Such Sweet Thunder: The Duke Meets the Bard

Saturday, February 15 at 7:30 pm

Nordstrom Recital Hall, Seattle

Sunday, February 16 at 2:00 pm

Kirkland Performance Center

The Seattle Jazz Repertory Orchestra teams up with Seattle Shakespeare Company this weekend for a glorious pairing of Duke Ellington and William Shakespeare. The Duke and the Bard just keep on giving. We are grateful to SRJO for this guest post.

Everyone at Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra is excited about our upcoming concert collaboration in February with Seattle Shakespeare Company, Such Sweet Thunder: The Duke Meets the Bard. The concert features Duke Ellington’s Such Sweet Thunder Suite, a twelve-part milestone work of music depicting portraits of characters from Shakespeare, and even the Bard himself. Actors Hana Lass and Darragh Kennan along with Artistic Director George Mount from SSC will join SRJO on stage to present spoken selections from the plays and sonnets that inspired Ellington to create the musical work.

The collaboration with SSC grew out of a lunch meeting in spring of 2013. SRJO planned to present Such Sweet Thunder in its 2013-14 season lineup, and SRJO artistic directors Michael Brockman and Clarence Acox were hoping to pull together some artistic “cross-pollination” between theater and jazz to make the concert really spring from the stage. We were incredibly lucky that SSC’s George Mount is sympathetic towards jazz and Ellington, and was eager to discuss how SRJO and SSC might partner for this concert. “I’m a big jazz fan,” said George Mount. “I had been mulling over a couple of ideas related to jazz and Shakespeare, but it wasn’t until we finally set a lunch together with Michael that things started cooking.” Both Mount and Brockman came into the meeting with roughly the same idea: to present Duke Ellington’s Such Sweet Thunder Suite and to then pair it with excerpts and sonnets (to be performed by SSC actors) from the plays that inspired Ellington.

This discussion led to collaboration in two parts. The first part of this happy alliance, of course, is Such Sweet Thunder. The second part occurred during SSC’s presentation of Much Ado About Nothing, which had a four-week run last October and November. At the lunch meeting, Mount knew that he’d soon be directing SSC’s season opener of Much Ado About Nothing, and wanted some music for that. “I really like trying to find contemporary composers who you wouldn’t necessarily associate with Shakespeare to work with on the productions I direct. After meeting with Michael and knowing that I was going to set Much Ado in 1953, it seemed like a perfect match.” Brockman composed jazz music (with lyrics by William Shakespeare) that premiered at Much Ado. The music was then pre-recorded by members of the SRJO with actors from Much Ado About Nothing singing the vocal parts during the live stage productions.

We are particularly enjoying the introduction and melding of SRJO and SSC audiences. Says Brockman, “Our hope is that our two audiences will discover one another through this collaboration, and then find something to appreciate in each art form.”

Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra’s presentation of Such Sweet Thunder: The Duke Meets the Bard performs Saturday, February 15, 2014 at 7:30 pm at the Nordstrom Recital Hall and Sunday, February 16, 2014 at 2:00 pm at the Kirkland Performance Center.

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