The Sacred Concerts
The Sacred Concerts is one of the titles given to a series of three concerts composed by Duke Ellington.
Also found simply as Sacred Concerts
Contents
The concerts
Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts are a pioneering series of three compositions blending jazz, gospel, spirituals, choral music, and tap dance. Ellington famously regarded this monumental, late-career trilogy as the most important music he ever wrote.
The three concerts that make up the set consist of:
1965 – Concert of Sacred Music (premiered on September 16, 1965)
1968 – Second Sacred Concert (premiered at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York on January 19, 1968)
1973 – Third Sacred Concert (premiered at Westminster Abbey in London, United Kingdom on October 24, 1973).
Translations and adaptations
Performance history in South Africa
The items from the concerts have formed part of many musical performances by South African orchestras over the years.
2002: A special performance served as the grand finale of the Spier Summer Festival on 14, 15 and 16 March 2002 at the Spier Amphitheatre in Stellenbosch. The production was conducted by Professor Mike Rossi (then Professor of Jazz and Woodwinds at the University of Cape Town's South African College of Music) and produced by John Walton. The ensemble comprised Cape Town jazz musicians, three opera singers, a tap dancer, and a choir from Langa. A radio documentary about the production was subsequently made and broadcast by Nigel Vermaas for SAFM.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Concert_(Ellington)
E-mail correspondence from Diane Rossi, May 2026.
Nigel Vermaas. 2002. radio documentary of the 2002 performance of The Sacred Concerts at Spier.
A partial programme of the 2001-2002 The Spier Summer Festival's season programme (pages 37-44), found in the ESAT research materials, held in the Performing Arts Research Collection at the Africa Open Institute, University of Stellenbosch. (The Sacred Concerts are listed on page 41 of the programme.)
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