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News Updates

  • Colgate University 2023 Commencement Address by Wynton Marsalis

    Posted on May 21st, 2023 in Speech

    Thank you, Marietta Cheng for the humbling introduction. Thank you, President Casey, Dean Cushing, Colgate Trustees, and the faculty and staff of Colgate for having me with you today. My fellow honorees, it’s a pleasure to be up here with you.   Keep reading »

  • University of Michigan’s 2023 Spring Commencement Speech

    Posted on April 29th, 2023 in Speech

    Class of 23. You have finally made it to the finish line, congratulations. As you congregate here to the rightful chorus of kudos from family, friends, mentors, professors and others, please take in the size, the grandeur, and the pomp of this - your graduation from the mighty University of Michigan.   Keep reading »

  • Kenyon College 191st Commencement Speech

    Posted on May 18th, 2019 in Speech

    The following is the prepared text of the address delivered on the occasion of Kenyon’s 191st Commencement. He spoke to the Class of 2019 assembled on Samuel Mather Lawn. (Video of Marsalis’s speech will be posted soon.)   Keep reading »

  • Wynton Marsalis to speak at Kenyon spring commencement

    Posted on November 14th, 2018 in Speech

    Internationally acclaimed musician and educator Wynton Marsalis, winner of nine Grammy Awards and the first jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music, will be the featured speaker at Kenyon’s 191st Commencement on May 18, 2019.   Keep reading »

  • New York Live Arts presents Bill Chats with Bill T. Jones and Wynton Marsalis In Conversation

    Posted on May 2nd, 2018 in Speech

    Legendary choreographer Bill T. Jones and renowned jazz master Wynton Marsalis are celebrated throughout the world, honored with numerous awards including the National Medal of Arts (2013 Jones, 2005 Marsalis), Pulitzer Prize (1997, Marsalis), and MacArthur “Genius” Award (1994, Jones). In addition to their artistic contributions, both are heading important cultural institutions: Marsalis leads Jazz at Lincoln Center and Jones is the artistic director of New York Live Arts.   Keep reading »

  • Wynton Marsalis to deliver the Commencement Address at Juilliard’s 113th Commencement Ceremony

    Posted on April 27th, 2018 in Speech

    The Juilliard School today announced that alumnus Wynton Marsalis—trumpeter, director of Juilliard Jazz Studies, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center—will address the graduates at the school’s 113th commencement ceremony, which takes place Friday, May 18, 2018, at 11am in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center.   Keep reading »

  • Tribute to Ken Burns by Wynton Marsalis

    Posted on September 26th, 2016 in Speech

    Monk, in answering the question “What’s happening Thelonious?” replied, “Everything is happening all the time, man.” Funny, but true.  In our country alone, we swim a brimming sea of over 320 million people and roughly 200 billion points of view per second, but in the bowels of this cacophony there is startling commonality in our individuality.   Keep reading »

  • Wynton Marsalis’ acceptance speech at University Jean Moulin Lyon3

    Posted on February 6th, 2016 in Speech

    Deputy Mayor Georges Kepenekian, University President Jacques Comby, University Vice-President Alain Asquin, the Nova Ensemble, students, faculty and colleagues and respected guests. I am deeply honored to receive this distinction. Thank you Mr. Asquin for you kind and extensive comments on my behalf.   Keep reading »

  • Wynton Marsalis’ Acceptance Speech at Marian Anderson Award 2015

    Posted on November 10th, 2015 in Speech | 1

    I would like to thank the Board of Directors and Chair Nina Tinari for selecting me as recipient of this year’s Marian Anderson Award. Thank you Mayor Nutter. And thanks to young Max Chambers who was accompanied by the great Farid Baron, to Miss Misty Copeland, to Lalah Hathaway, to Kim Burrell, to Bill Jolly and his band, and to my brothers for life, the seven.   Keep reading »

  • Transcript: Wynton’s Keynote Address at Tulane University’s Commencement 2014

    Posted on May 20th, 2014 in Speech, Video | 2

    Here at home in New Orleans, we have a tradition of starting important gigs by calling out the names of legendary musicians from the past. In evoking the memory of legendary artists, this roll call inspires a higher level of performance. In 2007, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra went on tour with Odaadaa!, a group from Ghana led by master drummer Yacub Addy. Each concert started with a long roll call of distinguished ancestors chanted and spoken in Ga, their native tongue. At the end of the chant, Mr. Addy would say “Trah trah o manyaba.” Whereupon we would say Yow!

      Keep reading »