The University of Vermont’s class of 2013 will get their parting words of wisdom from the legendary jazz and classical musician, Wynton Marsalis.
Marsalis will deliver the keynote speech at UVM’s commencement ceremony on May 19. Marsalis has a son, Simeon, who is a member of the 2013 class.
Marsalis has had a storied musical career — in 1997 he became the first jazz musician to win a Pulitzer Prize and has nine Grammy awards to his name. Currently, he serves as the director of jazz at the Lincoln Center in New York. In addition to being an acclaimed composer, trumpeter and bandleader, Marsalis has authored six books, his most recent a children’s book, titled “Squeak, Rumble,Whomp! Whomp! Whomp.”
Marsalis will also be in Burlington on Jan. 23, playing rather than speaking, with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at the Flynn Theater.
