Composer

Worthing Symphony Orchestra invites you into a world of enchantment with Sorcery, Magic & Fireworks—a dazzling programme of spellbinding music and orchestral spectacle.

EPSG:4326

Sorcery, Magic & Fireworks

Worthing Assembly Hall

French composer Cécile Chaminade composed over four hundred works in the shadows of her contemporaries Brahms and Saint-Saëns, yet her music was so popular that “Chaminade Clubs” sprang up in the United States during her lifetime. Debussy’s early trio, also overtly Romantic, is offered as a companion work, with both trios now increasingly heard in concert halls around the world. 

Grand Rapids, MI 

St. Cecilia Music Center

Composer/conductor Teddy Abrams, “a maestro of the people” (The New York Times) and violin virtuoso Ray Chen survey more than a century of American symphonic music, from Charles Ives’ early 20th-century depiction of his native New England to the world premiere of Abrams contemporary stateside take on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

Seasons of America with Teddy Abrams & Ray Chen

Walt Disney Concert Hall

Drop in during your lunch break and discover a wide range of performances for free with our Monday and Thursday Lunchtimes.

Our relaxed performances are designed to be inclusive and supportive for all, with particular consideration for neurodivergent audience members, people with learning disabilities, and anyone else who benefits from a less formal setting.

Audience members are free to move around or leave and re-enter the space at any time. We may use additional lighting, and adapt elements of the presentation to keep the environment comfortable. A dedicated quiet space will also be available throughout the performance for anyone who needs a moment away. Our aim is to create a supportive atmosphere where everyone can enjoy the experience in the way that works best for them.

Thursday Lunchtimes: An American in Paris – Relaxed Performance

Royal Northern College of Music

CityMusic Cleveland is a professional chamber orchestra dedicated to making music accessible through free concerts and innovative programming. Since its inception in 2004, CityMusic has built partnerships with communities across Northeast Ohio, bringing exceptional performances to longtime music lovers and first-time audience members alike.

CityMusic Cleveland Chamber Orchestra: “American Roots”

Cleveland Museum of Art

Teo is having some trouble with his La Scala report card: he just can’t seem to understand opera! What he needs is an artificial intelligence… a robot capable of showing him a different perspective on music. But watch out for those notes!

Mimì & Teo and… The Jazz Robot!

Teatro alla Scala

Jazz, blues, and symphonic traditions meet with Gershwin, Ellington, a new piece by local composer John Moody featuring pianist Joe Davidian, and a Dual-Guitar Concerto performed by Thomas Flippin and Christopher Mallet.

Red, White, and Shades of Blue

Converse University

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra debuts with Estonian conductor Kristiina Poska and jazz pianist Sullivan Fortner in a program of Nielsen and Gershwin, part of American Panorama: Voices of a Nation at 250.

Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

University of Georgia Performing Arts Center

Whether it be culture or politics, America found it's voice in the late 19th through the 20th Century. We perform Joan Tower's "Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman",  Gershwin's jazzy classic “Rhapsody in Blue" with internationally recognized pianist Spencer Myer, and Dvorak's classic “New World Symphony.”

Influence

Coughlin-Saunders Performing Arts Center

A Gershwin Gala

Arlington Music Hall

Lights, camera, action! Rising-star conductor Keitaro Harada leads a program of thrilling orchestral music from classic movies. Movie-musicals West Side Story and An American in Paris, with their timeless tunes, are heard alongside Joe Hisaishi’s score to the Studio Ghibli masterpiece Spirited Away. Don’t miss this festive performance with music that dazzles and delights—the perfect way to celebrate the start of the season.

A Celebration of the Best Orchestral Music in Cinema

New Jersey Performing Arts Center

For its 64th concert season, your Bloomington Symphony Orchestra continues the nation’s semi-quincentennial celebration by featuring the music of three composers who are synonymous with American music. After opening with William Schuman’s take on the old Colonial-era hymn “Chester,” we’ll visit with William Grant Still as he accompanies us on a symphonic visit via the musical stylings of his time and life experiences as expressed in his Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American.” After intermission, Maestro Laureano will lead the audience through a close look at An American in Paris, showing you what makes it such a memorable and special work.

