Marsalis to headline Jõulujazz festival with Lincoln Center orchestra

Wynton Marsalis will headline this year’s Jõulujazz music festival with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, ERR reported. Vocalists Catherine Russell and Georgia Heers will also join the musicians on stage.

“Wynton Marsalis is one of those musicians whose work has shaped an entire generation of jazz, and whose presence on stage is always an event,” festival artistic director Anne Erm said.

Estonian audiences will have their first opportunity to see Marsalis perform with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. The 2026 world tour will be his last as the orchestra’s artistic director, Erm said, adding that the festival would offer a chance to witness the end of a chapter in jazz history.

Marsalis, a nine-time Grammy Award winner, has served as the orchestra’s artistic director since 1991. He has written and released more than 150 recordings, five symphonies, instrumental concertos and hundreds of works for big band.

He is the only musician to have won Grammy Awards in both the jazz and classical music categories in the same year. He was also the first non-classical musician to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra combines the big band’s classical heritage with the work of contemporary composers while continuing the tradition of American jazz.

Marsalis and the orchestra will perform at Alexela Concert Hall on November 30 at the opening concert, “Big Band Holidays.” The 31st Jõulujazz festival will run from November 30 to December 15.