24-25 Program Book - Flipbook - Page 83
Branford Marsalis
ALTO SAXOPHONE
Branford Marsalis is an award-winning saxophonist,
band leader, featured classical soloist, and a film
and Broadway composer. Over the span of his
decades long career, he has become a multi awardwinning artist with three Grammys, EMMY and Tony
nominations, a citation by the National Endowment
for the Arts as a Jazz Master, and an avatar of
contemporary artistic excellence.
Mr. Marsalis is increasingly sought after as a featured
soloist with such acclaimed orchestras as the New
York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, and the Chicago,
Detroit, North Carolina, and Düsseldorf Symphonies,
with a repertoire that includes compositions by
Debussy, Glazunov, Ibert, Mahler, Milhaud, Rorem,
Vaughn Williams, and John Williams. He has toured with chamber orchestras such
as the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and City
Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong.
Emerging from the global pandemic in January 2022 Mr. Marsalis first returned to
the New York Philharmonic to perform John Adam’s Saxophone Concerto, which
highlighted his incredible agility and the instrument’s lyrical voice. Mr. Marsalis
then launched a tour with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, in a program which
explored the intersectionality of jazz and classical music with repertoire selections
including Debussy’s jazz-inspired Rhapsody for alto saxophone and chamber
orchestra. Later that year, he performed John Williams’ Escapades in Tanglewood’s
celebration of Williams’ 90th birthday. In 2023 Mr. Marsalis performed with
symphonies in Miami, Greensboro, Toledo and Corpus Christi, as well as with the
Warsaw Philharmonic and Calgary Philharmonic. He also traveled to Tokyo and
Kyoto to perform with the Makoto Ozone group in Japan. Mr. Marsalis recently
composed a symphony commissioned by the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra,
which premieres March 2024.
Even as he tours the world as a featured classical soloist, Mr. Marsalis continues
to perform with The Branford Marsalis Quartet, which he formed in 1986. His work
on Broadway has garnered a Drama Desk Award and Tony nominations for the
acclaimed revivals of Children of a Lesser God, Fences, and A Raisin in the Sun.
As a composer for film and television, his screen credits include original music
composed for: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks starring Oprah Winfrey,
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman, Rustin
starring Colman Domingo, and the EMMY nominated Tulsa Burning: The 1921
Race Massacre.
CLASSICAL SERIES FRENCH CONNECTIONS WITH BRANFORD MARSALIS 83
