Arts Unplugged: Marsalis offers Nov. 6 concert with wind symphony

A.D. White Professor-at-Large Wynton Marsalis will visit campus the week of Nov. 1, offering a concert with the Barbara and Richard T. Silver ’50, MD ’53 Cornell Wind Symphony, open to the public, and a talk open to members of the Cornell community. These events are the sixth in a series of Arts Unplugged events sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences.

Marsalis, famed jazz trumpeter, composer and bandleader, will speak about “Democracy and the University,” at 1 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 5, in the Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium of Goldwin Smith Hall (Room 132). That event is only open to members of the Cornell community with Cornell ID, and space is limited. The Saturday, Nov. 6 concert will take place at 7 p.m. in Bailey Hall. Tickets are free, but must be reserved at cornelltickets.com. Campus visitors and members of the public must adhere to Cornell’s public health requirements for events, which include wearing masks while indoors and providing proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test. Bags are discouraged and are subject to inspection. Doors will open at 6:15pm.

The concert will also be livestreamed at https://www.cornell.edu/video/wynton-marsalis-performance-2021.

“This is an exciting conclusion to Wynton’s term as A.D. White Professor-at-Large, said Steven Pond, associate professor of music. “Years after his visit, I’m still hearing from former students that his interactions with them, and his playing with them, made a lasting impact. I know Wynton left Cornell energized, and he’s looking forward to meeting our current crop of Cornelians. Thanks to the A.D. White Professor-at-Large committee for making this possible.”

Marsalis will also spend the week visiting classes, taking part in panel discussions, giving lectures, sitting in on rehearsals and talking with faculty, students and staff.

Marsalis’ first visit to campus as an A.D. White Professor-at-Large took place in March 2018 and featured a collaborative concert with the Cornell Jazz Band and Wind Symphony, as well as the Cornell Symphony Orchestra performing selected movements from Marsalis’s “Blues Symphony.”

This year’s concert includes Marsalis and his rhythm section performing a set on the program, with the Wind Symphony presenting three Marsalis compositions newly arranged by James Spinazzola, the Barbara and Richard T. Silver ’50, MD ’53 Assistant Professor and director of Winds, plus works from Leonard Bernstein, Louis Moreau Gottschalk and Jack Frerer.

Marsalis was elected in 2015 as an A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell for a six-year term, 2015 through 2021. He also performed in Ithaca in 2010 with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, in Bailey Hall and at Ithaca High School. He played at a gala celebration of Cornell’s sesquicentennial in New York City in 2014.