VocalEssence

VocalEssence
  • Who We Are
    • About VocalEssence
    • Performing Ensembles
    • Staff
    • Collaborators
    • Board of Directors
      • VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! Advisory Council
      • VocalEssence WITNESS Advisory Council
    • Advancing Inclusion, Access, and Equity
  • What We Do
    • Why Sing?
    • Concerts and Events
    • Celebrating Black Excellence
    • Musical Moments with Philip Brunelle
    • Learning and Engagement Programs
    • Contests and Awards
    • Commissioning and Recording
    • Accessibility
  • Stories & Results
    • #vesotashareshope
    • COVID-19 Updates
    • GPS & Friends
    • Inclusion Access and Equity
    • Musical Moments
    • Performing Ensembles
    • Schools & Education
    • Take 5 with GPS
    • Together We Sing
  • Get Involved
    • Donate
      • Bridge to the Future Campaign
    • Engage a Choir
    • Sing with Us
    • Join the Board
    • Volunteer
    • Work at VocalEssence
  • Login
  • On Demand
  • Buy Tickets
  • Donate
Search
More...

Duke Ellington | Musical Moments with Philip Brunelle

February 4, 2021

Share

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • email

In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Duke Ellington.

Duke Ellington

1899-1974

Considered one of the greatest jazz composers of all time, Duke Ellington had an enormous impact on the popular music of the late 20th century. Born in Washington D.C. in 1899, Edward Kennedy Ellington, better known as “Duke,” began playing piano as a child. His mother oversaw his education, and by age seventeen, he was playing professionally. Making his name as a piano player in Washington, Ellington started to compose his own music. By 1927, Ellington’s band had found a small base of fans and secured an engagement at Harlem’s famous Cotton Club. In 1931 Ellington left the Cotton Club and began a series of extended tours that would continue for the rest of his life. For Ellington, the big band was made up of individuals, not individual instruments. Where other composers had concerned themselves with creating a sound that unified the many instruments into one voice, Ellington believed in letting the dissonant voices of each musician play against each other. He wrote music that capitalized on the particular style and skills of his soloists. For this and many other reasons, his soloists often stayed with him for extended periods. Among the younger generations, Ellington was both a symbol of the traditional modes of jazz music and the finest example of how to transcend those modes. In 1965, Ellington held his first of three Sacred Concerts in San Francisco. He stated this was the most important music he’d ever written. Ellington received a posthumous Special Pulitzer Prize for his lifetime contributions to music and culture in 1999.

Suggested choral pieces:

  1. Come Sunday (G. Shirmer HL.50485908) 
  2. David Danced (Gehrmans Musikverlag IM6634-01) 
  3. The Lord’s Prayer (Gehrmans Musikverlag WC1600243) 
Posted in: Musical Moments
Tags: Black Composers • Composers of the Early-Mid 20th Century • United States Composers

Recent Stories

  • VocalEssence Singers Of This Age Perform at WCCO Holiday Tree Lighting December 22, 2022
  • VocalEssence Holiday Programming 2022 December 15, 2022
  • Thank you for your support at the VocalEssence 2022 Gala! November 4, 2022
  • VocalEssence Singers Of This Age Joined Twin Cities Choirs for Reconcile  November 4, 2022
  • VocalEssence Announces New Mission, Vision, and Values Statements November 4, 2022

Musical Moments

  • #inspiration
  • 2020
  • Argentinan Composers
  • Australian Composers
  • Basque Composers
  • Black Composers
  • Bradley Greenwald
  • British Composers
  • Canadian Composers
  • choir
  • Clara Osowski
  • Composers from Minnesota
  • Composers of the 17th 18th and 19th Centuries
  • Composers of the Early-Mid 20th Century
  • Composers of the Late 20th-21st Century
  • composing
  • concerts
  • Czech Composers
  • Dan Dressen
  • Dutch Composers
  • Early-mid 20th Century
  • Eastern European Composers
  • French Composers
  • German and Austrian Composers
  • Hungarian Composers
  • Italian Composers
  • Late 20th-21st Century
  • Latin American Composers
  • Maria Jette
  • Mexican composers
  • planning
  • Portuguese Composers
  • repertoire
  • Russian Composers
  • Scandinavian Composers
  • Scottish Composers
  • South American Composers
  • Spanish Composers
  • Swiss Composers
  • United States Composers
  • Women Composers
  • About Us
    • About VocalEssence
    • Press Room
    • Annual Report
    • Financial Information
    • Staff
    • Board of Directors
    • VocalEssence COVID Protocols
  • Get Involved
    • Donate
    • Sing with Us
    • Volunteer
    • Work at VocalEssence
  • Connect
    • Email Sign Up
    • Contact Us/Location
    • Chorus Connection
    • VocalEssence Board Login
  • VocalEssence
  • 1900 Nicollet Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55403
  • Phone: 612-547-1451
  • Fax: 612-547-1484
  • info@vocalessence.org
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 VocalEssence. All rights reserved.

https://www.vocalessence.org/duke-ellington-musical-moments-with-philip-brunelle

This website uses cookies for necessary functions and to enhance your browsing experience.

Accept & Continue