Originally broadcast at 12 p.m. EDT Friday, October 23, 2020.

Celebrated jazz musician and composer Wynton Marsalis speaks with H.E. Huda I. Alkhamis-Kanoo, a patron of the arts who has dedicated her life to inspiring artists to create, generations to innovate and communities to unite and prosper. Kanoo worked tirelessly to found the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation (ADMAF) in 1996 and is also the artistic director of the jewel in its crown, the Abu Dhabi Festival, which she established in 2004.

ABOUT H.E. HUDA I. ALKHAMIS-KANOO

Huda I. Alkhamis-Kanoo is a patron of the arts who has dedicated her life to inspiring artists to create, generations to innovate and communities to unite and prosper. She worked tirelessly to found the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation (ADMAF) in 1996 and is also the Artistic Director of the jewel in its crown, the Abu Dhabi Festival, which she established in 2004.

Kanoo’s unquantifiable contribution to the UAE’s national cultural sector was recognised by H.H. President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 2006. His Highness appointed her to the Board of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage (now Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi), on which she served until 2012.

Kanoo has received numerous awards for her dedication to the arts, education and women’s development, including The Abu Dhabi Award and Abu Dhabi Medal (conferred by H.H. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi), the UN-affiliated Women Together Award, the Aspen Institute Emerging Voice Award for Cultural Stewardship, the Puccini Festival Foundation Award, an honorary doctorate from the American University of Paris, and the Middle East Institute’s Visionary Award, among many others.

Amongst the orders bestowed upon her are The Commander of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic (Orden de Isabel la Católica), conferred upon her by HM Juan Carlos, former King of Spain, by order of HM Philip IV, King of Spain; The Medal of Civil Merit of Spain; the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz); Commendatore dell’Ordine della Stella della Solidarietà of Italy; Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur of France; Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France; the Belgian Officer of the Order of the Crown, bestowed upon her by HM Albert II, King of Belgium; The Gloria Artis Medal of Poland; and the Order of the British Empire (OBE), bestowed upon her by HM Queen Elizabeth the Second.

She serves on the boards of the Cleveland Clinic International Leadership Board, the International Circle of the Reina Sofía College of Music,and the International Advisory Board of the Edinburgh International Festival. She is also a founding member of the American Ballet Theatre’s Global Council, and she sits on the National Advisory Board of Zayed University – College of Arts and Creative Enterprises.

ABOUT WYNTON MARSALIS

Wynton Marsalis is the managing and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and a world-renowned trumpeter and composer. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1961, Marsalis began his classical training on trumpet at age 12, entered The Juilliard School at age 17, and then joined Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. He made his recording debut as a leader in 1982, and has since recorded more than 60 jazz and classical recordings, which have won him nine GRAMMY Awards. In 1983 he became the first and only artist to win both classical and jazz GRAMMYs in the same year and repeated this feat in 1984.

Marsalis is also an internationally respected teacher and spokesman for music education, and has received honorary doctorates from dozens of U.S. universities and colleges. He has written six books; his most recent are “Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp!”, illustrated by Paul Rogers and published by Candlewick Press in 2012, and “Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life” with Geoffrey C. Ward, published by Random House in 2008. In 1997 Marsalis became the first jazz artist to be awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in music for his oratorio “Blood on the Fields,” which was commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center.

In 2001 he was appointed Messenger of Peace by Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, and he has also been designated cultural ambassador to the United States of America by the U.S. State Department through their CultureConnect program.

About Chautauqua Institution: Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. As a community, we celebrate, encourage and study the arts and treat them as integral to all of learning, and we convene the critical conversations of the day to advance understanding through civil dialogue. CHQ Assembly is the online expression of Chautauqua Institution's mission.