American Journey

St. Michael’s Lutheran Church

Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue remains the ultimate symphonic celebration of American life—bold, brassy, and as vibrantly chaotic as the city streets that inspired it. Join the Spokane Symphony for an evening of raw jazz energy and unforgettable Gershwin classics.

Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue

Martin Woldson Theater

Our opening program celebrates America’s 250th with three distinct works by a trio of America’s great composers. William Grant Still’s blues-infused Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American,” was the first work by a Black composer to be performed by a major U.S. orchestra and remains one of the most popular American symphonies of all time. Acclaimed pianist Sara Davis Buechner will bring George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue to life in a high-octane celebration of American spirit – a piece that famously blends the gritty soul of the Jazz Age with the sophisticated structure of European classical music. Aaron Copland’s Symphony No. 3, with its iconic focal point—the majestic “Fanfare for the Common Man”—is known as the “greatest American symphony,” celebrating the citizens, laborers, and soldiers of the World War II era.

Vista Philharmonic Orchestra – All American

Groton Hill Music Center

Julian Josoeph is, quite simply, one of the leading British jazz pianists performing today and his interpretation of Gershwin’s classic Rhapsody In Blue promises a hugely exciting evening. Julian will also perform movements from his own Nine Elms Suite, an emotive musical response to the Nine Elms area of London.

Ulster Orchestra: Rhapsody In Blue

Ulster Hall

Known for their “sonically daring” (BBC Music Magazine) performances, the Akropolis Reed Quintet takes the stage to celebrate iconic — and iconoclastic — voices of 20th century American music, highlighting works by Price, Gershwin, and Bernstein.

Akropolis Reed Quintet 

Yale University

A performance by trombone faculty member Scott Hartman.

Scott Hartman, trombone

Opening Night: America 250

Robinson Center

Winner of the Young Artist Category in the 2026 Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) Awards , star trumpeter Matilda Lloyd joins Ensemble 360 for a sparkling celebration of American music, alongside some dazzling trumpet classics. Described by BBC Music Magazine as a “trumpeter extraordinaire,” and celebrated for her impeccable sound, crystalline phrasing, and exquisite control, Matilda Lloyd holds audiences spellbound through virtuosity and expressive power.

Americana: Gershwin and Bernstein for Trumpet

Crucible Theatre

Inspired by Steve Reich’s 90th birthday, Liverpool String Quartet dive headfirst into all things USA. From the cinematic Mishima by Philip Glass, through Reich’s New York Counterpoint and Barber’s iconic String Quartet – featuring the breathtaking Adagio – they’ll finish this journey through 20th-century America with an exciting new arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.

Liverpool String Quartet

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

Symphony I:  Family Concert featuring all American Composers

Port Angeles High School

A true masterpiece for the senses, this unique live music experience takes orchestral classics like Gershwin's An American in Paris, Falla's Three-Cornered Hat and Respighi's Pines of Rome, and pairs them with sweeping visual projections by Lightborne of some of the world’s greatest works of art — transforming Music Hall into a living gallery as images and melodies come alive together. A feast for the eyes and ears, this fusion of sound and art invites you to experience the Cincinnati Pops in a brand-new way.   

Jmr’s Orchestral Canvas

Cincinnati Music Hall

Driving rhythms, vivid colors, and an electrical charge that could light up a city: Bernstein’s West Side Story and Gershwin’s Cuban Overture are symphonic favorites that explode with fire and passion. Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez is brought to life with the extraordinary depth and nuance of Spanish guitarist Rafael Aguirre. Opening the program, Kauyumari is Gabriela Ortiz’s celebration of community, spiritual guidance, and new beginnings. | Join us for a pre-concert talk 1 hour before most performances.

