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 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 1968 – Second Sacred Concert 1973 – Third Sacred Concert
Translations and adaptations
Performance history in South Africa
2002: Staged 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 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.
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