After almost two years of preparations, the official opening of the Ellington ’94 conference in Stockholm took place on May 20, 1994. It was the 12th one in the series of Study Group Conferences.
The night before, the participants had got acquinted at a “Get-Together-Party” and had time to read the 40 pages program provided to all.
Program 94 (pdf downloadable)
Ads about the conference had been in the Stockholm newspapers well in advance.
Almost 250 Ellington experts and aficionados from 18 countries had registered for the conference. It took place in the Scandic Crown Hotel in the center of Stockholm, where the participants could listen to a lot of presentations and music and also to mingle with each other.
Music events also took place at the Stockholm Concert Hall , The Swedish Radio Concert Hall and in many other venues in Stockholm.
In November, the website will provide a number of snapshots from the conference. They will be based on contributions by Göran Wallén, the organiser and chairman of the conference, and Sjef Hoefsmit’s video from it.
Here is Hoefsmit’s video from the opening of the conference with Göran Wallén and Alice Babs.