Lexington, KY - In partnership with the Kentucky Jazz Repertory Orchestra, the Lyric Theatre will present a three-concert series paying homage to the art's greatest practitioner, Duke Ellington.
Starting with a show on February 24th and continuing in mid May and late September, the orchestra will perform three different shows featuring the works of the late Ellington. Some of the works to be played will be those transcribed from Ellington's original manuscripts to compositions by the orchestra's co-director and UK music professor, Dick Domek.
The February concert will be a sampling of three concerts Ellington performed of sacred music over a span of decades in San Francisco, New York and in London's Westminster Abbey a year before his death. The orchestra will be joined in these performances by Lexington jazz saxophonist Miles Osland and the American Spiritual Ensemble.
The series, according to Lyric Executive Director Yetta Young, was the brainchild of UK Opera's Dr. Everett McCorvey who said while three concerts are planned for 2012, he hopes to make it a total of five.
The cost of the tickets and the remaining dates for later in the year will be announced in late January as the tickets go on sale.