Shakespearian actors will join the Reno Jazz Orchestra to perform the music of Duke Ellington’s “Such Sweet Thunder” concert on November 11 and 12, 2023, at the Good Luck Macbeth Theater in Reno, Nevada. The Reno Jazz Orchestra’s Jazz Workshop students will open the show
During the concerts, the Orchestra will perform works by Remy Le Boeuf, Les Hooper and Gordon Goodwin, capped by a performance of Duke Ellington’s suite, “Such Sweet Thunder.” The concerts will be infused with professional actors performing excerpts from plays and sonnets written by William Shakespeare.
Guest Music Director David A. Brennan, DMA, is the first of four candidates for the permanent position of RJO Music Director who will be conducting the Orchestra over the next five months.
“Inspired by the works of Shakespeare, Duke and co-writer Billy Strayhorn captured heroic, comedic and tragic moments in a jazz suite,” said the Reno Jazz Orchestra Board President Chuck Reider.
“Producing this program was a labor of love as much of the music had to be transcribed from recordings and partial sketches provided by the Smithsonian Institute. It’s a wonder to hear Shakespeare’s words followed by Ellington’s expression of those words: truly magical.”