The Shalin Liu Performance Center heats up with an unforgettable evening of jazz as Rockport Music presents its 2016 Summer Gala on Saturday, August 27. The event will feature nine-time Grammy Award winner and Pulitzer Prize recipient Wynton Marsalis with the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) performing arrangements from Duke Ellington and Count Basie to Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie.
Following the Gala concert at 6 pm in the Shalin Liu Performance Center, guests will walk along the scenic shoreline, while local jazz students perform, to a cocktail reception and gourmet dinner under a festive tent at Millbrook Meadow. Wynton Marsalis and the orchestra will join the party for dinner to celebrate the evening.
WYNTON MARSALIS
Winner of nine Grammy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, Wynton Marsalis (Music Director, Trumpet) is the Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In 1983, he became the only artist to win both classical and jazz Grammy Awards in the same year, and then repeated this feat in 1984. With a rich body of compositions for jazz, symphonic works, and more, Mr. Marsalis, in 1997, became the first jazz artist to be awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in music for his oratorio Blood on the Fields. In 1999, he released eight new recordings in his unprecedented Swinging into the 21st series, and premiered several new compositions, including the ballet Them Twos, for a 1999 collaboration with the New York City Ballet. Over the years, he has recorded more than 70 jazz and classical albums garnering nine GRAMMY Awards.
He has written and is the host of the video series “Marsalis on Music” and the radio series Making the Music, as well as writing six books. In 2001, Mr. Marsalis was appointed Messenger of Peace and was also designated cultural ambassador to the United States of America by the U.S. State Department. In 2009, he was awarded France’s Legion of Honor, the highest honor bestowed by the French government. Born in New Orleans, Mr. Marsalis was instrumental in the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief concert, produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center.
JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA
With the world?renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and guest artists spanning genres and generations, Jazz at Lincoln Center produces thousands of performance, education, and broadcast events each season in its home—New York City—and around the world, for people of all ages. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO), comprising of 15 of the finest jazz soloists and ensemble players today, has been the Jazz at Lincoln Center resident orchestra since 1988. Featured in all aspects of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s programming, this remarkably versatile orchestra performs and leads educational events in New York, across the U.S. and around the globe. Under Music Director Wynton Marsalis, the JLCO performs a vast repertoire, from rare historic compositions to Jazz at Lincoln Center?commissioned works, including compositions and arrangements by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Charles Mingus, and many others. To date, 14 recordings featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis have been released and internationally distributed including All Rise, Sweet Release & Ghost Story, Live in Swing City, Blood on the Fields, and Portraits by Ellington, to name a few.
The Gala is made possible in part through the generosity of its Corporate Partners—Bain Capital, Brookwood Financial, Boston Financial Management, Emerson Inn, Epstein Joslin Architects, Veritas Genetics, Welch & Forbes LLC, Wernau Asset Management, and Woburn Toyota—part of Albrecht Auto Group. This gala supports Rockport Music’s commitment to enriching lives by offering exceptional performances and providing learning opportunities that deepen a love of music.
The Gala chairs are Ellen and Frank Previte and Cindy and Rich Tennant. Gala Tickets are $750-$1,250. For Gala tickets or additional information, please contact Catherine Steinhoff in the Development Office at 978.546.7391 X 106 or csteinhoff@rockportmusic.org. Ticket information is also available on the Rockport Music website at http://rockportmusic.org/summer-gala-2/.