City Rhythms: West Side Story & Aranjuez

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Alessandro Carbonare, Francesca Dego and Alessandro Taverna

Teatro La Fenice

We’re kicking off our Masterworks series with a celebration of America 250. The dramatic and stirring Fanfare for the Common Man by American composer Aaron Copland opens the program in recognition of the contributions of the average, everyday people. Next, GRAMMY Award winning pianist Michelle Cann delights us with George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F. Finally, we’re traveling to the new world with a piece that was finished here in Iowa, Dvorak’s New World Symphony.

Masterworks I – New World Symphony

Paramount Theatre Iowa

The University of Iowa School of Music - Voxman Building

Celebrate the beginning of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2026/2027 Season with an Opening Night unlike anything you’ve experienced before. Featuring not one, but three extraordinary pianists, this concert blends classical masterworks, jazz-inspired brilliance, and theatrical elements into one concert.

The program begins with Stravinsky’s Petrushka, a dazzling ballet score that shocked audiences with its rhythmic energy and vivid orchestral colors. From there, Duke Ellington’s visionary New World A-Comin’ brings the spirit of jazz and hope-filled American artistry to the stage, followed by the elegance and sparkle of Ravel’s Piano Concerto — a work deeply inspired by the sounds of jazz clubs.

Then, experience Gershwin’s iconic Rhapsody in Blue like never before. This work is one of America’s most beloved musical masterpieces, fusing classical music with the energy of New York City jazz. Enhanced with dancers and dynamic lighting, this performance transforms the concert experience into a vibrant season-opening event.

Opening Night: Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue

Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

What defines the American spirit? Join the Oklahoma City Philharmonic for America the Beautiful, a historic 250th anniversary celebration featuring a vibrant journey through our nation’s musical landscape and a soaring performance of Rachmaninoff’s final masterpiece.

America the Beautiful: A 250 Celebration

Civic Center Music Hall

From Duke Ellington’s swirling jazz-ballet harmonies to the propulsive tango-noir rhythms of the New York City subway, to George Gershwin’s dizzying Parisian fever dream, you’ll want to look both ways before you cross the street—and hold on tight, because tonight’s program doesn’t stop for red lights. Our very own principal pianist Alexander Sandor joins us in the hot seat for this all-American jazz joyride. 

America in Motion

DECC Symphony Hall

More diversity in classical music! This is the objective which prompted the Chineke! Orchestra, founded 2015 in London, as a catalysator for change in order to achieve current diversity targets within the classical music world. As part of their joint European tour with the Cape Town Opera from South Africa, they will present George Gershwin’s masterpiece Porgy and Bess in a new semi-staged production at the Musikfest Berlin. Kwamé Ryan will conduct.

Chineke! Orchestra / Cape Town Opera

Berliner Philharmoniker

Summertime, It Ain’t Necessarily So, I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’: in Porgy and Bess, George Gershwin strings together one hit after another. That can make it easy to forget that he did not compose a glittering Broadway musical but a groundbreaking serious opera — even if it sounds less like Wagner or Verdi and more like spirituals and jazz. It tackles unemployment and poverty, drugs and murder — and at its center is the tragic love story between the disabled beggar Porgy and the troubled Bess. Above all, however, the opera takes place within an African American community — for the first time in the history of musical theater. That was an act of courage in the 1930s, at the height of racial discrimination — one just as bold as Gershwin’s insistence that Porgy and Bess be performed exclusively by Black singers. At Lucerne Festival, you can experience America’s most famous and successful opera with the ensemble of Cape Town Opera, South Africa’s only opera company. And the acclaimed Chineke! Orchestra — returning to Lake Lucerne after its enthusiastic reception in the summers of 2022 and 2024 — is likewise composed predominantly of People of Color.

Chineke! Orchestra | Cape Town Opera | Enrique Mazzola

KKL Luzern Concert Hall

MOSY opens the season with a concert shaped by American sound: bold, lyrical, restless, and full of character.

