Photo from Strathmore The "Discover Ellington" festival is the highlight of Strathmore's season that has featured American composers.

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In a season seeped in thematic programming focused on American composers, Strathmore is banking on the popularity of Washington, D.C. native Edward “Duke” Ellington to fill the seats for its pinnacle event.

The ambitious “Discover Ellington” festival is the second multi-day event celebrating the life of an American composer that the venue has launched less than four months, following November’s “The Ives Project.” The celebration of the life and music of the pianist extraordinaire, bandleader and ground-breaking composer is currently underway and will last through Feb. 20 with a total of nine events.

Strathmore Artistic Director Shelley Brown says Ellington was chosen because of his skills in many areas of music that would create diverse programming opportunities. Born in 1899 in Washington, D.C., Ellington was a pioneer of jazz and big band with his orchestra, produced hits such as “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If it Ain’t Got That Swing)” and wrote music for stage and screen.

“When I started researching this I really started looking at which American composer has enough significance to do multiple events in the Music Center to showcase them,” Brown says.

The festival is part of Strathmore’s “Celebrating American Composers,” which has primarily featured performances in the Mansion at Strathmore, with artists performing works by composers such as Dan Tepfer, Armando Bayolo, Michael Torke and Jimi Hendrix.

In November, “The Ives Project” was a three-day look at the life of little-known composer Charles Ives, but Brown said she “overestimated” the number of people who would be interested in the series on the rare composer.

“It’s important for us to know when we reached too far, which maybe we did,” Brown says.

In selecting performers to be a part of “Discover Ellington,” Brown first looked at the range of the more than 1,000 compositions the jazz master contributed in his 50 year career, and spoke with experts at the Smithsonian Institution, which houses a Duke Ellington collection in the archives of the National Museum of American History.

The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra will be featured in a performance with Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell who will sing selections from Ellington’s musicals “Sophisticated Ladies” and “Play On” on Friday, and again on Feb. 19 for a performance of “Sacred Concerts.”

From his beloved hits, to his more obscure works, the music of Duke Ellington seems to reach hearts of audiences equally, says Ken Kimery, executive producer of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra.

“When you talk about Duke Ellington … his canon of music has the same effect,” Kimery says. “Ellington is really larger than life.”

Works like the three “Sacred Concerts” written near the end of the composer’s life are preformed less frequently because of the “large force” of musicians and vocalists needed to stage the music written for choir and orchestra, Kimery says. The orchestra previously performed the works during a centennial celebration for Ellington in 1999.

“It’s very joyful music,” Kimery says, “It’s a wonderful celebration of Ellington … you can’t help but be whisked away.”

Recognized for truly pioneering a sound, Ellington has left a thumbprint on not just American music, but music all over the world, Kimery says.

“There is nobody that predates him that he was mimicking,” he says.

Strathmore is no stranger to thematic programming, having staged other works with a similar thread, such as “The Stravinsky Project,” which focused on the works of Russian composer Igor Stravinsky in April 2011. Already, plans are in the works for a thematic festival celebrating the violin in American music for the winter of 2013.

Brown feels it is important for Strathmore to continue build programs such as “Discover Ellington” that pool resources in the region to create events that are both educational and celebratory of great artists.

“I think it’s something that we can take advantage of in our unique position as a convener of artists and experts,” Brown says.

ccalamaio@gazette.net

Upcoming performances in the “Discover Ellington” festival:

“Mostly Ellington,” Robert Glasper, piano, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Mansion at Strathmore, $30.

“Channeling Duke Ellington,” Karine Chapdelaine, bass, and Bob Sykes, piano, 7 p.m. Friday, Music Center at Strathmore, room 309. $15 online, $20 at door. Presented by the Levine School of Music. Purchase tickets at www.levineschool.org.

“Brian Stokes Mitchell Sings Ellington American Songbook,” Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, Julia Nixon, soloist, Manzari Brothers, tap dancers, 8 p.m. Friday, Music Center at Strathmore, $39$79.

“Discover Ellington: Panel Discussion,” Panelists John Edward Hasse, Davey Yarborough, David Schiff, discussion led by Strathmore CEO Eliot Pfanstiehl, 5 p.m. Saturday, Mansion at Strathmore, Free.

“Big Band Ellington: Duke Goes Latin,” Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Paquito D’Rivera, soloist, 8 p.m. Saturday, Music Center at Strathmore, $29$69.

“Ellington: A Sacred Concert,” Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, Morgan State University Choir, Allan Harris, soloist, Kehembe Eichelberger, soloist, Manzari Brothers, tap dancers, 4 p.m. Sunday, Music Center at Strathmore, $30$59

“Discover Strathmore: Duke Ellington,” family festival with live performances and workshops, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Music Center and Mansion at Strathmore. Free.

The Music Center at Strathmore is located at 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. The Mansion at Strathmore is located at 10701 Rockville Pike. For more information call 301-581-5100 or visit www.Strathmore.org.