High School Jazz Ensembles Open for Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis!
MPAC Presents Culture Collective;
MILWAUKEE, WI – The Marcus Performing Arts Center (MPAC) is excited to announce that two high school jazz ensembles will be opening the evening performances this week for Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis!
- Wednesday, October 14, 2026, at 7:30 PM, the Beloit Memorial High School Jazz Orchestra will perform.
- Thursday, October 15, 2026, at 7:30 PM, the Sun Prairie High School Jazz Ensemble will perform.
Beloit Memorial High School and Sun Prairie High School are long-time competitors in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s national Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition which takes place in NYC every year. The two-night run is currently the only Wisconsin performances on Wynton’s final tour with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and each performance will be held in the elegant 465-seat Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall, offering Milwaukee audiences an intimate and up-close experience!
Tickets are still available at https://www.marcuscenter.org/get-tickets/ for performances on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, October 15, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. Student Tickets are available at https://www.marcuscenter.org/get-tickets/student-tickets/.
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO), comprising 15 of the finest jazz soloists and ensemble players today, has been the Jazz at Lincoln Center resident orchestra since 1988 and spends over a third of the year on tour across the world. Featured in all aspects of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s programming, this remarkably versatile orchestra performs and leads educational events in New York, across the U.S. and around the globe; in concert halls; dance venues; jazz clubs; public parks; and with symphony orchestras; ballet troupes; local students; and an ever-expanding roster of guest artists. Under Music Director Wynton Marsalis, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performs a vast repertoire, from rare historic compositions to Jazz at Lincoln Center-commissioned works, including compositions and arrangements by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Fletcher Henderson, Thelonious Monk, Mary Lou Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Charles Mingus, and current and former Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra members Wynton Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon, Ted Nash, Victor Goines, Sherman Irby, Chris Crenshaw, and Carlos Henriquez.
Special thanks and recognition to Julie Biller and Stuart Berger for their financial support of the performances of Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.
Additionally, the 2026/27 MPAC Presents Culture Collective Series is generously supported by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Wisconsin Arts Board, and the City of Milwaukee Arts Board! Additional support for this programming is provided by Bader Philanthropies, Inc., National Endowment for the Arts, Northwestern Mutual, Saint Kate – The Arts Hotel, Forest County Potawatomi Foundation, and MGIC.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
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