Beyond Category: The Concert Music of Duke Ellington

Phone: 202-467-4600
Venue: <a href='https://maps.google.com/maps?q=The+Kennedy+Center%2C+Terrace+Theater%2C+2700+F+St+NW%2C+Washington%2C+DC+20566&amp;z=16&amp;hl=en'>The Kennedy Center, Terrace Theater, 2700 F St NW, Washington, DC 20566

Name: Beyond Category: The Concert Music of Duke Ellington
Start: Tue, April 16, 2024 – 7:30 pm
End: Tue, April 16, 2024 – 9:30 pm
Location: The Kennedy Center

Tue, April 16, 2024 – 7:30 pm

Discover a new perspective on the legendary Duke Ellington’s music as PostClassical Ensemble and Guest Curator Dr. John E. Hasse explore his diverse and lesser-known concert pieces, showcasing his groundbreaking forays into ballet, opera, film scores, Broadway musicals, and symphony orchestras.

With a career that spanned 50 years, DC native and American icon, Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, is known around the world for such jazz standards as Mood Indigo, Solitude, and his band’s signature tune Take the “A” Train, composed by collaborator Billy Strayhorn.

But Ellington sought to break out of stereotyped boxes, to explore broader creative horizons. His masterworks include scores for ballet, opera, motion pictures, and Broadway musicals as well as for symphony orchestras.

This spring PostClassical Ensemble journeys through the music of Ellington’s extraordinary yet little-known concert pieces, including his magnificent Black, Brown, and Beige, the suite from the ballet The River, and the debut of Scott Silbert’s orchestration of Caravan, featuring guest conguero Felix Contreras.