic spirit. “Having loved my first visit to Australia and the people I met there, I am delighted to be bringing the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to Brisbane. We can’t wait to share our love of jazz and all it represents with a unique program that will showcase these incredible musicians at their very best.”
In addition to being Music Director of the orchestra, Wynton is also Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, which has the mission to entertain, enrich and expand a global community for jazz through performance, education and advocacy.
Featured in all aspects of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s programming, the remarkably versatile Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performs and leads educational events – including Jazz for Young People, educational residencies, workshops and concerts for students and adults – in New York, across the U.S. and around the world.
Under Wynton Marsalis’ direction, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performs a repertoire across the full jazz spectrum – from the music’s New Orleans roots to bebop to modern jazz. In its stunning performances, the orchestra showcases new compositions and arrangements by Marsalis, members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and jazz contemporaries.
The orchestra may also perform the unique repertoire for which it is world renowned: modern renditions of traditional favourites including tunes by Thelonious Monk; classic Blue Note Records selections by Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Jackie McLean, Lee Morgan, Joe Henderson; and selections from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s 2015 album release, Live in Cuba.
Don’t miss this exceptionally rare opportunity to experience the incomparable artistry of Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in this one-night-only special event on Sunday 6 March 2016 in QPAC’s Concert Hall.