CNU's Ferguson Center for the Arts and the City of Newport News present
the 12th Annual Ella Fitzgerald Music Festival Tuesday, April 7 through
Saturday, April 18 featuring Aretha Franklin 

Freda Payne in A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald

( Newport News ) –CNU's Ferguson Center for the Arts is pleased to announce the 12th Annual Ella Fitzgerald Music Festival, running Tuesday, April 7 through Saturday, April 18, 2009.  Celebrating the life and legacy of Newport News' own Ella Fitzgerald, this season's line-up features an array of jazz luminaries.  Tickets will be available for purchase on Monday, March 16 at 10:00 a.m. at the Ferguson Center Ticket Office, at ticketmaster.com all Ticketmaster outlets and via phone at (800) 745-3000.

The Ella Fitzgerald Music Festival began in 1998 when the City of Newport News and CNU joined forces to create an event that honored the life and legacy of jazz icon and Newport News native, Ella Fitzgerald.  

Performance Schedule and Pricing

Aretha Franklin
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 @ 7:30 p.m. (tickets currently on sale)
CNU's Ferguson Center Concert Hall
Tickets: $72, $92, $112.  (Premium Gold Circle seating is also available. Call 594.8752 for information.)

Aretha Franklin is one of the giants of soul music, and indeed of American pop as a whole. More than any other performer, she epitomized soul at its most gospel-charged. Her astonishing run of hits with Atlantic Records "Respect," "I Never Loved a Man," "Chain of Fools," "Baby I Love You," "I Say a Little Prayer," "Think," "The House That Jack Built," and several others--earned her the title "Lady Soul," which she has worn uncontested ever since.

CNU Jazz Night  with Special Guest Dave Douglas
Wednesday, April 15, 2009 @ 7:30 p.m.
CNU's Ferguson Center for the Arts Music & Theatre Hall
Tickets: $10

Two-time Grammy-nominated jazz musician Dave Douglas is arguably the most prolific and original trumpeter/composer of his generation.  From his New York base, where he's lived since the mid 1980s, Douglas has continued to earn lavish national and international acclaim including trumpeter, composer, and jazz "Artist of the Year" by the New York Jazz Awards, Down Beat, Jazz Times, Jazziz, and the Italian Jazz Critics' Society.  His latest project, Brass Ecstasy, features a brass quintet of trumpet, French horn, trombone, tuba and drums. Douglas is currently the artistic director of the Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music at the Banff Center and the co-founder and director of the Festival of New Trumpet Music, which will celebrate its 7th year in 2009.

Herb Alpert & Lani Hall
NOTE: This performance has been postponed. For more information, please contact the Ferguson Center Ticket Office at 757-594-8752.

Freda Payne in A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald*
Friday, April 17, 2009 @ 8 p.m.
Saturday, April 18, 2009 @ 2 p.m. & 8 p.m.
Tickets: $15 Adults / $10 Students
*Concert Location: Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center; Ella Fitzgerald Theatre; 2410 Wickham Avenue, Newport News, VA   23607.

Celebrated R&B and jazz vocalist Freda Payne's remarkable multi-faceted career spans more than four decades and includes theater, Broadway, concert stage and film.  Payne, the star of such Broadway shows as Jelly's Last Jam, and Sophisticated Ladies, conjures the spirit of Ella Fitzgerald in this special tribute concert.

FOR INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES, CALL LORI JACOBS AT 757.594.8428