Made in America: a 250th Celebration

Missouri Theatre Columbia

Kick off our season of American icons with music from New York, by New Yorkers! We’re featuring music by George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, and Aaron Copland, all New Yorkers who created some of the most quintessentially American music of the 20th century. From their apartments in The Big Apple, they captured the sounds not just of New York but the American West and beyond. And in a tribute to the world beyond New York, we will perform Kansas-based composer Alyssa Morris’s Tlapali, Tlahuilli, a dazzling orchestral re-telling of the Aztec myth depicting how the world received its color and light, featuring the principal woodwinds of the SSO.

The Big Apple

Missouri State University

Paris! Breathless, colourful, racy and full of secrets. This is true today as it was 100 years ago, when the young American George Gershwin frequented the cafés of Montmartre, listening to the sounds of the big city and overcome with homesickness for New York, that other glamorous metropolis. In Gershwin’s musical portrait An American in Paris, revving motors, honking horns, the Cancan, Charleston, blues and ragtime merge in an irresistible symphony of the big city – a audible journey that is so concrete and thrilling that one could actually cancel one’s own city trip. The human soul with all its flights of fancy and abysses, love, desperation, death – and then there’s »Summertime«, possible the aria with the most cover versions in music history: the highlights from Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Besstransport us to a world of overpowering emotions.

Summertime

Cologne Philharmonie

Diverse. Devoted. Determined. In honor of America 250, the 80th anniversary of the Nashville Symphony, and the 20th anniversary of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, our opening program of the 2026/27 season celebrates the rich sonic kaleidoscope of American composers past and present.You’ll feel it all: from the boundless optimism of Joan Tower’s Made in America, a work for which the Nashville Symphony’s recording received our first GRAMMY® Award in 2008, to the solemn strains of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings marking the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001. 

Opening Weekend: An American Celebration

Shermerhorn Symphony Center

The Richmond Symphony’s Sound of the City Gala Concert celebrates the artists, influences, and musical traditions that continue to shape Richmond’s creative spirit.

Conducted by Naima Burrs and featuring guest artists Desirée Roots, Russell Wilson, Eddie Sundra, Marcus Tenney, Morgan Burrs, Corey Fonville, Andrew Randazzo, and Sam Fribush, the evening moves through jazz, swing, soul, funk, and orchestral collaborations inspired by the evolving sound of American music.

Sound of the City Gala Concert

Dominion Energy Center

Los Angeles Ballet makes its Hollywood Bowl debut, teaming up with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the first time ever, in a program of orchestral and dance delights. LAB’s Artistic Director Melissa Barak choreographs a new ballet set to Gabriela Ortiz’s Kauyumari—a spiritual and celebratory piece about music’s power to heal, transform, and expose the intangible. LAB dancers also take on Balanchine’s jazzy choreography, described as “tap dance on pointe,” from the 1970 ballet of Gershwin songs titled Who Cares?

Los Angeles Ballet at the Bowl

Hollywood Bowl

The Festival Strings Lucerne and Daniel Dodds are tying together a delightful garland of the loveliest melodies and dances from the New World in keeping with this summer’s theme, “American Dreams.” Though the program begins with a Czech composer — Antonín Dvořák, with the vibrant and feather-light Scherzo from his Serenade for Strings — it fits perfectly, since Dvořák was the “midwife” who helped American music discover its own identity. The African American composer Florence Price carries his musical language forward: her touching Andante cantabile goes straight to the heart. Also on board is the “Bad Boy of Music,” George Antheil, with a cheeky Allegro from his First Serenade. John Corigliano sends us traveling toward a better world filled with pleasure and brightness in his sonorous Voyage, inspired by Charles Baudelaire’s famous poem L’Invitation au voyage. George Gershwin enchants with a gentle lullaby, and Leonard Bernstein invites us to waltz. And how to top all that? With the Hoe-Down from Aaron Copland’s ballet Rodeo, of course — a square dance in classic country style.

Festival Strings Lucerne | Daniel Dodds | Karl-Heinz Schütz

The program, inspired by the spirit of America250, celebrates the diverse musical traditions and voices that have shaped our nation artistically. Featuring works by American composers, this free outdoor concert offers something for audiences of all ages. Whether you’re a lifelong concertgoer or discovering the orchestra for the first time, you will enjoy this unforgettable concert.

