The 25th International Duke Ellington Study Group Conference is coming to Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in a fantastic three-day event.

Alongside themed panels of speakers, including Harvey G. Cohen (King's College London) and Katherine Williams (Plymouth University), the event will showcase four concerts by Ellington Orchestra, numerous break-out small group jam sessions, and will host the Duke Ellington Society UK Annual General Meeting.

FRI 25 MAY

3pm Registration [Lower Foyer]
5pm Welcome speeches [Recital Hall]
6pm Hot buffet and refreshments provided [Foyer and Gallery Bar]
7pm First Ellington Orchestra Show [East Side Jazz Club] 
8.15pm Second Ellington Orchestra Show [Eastside Jazz Club]

SAT 26 MAY

10am-11am Keynote: Harvey G Cohen (King’s College London) [Recital Hall]
11am-11:30am Coffee [Foyer and Gallery Bar]
11:30am-1pm Panel A: Ellington in the Midlands [Workshop 1]

‘Jazz, Revue and a Thriller’: The Reception of Duke Ellington and his Orchestra in Birmingham
Pedro Cravinho (Birmingham City University)

In the Beginning, What? Bringing Duke Ellington back to Coventry
Nicolas Pillai (Birmingham City University)

11.30am-1pm – Panel B: Collaboration & process [Workshop 2]

Ellington as Renaissance Man
Jeremy Price (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire of Music)

Ellington: Collective Composition and Arranging
Vic Hobson (National Jazz Archive)

Celebration, Duke Ellington’s Lost Symphony
Jack Chambers (University of Toronto)

1pm Lunch [Foyer or Gallery Bar]
2pm-3:30pm Panel C: Sonic reverberations [Workshop 1]

Examining the “Ellington effect”: a reappraisal of composition processes in jazz
Mike Fletcher (Birmingham City University)

Beyond the Blues: Duke Ellington’s experimentation techniques in the New Orleans Suite
Michele Corcella (G. B. Martini Conservatory/Adriano Buzzolla Conservatory)

2pm-3.30pm Panel D: Social context & civil rights [Workshop 2]                 

The music of Duke Ellington and African-American civil rights, with particular reference to his Shakespearean suite Such Sweet Thunder
David Stuart Emmerson (DESUK)

Ellington and Coltrane: Tone Parallels
Barry Long (Bucknell University)

3.30pm Coffee [Foyer and Gallery Bar]
4pm-5.30pm DESUK AGM [Workshop 1] & Jam Session* Eastside Jazz Club]

*This is for you delegates! Bring your instruments!

4pm-5:30pm Social time [Gallery Bar]

Bar food and drink available 

6pm First Ellington Orchestra Show [Eastside Jazz Club]
7:15pm Second Ellington Orchestra Show [Eastside Jazz Club]

Delegates make own arrangements for dinner. 

SUN 27 MAY

10am-11am Keynote: Katherine Williams (University of Plymouth) [Recital Hall]
11am-11.30am Coffee [Foyer] 
11:30am-1pm – Panel E: Instrumental approaches [Workshop 1]

Monk and Duke
Brian Priestley (independent scholar)

Clarinetta Ellingtonia
Frank Griffith (independent scholar)

Recognising specific challenges from UK pedagogical culture for performing Ellington’s big band repertoire
Patrick Olsen (University of Cambridge)

11.30am-1pm Panel F: Technology & mediation [Workshop 2]

Ellington and synaesthesia: to what extent did Duke Ellington hear sounds as colours?
Alyn Shipton (Royal Academy of Music)

Duke Ellington, Radio Remotes, and the Mediation of Big City Nightlife, 1927 to 1933
Tim Wall (Birmingham City University)

Plucked Again: Ellington’s bassists and the mediation of technology
Matthias Heyman (University of Antwerp)

1pm Closing speeches and thank you, Ellington Orchestra send-off [Eastside Jazz Club]

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