VJC Big Band 2022 Scholarship Gala

About the Performance

The Music of Duke Ellington

In-person & live-streamed event
 (Masks are required for in-person attendance)

This event is the primary fundraiser for the Vermont Jazz Center Scholarship Fund which grants an annual average of $27,000 in scholarships to students, offsetting fees for VJC ensembles, private lessons and its world-renowned summer jazz workshop.

The VJC Big Band performs the compositions and arrangements of Duke Ellington, hailed as “America’s greatest composer” by Jazz at Lincoln Center. This swing dance will feature the brilliant clarinet and vocal work of Evan Arntzen plus the finesse of the VJC Big Band, now in its 19th year.

Ellington is widely considered to be one of the United States’ most important composers of any musical form. He earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1966, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969, and the Legion of Honor by France in 1973.

He was posthumously awarded a special award citation from the Pulitzer Prize Board. At his funeral, attended by over 12,000 people at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Ella Fitzgerald summed up the occasion, “It’s a very sad day…A genius has passed.”

The VJC pays a swinging tribute to Ellington with a special concert featuring Evan Arntzen, clarinetist & vocalist known for his work with Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks & Catherine Russell. Polish those dancing shoes – it’s been a while!

Rob Freeberg – music director
Sherm Fox – band manager
Evan Arntzen – featured soloist on woodwinds and vocals

Sponsored by Dianne & Stephen Lieberman