Honoring and preserving the legacy of Duke Ellington
Celebrating the Legacy of Duke Ellington
A Joyful 15th Annual Celebration at Duke Ellington Circle
What a beautiful day it was!
After a Sunday rainy morning, the sun came out just in time for our 15th Annual Duke Ellington Celebration on September 13th at the iconic Duke Ellington Statue in Harlem. It was a joyful afternoon filled with music, dance, and community, celebrating the timeless legacy of Duke Ellington.
The celebration was co-produced and co-hosted by Mercedes Ellington, Duke Ellington’s granddaughter and Founder & Artistic Director of The Duke Ellington Center for the Arts, and Tony Waag, Founding Director of the American Tap Dance Foundation.
Featuring the Duke Ellington Center Big Band, under the musical direction of Eli Yamin.
Special Guest Artist: Catherine Russell — Grammy Award–winning vocalist and three-time Grammy Award nominee.
Also featuring Michael Choi, Marion Cowings, Karen Callaway Williams, Sharon K. Janda, AC Lincoln, Mark Mindek, Antoinette Montague, Ema Nohalova, Max Pollak, and Ty Stephens.
A very special thank you to our awesome stage manager, Miles Purinton, who helped bring it all together — coordinating the artists, rehearsals, and all the moving parts that made the afternoon run so beautifully.
Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped make this 15th anniversary celebration so special. We were thrilled to share Duke’s music, spirit, and legacy with our community once again at Duke Ellington Circle. Presented by The Duke Ellington Center for the Arts in collaboration with the American Tap Dance Foundation, the celebration brought together an extraordinary group of artists, friends, and community members who helped make Duke Ellington Circle a living stage once again.
What a way to celebrate 15 years of music, dance, and community! Take a look at our commemorative program below and relive the wonderful afternoon of music, dance, and community celebrating Duke Ellington.
On April 29, Duke Ellington's birthday, Mercedes Ellington spoke with Soundboard, the Steinway & Sons Soundboard podcast on her grandfather's enduring influence and on her own career in dance and choreography. Visit steinway.com/soundboard to listen or subscribe to Soundboard wherever you podcast.
‘It’s interesting to see that all composers deal with the same struggles and the same big themes and the same questions of humanity.’
Mercedes Ellington
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Photograph by Kyle Martin
Preserving the Legacy of Duke Ellington
Considered one of America's greatest composers, arrangers, and bandleaders, with over 3,000 compositions attributed to him, Duke Ellington is a seminal figure in the history of American music. It is our honor to preserve his legacy through education, documentation, and performance.
Photograph by Kyle Martin
“Love is supreme and unconditional; like is nice but limited.”
— Duke Ellington