2024/2025 Season
LOUIS - A Silent Film – Live on Tour will see preeminent jazz musician Wynton Marsalis take to the road with renowned classical pianist Cecile Licad for a unique live musical performance to accompany the presentation of LOUIS – A Silent Film. LOUIS** was written and directed by Dan Pritzker and shot by Oscar®-winning cinematographer, the late Vilmos Zsigmond and pays homage to Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin, and the birth of jazz. The film, set in 1907 New Orleans, tells the story of a young boy (Louis) born into poverty, who dreams of playing the trumpet. Marsalis was brought on board to oversee the music for the film and immediately became an integral part of Pritzker’s vision.
“Wynton was such a perfect and obvious choice when thinking about the music for the film that I didn’t really think he’d do it,” says Pritzker.
“The idea of writing music to a silent film telling the tale of a young Louis Armstrong really appealed to me,” says Marsalis. “The score moves between my music and the music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk.”
This live touring show will treat audiences to a modern version of an original immersive-style experience, blending a live musical performance by Wynton Marsalis, Cecile Licad and an 11-piece jazz ensemble conducted by Andy Faber with the captivating story-telling and classic visuals captured in Dan Pritzker’s LOUIS to provide a (not so) silent film experience.
**Please note: The silent film is rated R for mature content.
ABOUT WYNTON MARSALIS
Winner of nine Grammy awards and a Pulitzer Prize in music, Wynton Marsalis is one of the most outstanding jazz musicians and trumpeters of this- or any other- generation. A favorite among jazz musicians and audiences worldwide, he is a brilliant composer and a bandleader in the tradition of Duke Ellington, and the driving creative force behind Jazz at Lincoln Center's creation and success.
ABOUT CECILE LICAD
"A pianist's pianist"- The New Yorker
Cecile Licad is a soloist whose repertoire spans the Classical works of Mozart and Beethoven, the Romantic literature of Brahms, Chopin, and Tchaikovsky, and 20th century compositions of Debussy, Shostakvich, and Bartok. Her natural talent was honed at the Curtis Institute of Music by three of the greatest performers of our time : Rudolf Serkin, Seymour Lipkin, and Mieczyslaw Horszowski. As a highly regarded chamber musician, she has performed regulary with ensembles such as the New York Chamber Symphony and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center among others.
