Jazz Sensation Justin Kauflin Coming to The Wallis

Quincy Jones and Clark Terry protégé, jazz pianist Justin Kauflin, will launch the Next Generation @ The Wallis series on Friday, January 22 at 8pm. Kauflin's performance is the first in a series that focuses the spotlight on rising artists across the performing arts spectrum. Two additional artists, Sean Chen and Steven Lin, will continue the series in February and March 2016.

"Next Generation @ The Wallis seeks out and shines a light on several exciting up-and-coming artists," said Paul Crewes, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts' new Artistic Director, who takes the reins full time in April 2016. "We realize the importance of acknowledging emerging performers who have already made incredible strides in the performing arts and to introduce them to new audiences by showcasing them on the Bram Goldsmith stage. Justin, whose contributions to the evolution of jazz are already quite notable, is an inspiration and the perfect artist to launch this program."

About Justin Kauflin
Born in Silver Spring, Maryland, Justin Kauflin began music at age 4 with violin, adding piano a few years later. By age 6, he was performing professionally. Despite losing his sight at the age of 11, Kauflin began performing jazz a few short years later at the age of 15, most notably with the Jae Sinnett Trio. The piano extraordinaire has gone on to garner top honors and recognition at jazz festivals across the U.S., including receiving the VSA International Young Soloist Award, being voted "Jazz Artist of the Year" in VEER Magazine, being selected as a semifinalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition, and joining legendary music icon Quincy Jones on his 2013 and 2014 World Tours.

The Wallis evening will begin with a special screening of the 2014 award-winning film Keep on Keepin' On, Alan Hicks's ode to the friendship between the prodigious lifetime Grammy Award-winning jazz trumpeter Clark Terry and Kauflin, with a rousing performance by Kauflin on piano immediately following. The documentary premiered earlier this year at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, winning both Heineken Audience and Best New Documentary Director Awards, as well as was recognized on the 2015 Academy Award's Oscar Shortlist.

Next Generation @ The Wallis: Justin Kauflin tickets, ranging from $29-$59, are available at TheWallis.org, by calling 310.746.4000, or in person at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Ticket Services located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90210. Ticket prices subject to change. For complete information, visit TheWallis.org, or call 310.746.4000.

The Next Generation @ The Wallis series furthers the organization's mission to support and celebrate young artists. Joining Kauflin in the opening installment of the series is Sean Chen, recent winner of UPenn's eminent 2015 Annenberg arts fellowship for artists, on February 19, and Taiwanese-American pianist Steve Lin, recognized at the 2012 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and the recipient of the John Giordano Jury Chairman Discretionary Award at the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, on March 11.

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