LEWISTON — The

will perform Duke Ellington’s “Nutcracker Suite,” a jazzy 1960 reinterpretation of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” that he co-authored with Billy Strayhorn, as well as jazz versions of other Christmas classics, in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 21, at the Franco Center.

The PJO consists of 16 members in a full “big band” arrangement featuring piano, bass, drums and full sax, trumpet and trombone sections. They are led by Dr. Chris Oberholtzer, a music professor who also serves as director of Jazz Studies at the University of Southern Maine.

“It’s a classic that’s rarely performed and it will be a treat for the public to hear,” said Oberholzer of the Ellington-Strayhorn version. “We last played it about six years ago and we thought it was time to do it once again.”

Running about a half-hour in length, Oberholtzer described “Nutcracker Suite” as more of a wholly reimagined piece than a mere rearrangement of Tchaikovsky’s original work, which is considerably longer and consists of nine different movements. Even so, the musical references to the original will be recognizable to anyone familiar with the classic ballet.

Tickets for the Franco Center concert are $15 reserved seating and can be purchased at www.francocenter.org or by phone at 207-689-2000. They can also be purchased at the box office between noon and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. They will also be available at the door.

The concert is the capstone to the Franco Center’s roster of Christmas concerts for the season. After the concert, the Franco Center will close for the entire week of Christmas and will re-open on Monday, Dec. 30.

Jazz fans who cannot attend the concert will get another crack at hearing the PJO perform the piece on public radio the following night. A couple of weeks ago, the PJO pre-recorded their performance of “Nutcracker Suite” for airing during the second hour of the Dec. 22 edition of the MPBN radio program “Jazz Tonight with Rich Tozier,” which airs each Sunday evening from 9 p.m. until midnight.