FARMINGTON – The Pond Duck Quintet will perform the Beatles’ historic “Abbey Road” album Saturday, Dec. 8, at the University of Maine at Farmington’s Nordica Auditorium. Three of the five band members are UMF students, including two music majors and a music minor.

“Abbey Road” was the 11th and final album that The Beatles recorded and is believed by many to be one of the best. Although “Let it Be” was released later, it was, in fact, recorded previous to “Abbey Road.”

“Abbey Road is truly one of the greatest Beatles albums, if not one of the greatest albums of all time,” said guitarist Sheridan Ellis. It was also the most commercially successful album by the Beatles, quickly reaching No. 1 on charts in both the United States and in the United Kingdom.

Bassist Nathaniel Burns has been interested in performing “Abbey Road” since the summer of 2006. His idea finally started to come together that winter when he began discussing the project with pianist and keyboard player Andrew Thompson while traveling in Italy. The two started listening to the album endlessly to get the musical notations perfected for every song. The quintet played a few select songs from the album last spring at the first annual Arts Night at UMF.

Ellis, Burns and drummer Graham Duval were the foundation of the original Pond Duck Trio. The band expanded to five members, bringing in Thompson and longtime collaborator Justin Labbe as vocalist and back-up guitarist.

The concert, which is open to the public, will be on the 27th anniversary of John Lennon’s death outside his New York City apartment in 1980. “I’m really excited to play ‘Abbey Road,'” said Ellis, “especially on a day of remembrance for John Lennon” – who wrote or assisted in writing many Beatles songs, including “Come Together,” the opening song in “Abbey Road.”

The concert will be performed in two sets, one for each side of the original LP.

Doors will open at 7 p.m., with the concert to start at 8 o’clock. There will be a suggested donation for admission.