First jazz artist to receive the Pulitzer Prize in music for his work Blood on the Fields * Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center * Big band leader in the tradition of Duke Ellington * Devoted advocate for the Arts and education * Hailed as the most outstanding jazz musician and trumpeter of his generation, as well as one of the world’s top classical trumpeters * Has garnered nine Grammy awards, France's Grand Prix du Disque, the Edison Award of the Netherlands, National Medal of Arts, named Musical America’s Musician of The Year and has been elected an honorary member of England's Royal Academy of Music
Works by Wynton Marsalis include: All Rise (1999) for big band, gospel choir, and symphony orchestra At the Octoroon Balls (1995) for string quartet Blood on the Fields (1997) for jazz big band and 3 vocalists Congo Square (2006) for jazz band and African ensemble
Looking Ahead: Wynton will compose a work for classical orchestra and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, co-commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and Michigan State University. MSU will give the world premiere on September 25, 2008 and the DSO performance will take place on September 27, 2008.
