Celebrity Series of Boston to Present Abyssinian: A Gospel Celebration with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis 10/27

Celebrity Series of Boston will present Abyssinian: A Gospel Celebration featuring Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis,on Sunday, October 27, 2013, at 7pm at Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston. Media partner is 89.7 WGBH.

Tickets for Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis start at $30, and are available online at www.celebrityseries.org, by calling CelebrityCharge at (617) 482-6661 Monday-Friday 10:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m., or at the Symphony Hall box office, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston.

This appearance will mark the 11th performance with the Celebrity Series of Bostonfor Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and the 16th appearance for Wynton Marsalis. Celebrity Series first presented Wynton Marsalis in 1987 and presented Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis for the first time in 1992.

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with the 70-piece Chorale Le Chateau will perform Marsalis' composition Abyssinian Mass, a landmark collaboration of jazz, gospel, instrumentation, and vocals. The 2008 extended work Abyssinian Mass, was commissioned to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Abyssinian Baptist Church on West 138th Street in Harlem.

The members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra are 15 of the best soloists, ensemble players, and arrangers in jazz. This remarkably versatile band celebrates jazz's large-ensemble tradition by performing a vast repertoire of masterpieces by legends of the genre, including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Fletcher Henderson, Thelonious Monk, Mary Lou Williams, Billy Strayhorn, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Charles Mingus, Chick Corea, Oliver Nelson, and many others, as well as original works and arrangements. The JLCO has performed collaborations with many of the world's leading symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Russian National Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Boston, Chicago and London Symphony Orchestras, the Orchestra Esperimentale in São Paolo, Brazil, and others.

Wynton Marsalis is an internationally acclaimed musician, composer, bandleader, educator and a leading advocate of American culture. He is the world's first jazz artist to perform and compose across the full jazz spectrum from its New Orleans roots to bebop to modern jazz. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1961, Marsalis began his classical training on trumpet at age 12. He entered The Juilliard School at age 17 and, shortly thereafter, joined the legendary Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Marsalis made his recording debut as a leader in 1982, and has since recorded more than 70 jazz and classical albums which have garnered him nine GRAMMY Awards. He is only artist to win both classical and jazz GRAMMYs in the same year, in both 1983 and 1984. Marsalis is currently the Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Chorale Le Chateau is a musical group that performs of vocal literature from Renaissance to jazz, spirituals, gospel, and avant garde contemporary music. Members hail from various parts of the world and come from various performing arts institutions and venues such as The Juilliard School, The Metropolitan Opera, Howard University, Yale University, The City University of New York and many more. Members include both amateurs and professionals.

Damien Sneed is a pianist, organist, vocal coach, conductor, composer, arranger, lecturer, and producer. A native of Augusta, Georgia, he has studied at Howard University, the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, New York University, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Christian Bible Institute and Seminary. Damien's professional affiliations have included the City University of New York (CUNY) as a professor of music, The Juilliard School as a staff accompanist, the Martina Arroyo Foundation as an artistic consultant, Jazz at Lincoln Center as an artistic consultant, and YAMAHA as an endorsed Influential Artist.

About Celebrity Series of Boston

Celebrity Series of Boston was founded in 1938 by pianist and impresario AaRon Richmond. Over the course of its 75-year history, Celebrity Series has presented an array of the world's greatest performing artists, including Sergei Rachmaninoff, Arturo Toscanini, Ignace Paderewski, Artur Rubenstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Glenn Gould, Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz, Isaac Stern, Andrés Segovia, Kirsten Flagstad, Marian Anderson, Luciano Pavarotti, Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Martha Graham, Ballet Russe De Monte Carlo, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mstislav Rostropovich, and the New York City Opera Company.

The Celebrity Series has been bringing the very best performers-from orchestras and chamber ensembles, vocal and piano music, to dance companies, jazz, and more-to Boston's major concert halls for 75 years. The Celebrity Series of Boston believes in the power of excellence and innovation in the performing arts to enrich life experiences, transform lives and build better communities. Through its education initiatives, the Celebrity Series seeks to build a community of Greater Boston where the performing arts are a valued, lifelong, shared experience-on stages, in schools, at home- everywhere. For more information on Celebrity Series of Boston, call (617) 482-2595 or visit us online atwww.celebrityseries.org.

The Celebrity Series of Boston, Inc. receives generous support from Amy and Joshua Boger; Eleanor and Frank Pao; Donna and Mike Egan; Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation; The Little Family Foundation; Tufts Health Plan; Foley & Lardner LLP; The John S. and Cynthia Reed Foundation; First Republic Bank; The Peabody Foundation; Charlesbank Capital Partners; PTC, The D.L. Saunders Real Estate Corp; Massachusetts Cultural Council; New England Foundation for the Arts.

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