For the third ballet in my Ellington trilogy I decided not to choreograph to Ellington’s  music itself, but rather to make a piece about the man. Racial segregation in the South made it difficult for the Ellington band to travel and perform in the United States, despite their huge popularity there. Rather than tour by bus and try to find accommodation the band travelled and stayed in their own Pullman car. This put me in mind of the Argo and the Argonauts of Greek mythology, with Orpheus the musician who was one of their company.

I decided to retell the myth of Orpheus through the lens of the Jazz age, culminating in a kind of Sacred Concert, a nod towards one of the Duke’s last and most famous compositions. In the myth, Orpheus dies and becomes a god, and appears as a constellation in the heavens, much as Duke Ellington has become a deity, a star in the constellation of jazz.

The score was provided by Colin Towns and the sensational opening piece is frequently performed as a concert item.        

'Bintley's choreographic imagination throws up some superbly varied material’
THE GUARDIAN

‘Colin Towns's new score is a mix of big-band jazz and sampled wails… It's loud and energetic’
THE INDEPENDENT