Aardvark Jazz Orchestra 38th Annual Christmas Concert at Emmanuel Episcopal Church

The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra (Mark Harvey, Director) will present its 38th Annual Christmas Concert Saturday, December 18 at 8:00 pm, Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury St, Boston. The band will perform updated carols, original works by Harvey, and two pieces by Ellington: Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from the Nutcracker Suite) and Almighty God Has Those Angels from the Second Sacred Concert which Ellington performed at Emmanuel Church in 1969. The concert will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Emmanuel Church, which has hosted 25 or Aardvark's 38 Christmas concerts. Proceeds will support the Boston Public Quartet music ed program at Chittick Elementary in Mattapan. BPQ will join Aardvark in Lo, How A Rose E're Blooming, and Chittick students will perform the French carol Il Est Ne....

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The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra (Mark Harvey, Director) will present its 38th Annual Christmas Concert Saturday, December 18 at 8:00 pm, Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury St, Boston. The band will perform updated carols, original works by Harvey, and two pieces by Ellington: Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from the Nutcracker Suite) and Almighty God Has Those Angels from the Second Sacred Concert which Ellington performed at Emmanuel Church in 1969. The concert will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Emmanuel Church, which has hosted 25 or Aardvark's 38 Christmas concerts. Proceeds will support the Boston Public Quartet music ed program at Chittick Elementary in Mattapan. BPQ will join Aardvark in Lo, How A Rose E're Blooming, and Chittick students will perform the French carol Il Est Ne.

With global distribution of 10 CDs and wide-ranging performances in festivals, clubs, concert halls, churches, museums, colleges and universities, the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra has been a major force in the international jazz scene for almost 40 years. Winner of the 2000 Independent Music Awards, the band is known for its exhilarating concerts spanning the jazz spectrum, from original works by founder/music director Mark Harvey to the music of Duke Ellington and other jazz greats to performances with film, dance, and poetry and collaborations with symphony orchestras and choirs. Now in its 38th season, Aardvark has premiered more than 120 works and has released 10 CDs to rave reviews around the globe, including the latest disc, American Agonistes (“a stunning hour of music that is in turn beautiful, poignant and raucous” Billboard.com).

Music director Mark Harvey is founder, principal composer and arranger for Aardvark. With more than 120 compositions in his catalogue, he is a winner of awards from ASCAP, the National Endowment, and the Meet-the-Composer-Lila Wallace/Reader’s Digest Commissioning Program. He has performed throughout the United States and in Europe; has recorded with George Russell (Blue Note) and Baird Hersey (Arista/Novus); and has performed with Gil Evans, Claudio Roditi, Herb Pomeroy, Sam Rivers, and others. Dr Harvey is a Music Lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and lectures nationally on jazz and American music.

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