Pops in the Park

Quiet Waters Park

Downs Park

Of the People closes Litha Symphony’s 2026 season with a celebration of the composers who defined the American orchestral voice. From the sparkling wit of Bernstein's Candide Overture to the jazz-infused brilliance of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and the monumental power of Copland's Symphony No. 3, the program captures the bold spirit and cultural richness of American music.

Of the People

Church of the Holy Apostles

Gershwin’s Night

Chiaramonte Steri Palace

What does America sound like? Perhaps like Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin’s early stroke of genius. Just listen to the opening clarinet solo with its long, swooping glissando and you immediately picture the Statue of Liberty, Manhattan, Broadway, or a smoky New York jazz club. Born in 2001, Alexander Malofeev – Russian by birth and now based in Berlin — will perform this “greatest hit” with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra.

Lucerne Symphony Orchestra | Michael Sanderling | Alexander Malofeev

This ensemble is a true cult favorite. When the brass players of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra gather around trumpeter Reinhold Friedrich and trombonist Jörgen van Rijen to form a brass band, the atmosphere reaches fever pitch in no time at all. All the more so at this summer’s appearance, which is devoted to the theme of “American Dreams.” Gershwin's Strike Up the Band injects an irresistible jolt of swing and high spirits.

Lucerne Festival Orchestra 4 Soloists and Brass Ensemble of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra

The National Symphony Orchestra makes its first appearance at the Hollywood Bowl, ever, under Music Director Gianandrea Noseda, celebrating the multitudes contained within the idea of America.

Gershwin, Bernstein & More

When the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra comes to Gustav Adolfs Torg, an evening of music awaits, spanning different eras and worlds. The programme ranges from Gershwin’s Summertime and Piazzolla’s Buenos Aires to Hugo Alfvén’s The Herdmaiden’s Dance. The evening continues with Stravinsky’s The Firebird and concludes with Ravel’s Boléro, as the music gradually builds to a powerful crescendo. The concert also marks Andrés Orozco-Estrada’s first appearance as Chief Conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Trumpeter Ellinor Bengtson performs as soloist.

From the Firebird to Boléro

Gustav Adolfs torg

Conducted by the National Symphony Orchestra’s music director Gianandrea Noseda, the orchestra celebrates American composers and musical contributions to film, Broadway, and opera. Experience the unique musical-visual project that’s sweeping the nation with composer Peter Boyer’s American Mosaic paired with Americana photo historian Joe Sohm’s stunning imagery from across all 50 states. Afterwards, enjoy classic renditions of works from Bernstein’s beloved West Side Story and witty operetta Candide, plus Gershwin’s lively, jazz-influenced score of An American in Paris.

Gershwin, Bernstein & American Mosaic

Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts

Go West! To open the summer Festival, Riccardo Chailly and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra explore a range of “American Dreams.” First up is George Gershwin, who fused classical music and jazz so brilliantly that the old divide between highbrow and popular music simply falls away. His snappy Cuban Overture, inspired by a visit to Havana, practically dances on rumba rhythms. In contrast, his grand Concerto in F — which Chailly considers “the first American piano concerto” — takes its cues from the Charleston and the blues. Gershwin called its finale “a rhythmic orgy”: the perfect showcase for a boundary-pushing artist like the 34-year-old Frank Dupree, with his overflowing energy and infectious joy in performance.

Lucerne Festival Orchestra | Riccardo Chailly | Frank Dupree | soloists of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO)

A first for the Festival: our new Executive and Artistic Director, Sebastian Nordmann, kicks off the Summer Festival by inviting everyone to a big party – free of charge. In the Concert Hall of the KKL Luzern, Riccardo Chailly and the fabulous Lucerne Festival Orchestra will set the mood with Gershwin and Bernstein, rumba and mambo – the perfect prelude to an unforgettable Cuban Night. Afterward, you can head over directly to the open-air “Classical Music for All” concert on the Europaplatz.

