Works of Henry Gilbert, William Grant Still & Duke Ellington in 'Hidden Voices,' BBC Concert Orchestra Sun. 24 March 2013, 7.30pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall

Michael S. Wright sends this link:

Hidden Voices

with the BBC Concert Orchestra

Sunday 24 March 2013, 7.30pm

Queen Elizabeth Hall (South Bank Centre), South Bank Centre Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

part of the The Rest Is Noise series

£15-£12

Programme includes:

Henry Gilbert The Dance in Place Congo

William Grant Still

Symphony No.1 (Afro-American)

Duke Ellington

A tone parallel to Harlem (Harlem Suite)

Plus a set from Nu Civilsation Orchestra

BBC Concert Orchestra

Nu Civilisation Orchestra

Keith Lockhart conductor

Hidden amongst the many stories of the early twentieth century are the voices of those fighting for black emancipation in the USA. Of these, William Grant Still is one of the most intriguing: a student of arch-modernist emigré composer Edgard Varèse, he worked as an orchestrator for radio shows and Broadway musicals. In the ‘Afro-American’ the first of his five symphonies, Still sought a subtle form of valorisation by combining orchestral tradition with the blues – an authentic form of black expression which didn’t, as he put it’ ‘exhibit the influence of Caucasian music’.

Later, in the radically transformed postwar era of the burgeoning Civil Rights movement, Duke Ellington’s A Tone Parallel to Harlem takes us on a leisurely walk through the district's Sunday morning finery, introducing us to ‘a real hip chick’ and a funeral procession where, Ellington remarked drolly, ‘you may recognise the passage of those who are making our Civil Rights demands’. This groundbreaking composition ushered in a new era both politically and technologically – it appeared on one of the first LP records pioneered by Columbia.

Nu Civilisation Orchestra plays its own tribute to the Duke of Jazz.

Free Pre-concert Talk

The blues and its influence

Sunday 24 March, 6pm

The Front Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall

From its origins as the spirituals and work songs of the African American communities from “Deep South” United States, the blues has provided an important foundation for modern Western music.

Jazz expert Dr Catherine Tackley from The Open University will be joined by musicians from Dune Music and Tomorrow’s Warriors to give an introduction to the blues and how it influenced the music of William Grant Still and Duke Ellington.

[Duke Ellington (1899-1974) and William Grant Still (1895-1978) are featured at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List for William Grant Still by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com]