Fusing the Orchestra and the jazz band, with Swing Symphony travelling from New Orleans to the swing era and beyond, telling the story of jazz.

Wynton Marsalis is touring Australia with his  Swing Symphony which combines two ‘big bands’ –the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra in Sydney and in Perth with the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra.

In just under an hour, Swing Symphony makes a musical journey: jump-cutting between ragtime, Charleston, big band, bebop and beyond to fuse the rhythms and riffs of jazz with the richness of the classical sound. When Swing Symphony received its US premiere with the New York Philharmonic in 2010, Anthony Tommasini for The New York Times said he had “never seen so many people at a Philharmonic concert tapping their feet and hands”.

Managing and Artistic Director at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Music Director of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Marsalis was born in New Orleans and began his classical training on trumpet at age 12. He entered The Juilliard School at age 17 before joining Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. With more than 60 jazz and classical recordings to his name, Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awards and received a Pulitzer Prize in music for his oratorio Blood on the Fields.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra – comprising 15 virtuosic musicians including Marsalis – has been resident orchestra at New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center since 1988. Under the direction of Marsalis, this incredibly versatile orchestra performs a vast repertoire, from rare historic compositions to Jazz at Lincoln Center‐commissioned works, including compositions and arrangements by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Fletcher Henderson, Thelonious Monk, Mary Lou Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Charles Mingus, and many others.

24 – 27 February JLCO with Wynton Marsalis and Sydney Symphony Orchestra Swing Symphony, Sydney Opera House
29 February JLCO with Wynton Marsalis, Albany Entertainment Centre
3 – 4 March JLCO with Wynton Marsalis and West Australian Symphony Orchestra Swing Symphony, Perth Concert Hall
6 March JLCO with Wynton Marsalis  Brisbane, Queensland Performing Arts Centre
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