Duke Ellington: Sacred Concert

Join London Concert Choir and conductor Mark Forkgen for an evening of some of Duke Ellington’s most personal and spiritual music - described by the jazz leader and composer as “the most important thing I have ever done”. His Sacred Concerts, written and performed in the last ten years of his life, bring together jazz, blues and gospel influences to articulate Ellington’s unique take on life and faith. Fragments of the everyday, redolent of the 60s and 70s when he was writing, mingle with religious reverie and joyful praise.

This is an opportunity to see and hear the music brought to life from the keyboard rather than the podium. A talented jazz pianist as well as a sensitive and charismatic conductor, Mark Forkgen will lead the chorus and big band while performing Ellington’s piano arrangements. Soprano Nina Bennet is known as an accomplished singer of this repertoire and will bring her characteristic soulful lyricism to the piece.