Photos: Audra McDonald Premieres Duke Ellington's BLACK, BROWN & BEIGE at the Dr. Phillips Center

This week, Audra McDonald premiered Duke Ellington's "Black, Brown & Beige" as part of the opening celebration of the new Steinmetz Hall at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando.

To mark the opening of the hall, the center presented Ellington's "Sacred Music" along with the premiere of a new arrangement of his master work "Black, Brown & Beige," performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from London, and featuring Audra McDonald, Brandon Hood, the Jazz Orchestra at Dr. Phillips Center, musicians from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and the Bethune-Cookman University Concert Chorale.

Debuted in 1943 at Carnegie Hall though widely panned and misunderstood, Ellington's orchestrated music is widely recognized as one of his most important works and chronicles the African American experience in the U.S. through music.

Check out photos from the event below!

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