Seventy-five years after Ellington’s famous second trip to Europe (April and May 1939), which took him to Amsterdam for a concert at the Concertgebouw, and 75 years after he started his collaboration with Billy Strayhorn, Amsterdam will be the site of the 22nd International Duke Ellington Conference, hosted by the Conservatory of Amsterdam (Europe’s largest jazz school), in its beautiful new building and concert halls, in collaboration with the world-famous Bimhuis concert-stage, and the International Duke Ellington Study Group.
The program boasts keynote lectures by acclaimed writers on Ellington, such as Harvey Cohen, David Schiff, and Matt Cooper, concerts of among others Black, Brown and Beige by the conservatory big band under the baton of the renowned Ellington scholar David Berger, a commissioned arrangement for wind-ensemble of Such Sweet Thunder, a concert in the Bimhuis by Dutch Annual Jazz Award winner Oene van Geel, as well as a conference dinner in the prestigious Muziekgebouw aan het IJ (where King Willem-Alexander dined the evening of his crowning), and special hotel arrangements.
Celebrate Ellington’s 115th birthday (April 29, 1899) and commemorate the 40th anniversary of his passing (May 24, 1974). Join us in Amsterdam, World Jazz City 2014, for four days packed with presentations, friendship and above all: the music of Duke & Strays.
Voor personen die niet aan de conferentie deelnemen zijn wel tickets beschikbaar voor de concerten van Matt Cooper (15 mei, 16.00 uur, € 10) en het Calefax Riet Kwintet (17 mei, 15.45 uur, € 15) in de Blue Note zaal van het Conservatorium. Tickets zijn op de dag zelf in het Conservatorium te koop.
Tickets voor All Ellington + Oene van Geel Trio (15 mei 20.30 uur, Bimhuis) en David Berger met Black, Brown & Beige (17 mei 21.00 uur, North Sea Jazz Club) zijn te koop via: