This performance of selections from Duke Ellington's Sacred music was streamed live midnight UK time Wednesday. Principal soloist is DeVonne Gardner who, of course, performed this music with Ellington himself. Ms Gardner reminisces about her audition for Ellington with Billy Strayhorn at the piano and her involvement with the Orchestra.

For ur readers in the USA, this intimate chamber performance is a precursor of a full concert of Sacred music by Bucks County Choral Society on 1 and 2 June. All the details below from the website here.

2018-2019 Spring Concert

Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts

Saturday, June 1, 2019 at 4:00 PM

Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral, 38th St. between Chestnut and Market, University City

[free parking available in the lot at the corner of 38th St. and Powelton Avenue (across from Penn/Presbyterian Hospital,
a 7-minute walk down 38th from the Cathedral]

Sunday, June 2, 2019 at 4:00 PM

Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Doylestown PA (directions to church)

Tickets: $25 in advance, $30 at the door - See the Purchase Tickets page for info on Group Sales.

“Everyone prays in his own language.” The final concert of the season features an uplifting program of music from Duke Ellington’s ground-breaking Sacred Concerts. Along with the beloved musicality of Jay Fluellen and his ensemble, we will be inspired by two exciting new voices on the scene, soprano Brittany Rumph and baritone Shafiq Hicks, who in turn will be listening very carefully to the return of Choral Society favorite, original Ellington soloist DeVonne Gardner. We will also be joined by two guest choirs, the Intermezzo Choir, directed by Carrie Lessene, and the Philadelphia Community Mass Choir directed by Jay Fluellen.

To read Thomas Lloyd's article on the Sacred Concerts in the May 2009 Choral Journal, click here:
The Revival of an early “Crossover” masterwork – Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts.

Program:

Combined choirs: Ellington - Freedom No. 7 (DeVonne Gardner)

Choral Society: Ellington - In the Beginning (Shafiq Hicks)

Philadelphia Community Mass Choir: Spiritual, arr. Fluellen/Stevenson – Wade in the Water

Choral Society: Ellington - Will you be there / Ain’t but the one (Brittany Rumph)

Intermezzo Choir Ministry: Thomas A. Dorsey, arr. Arnold Sevier - Precious Lord

Choral Society: Ellington - Father Forgive (all soloists)

Solo: Ellington – My Love (DeVonne Gardner)

Combined choirs: Ellington - The Majesty (Beauty) of God (DeVonne Gardner)

Intermission

Combined choirs: Ellington - Come Sunday (all soloists)

Choral Society: Ellington - Don’t get down on your knees and pray (Shafiq Hicks)

Philadelphia Community Mass Choir: Clayton White – Psalm 150

Choral Society: Ellington - Freedom (Sweet fat and that)

Intermezzo Choir Ministry: Don’t you want to go

Choral Society: Roscoe Gill - Hallelujah! Salvation and Glory!

Combined choirs: Ellington - Praise God and Dance (Brittany Rumph)

Notes on the program:

The Choral Society first performed a program of music from Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts in 2005, which was also our first program introducing original Ellington soloist DeVonne Gardner to our audiences. Fifteen years later, DeVonne voice is as lustrous as ever, and she continues a busy schedule of Ellington performances both in the US and Europe. Ellington and DeVonne have been a part of several Choral Society programs in the intervening years, and we treasure both her artistry and friendship.

A concert like ours today is exactly the environment Ellington had in mind for these autumnal works at the end of a long creative life at the center of American and world music. He conceived of this music not as a Sunday morning church service, not as a performance in a concert hall, not as a late night set in a jazz club; but as a concert in a sacred space where all are welcome, no questions asked.

Ellington wanted to write something free of the expectations of the commercial side of the music business, free of pretention, that would express his most deeply held values: love, justice, humility, and the freedom to be the person he believed God called each one of us to be. And he delivered this with a colloquial wit and self-awareness not commonly found in conversations about faith and religion.

This afternoon, we hope this music fills you with hope and renewal, regardless of your own religious or secular perspective. As much if not more than all of the great sacred masterworks we perform, Ellington’s music has a universality that speaks to the human condition in ways accessible to all.