The works of Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson and Charles Dickens will be brought to life in a new jazz suite to be performed at the University of Ulster’s Magee campus next week.

The suite entitled Dark Tales takes place as part of Ulster’s Lunchtime Concert Series and will feature David Lyttle on drums, Damian Evans on bass and Robert Mitchell on piano.

Lyttle, who recently completed a PhD in Musicology at the University of Ulster, has been hailed as one of the most significant jazz performers to have emerged in Ireland in recent years.

He received scholarships to study at Skidmore Jazz Institute, New York and the Banff Centre in Canada and has since gone on to work professionally with a wide variety of internationally-respected artists including Jean Toussaint, Soweto Kinch, Jason Rebello, Dave Allen and Jacqui Dankworth.

Niamh Pearce, Cultural Development Officer at Magee said: “Over the last few years David has pursued an extremely busy schedule of performances and recordings but has also found time to develop a series of literary cross-over projects,  including a  musical interpretation of Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ , which premiered in 2008 to critical acclaim.  In ‘Dark Tales’ he skillfully conjures up the brooding shadow and tension that is found in the works of the great gothic writers, underpinned with some exceptional jazz composition and performance.”

Dark Tales will be performed in the Great Hall, Magee campus at 1.15pm on Tuesday 23 March 2010.  Tickets for the lunchtime concert are £3 and can be purchased on the door.  For further information please contact the Cultural Development Office on: 028 7137 5658 or culture@ulster.ac.uk.