5 Million Pesos: Cili Marsall Solo

Photo of Cili Marsall (c) Fanni Rosana Grosso
Cili Marsall (c) Fanni Rosana Grosso

5 Million Pesos is a monthly concert series featuring young jazz in and from Austria, presented by Radiokulturhaus Vienna and the Radio Ö1 jazz department.

Cili Marsall – solo piano

The March edition of the 5 Million Pesos concerts is something of an exception. The Vienna pianist Cili Marsall is the fresh, young face of a venerable tradition: boogie-woogie piano. Born in Hungary in 2000, Marsall was performing with her father, clarinettist and saxophonist David Laszlo Marsall, by the time she was a teenager. At 16 she settled on the piano, studying boogie-woogie with Andreas Sobczyk in Vienna and with Dániel Balázs in Győr. Marsall has been studying jazz piano at the Bruckner University in Linz since 2019.

In April 2009, Hamburg boogie-woogie hero Axel Zwingenberger invited Marsall to perform as a featured guest at his concert in Vienna’s Metropol theater; this debut was followed by more concerts with Zwingeberger, as well as with Vince Weber and British veteran George Neville Dickie. At the Vienna Blues Spring festival in 2023, Marsall combined boogie classics by Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson with pieces by Erroll Garner and original material in a concert with Martin Pyrker at the Mozart House. On this evening, she will be performing a similar program of music, with no shortage of virtuosity and energy.

Concert: Thursday, March 14th, 8 p.m. @ RadioCafe
Airdate: Ö1 Jazznacht, April 20th/21st, moderated by Katharina Osztovics