A Tribute to Duke Ellington with Thomas Wilkins and Renese King
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA
Thomas Wilkins, conductor
Gerald Clayton, piano
Renese King, vocalist
The Duke Ellington Tribute Singers
Christina DeVaughn, Amy Onyonyi, Carolyn Saxon, Renese King, Karen Tobin-Guild, Laura Vecchione, Michael Bradley, Daon Drisdom, Philip Lima, Davron Monroe, Samuel Moscoso, Donnell Patterson
ALL-ELLINGTON PROGRAM
Three Black Kings
Night Creature
New World A-Coming, for piano and orchestra
-Intermission-
Selection from the Sacred Concerts
The BSO and Thomas Wilkins mark the 50th anniversary of Duke Ellington’s death with three of this American musical genius’ symphonically ambitious “Tone Parallels” — his personal take on the tone poem; Gerald Clayton is soloist in the optimistic New World A-Coming. Ellington’s three Sacred Concerts of 1965, 1968, and 1973, conceived as a parallel to traditional European church music, feature styles at the core of jazz, including gospel, the blues, and spirituals in a multidimensional, oratorio-like presentation.
Performance Details
Nov 9, 2024, 8:00pm EST
Featuring
Program Notes & Works
Three Black Kings
Three Black Kings, Ellington’s last work, celebrates two Biblical kings and one then recently departed, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Night Creature
Ellington’s 1955 symphonic work Night Creature is a joyful group portrait of those who dance the night away.
New World A-Coming, for piano and orchestra
Ellington's New World A-Coming was informed by, and takes its title from, a 1943 social history of Harlem by the prominent journalist Roi Ottley: New World A-Coming: Inside Black America.
Selections from the Sacred Concerts
Created in the last decade of Ellington's life, his three Sacred Concerts programs brought together his lifelong engagement with his faith and his wide musical experience.
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