Lucerne Festival Orchestra | Riccardo Chailly | soloists of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO)

Lucerne Festival

The exceptional National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America performs three vibrant 20th-century masterpieces. These talented young musicians are joined by Festival regular, American conductor Karina Canellakis, praised by Gramophone for her ‘finesse and fire’.

Gershwin & Bartók

Usher Hall

Ask any music lover to name an important American orchestral work, and there’s a good chance the answer will be George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Originally written for Paul Whiteman’s jazz orchestra with solo piano in 1924, the piece entered the concert music repertoire in a plush arrangement by Ferde Grofé—but it’s the lean, stripped-down original that best illustrates Gershwin’s groundbreaking synthesis of classical music’s disciplined elegance and the swinging spontaneity of jazz. Countless composers since Gershwin’s day have incorporated elements of jazz in their works: Aaron Copland’s bluesy trumpet in Quiet City, William Bolcom’s buoyant bounce, the brass swagger and driving pulse of John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine. And the improvising violinist and composer Mads Tolling, formerly of Turtle Island String Quartet, show with his bluesy concerto Yggdrasil that classical music and jazz continue to make a potent pairing.

Rhapsody in Blue: Music From The City

Southern Vermont Arts Center

Making his Festival debut, Kedrick Armstrong conducts the Grant Park Orchestra in Gershwin’s jaunty An American In Paris. Experience the propulsive energy of Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s Sinfonietta No. 1 and Duke Ellington’s The Three Black Kings alongside Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s lyrical Violin Concerto with soloist Gabriela Lara, an alumna of the Festival’s String Fellowship program.

Gershwin An American in Paris

Harris Theater for Music and Dance

Gabriela Lara | Grant Park Music Festival

Hailed as "the preeminent modern dance organization of our time" by none other than Yo-Yo Ma, Mark Morris Dance Group returns to Caramoor with its signature blend of wit, grace, and profound musicality. Morris, celebrated as the most musical of living choreographers, treats the audience to a feast for eyes and ears. This performance captures the sheer joy and human authenticity that make this company an enduring treasure.

Mark Morris Dance Group

Venetian Theater at Caramoor

Close the season on the grand piano with pianist Stewart Goodyear taking center stage. Featuring Goodyear’s own genre-blending works—offering a sneak peek of an upcoming WCO recording—this program builds toward one of the most iconic pieces in American music: Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Jazz-inflected, virtuosic, and unforgettable, it’s a piano marathon and a bold and satisfying sendoff to summer on the Square. Learn more about Stewart Goodyear.

Rhapsody Squared

Capitol Square

Dubbed a musician of “probing intellect and open-hearted vision” by The New York Times, Conrad Tao has been playing Gershwin’s 1924 rhapsody with orchestras across the country for nearly two decades. “It’s emblematic of the time and place, but it’s also timeless,” says Tao. “Improvisation is baked into Rhapsody in Blue. There are places in the score where the orchestra rests, and the pianist just takes off. That’s one of the reasons it continues to resonate with audiences today.”

Rhapsody in Blue & Shostakovich

Violinist Elissa Lee Koljonen (’94), guitarist Hao Yang (’22), and cellist Romain-Olivier Gray present a program celebrating America’s 250th anniversary, featuring works by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, George Gershwin, George Rochberg (’48), and others, including a special arrangement of Pat Metheny’s Always and Forever arranged by Curtis guitar faculty member Jason Vieaux.

Gershwin, Corigliano, and more

Curtis Institute of Music

“This composition displays extraordinary talent, for it shows a young composer with aims that go beyond those of his genre, wrestling with a form of which he is far from master. Yet he has expressed himself in a significant and, overall, highly original form… His first theme… is not a mere dance… it is an idea, or several ideas, related and combined in varying and contrasting rhythms that immediately intrigue the listener.” This precise, well-articulated, and, overall, exhilarating critical judgment, expressed by Olin Downes in his review in the New York Times following the first performance of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue at the Aeolian Concert Hall on February 12, 1924, is an important testament to the great success that this composition, an experimental work that seamlessly blends jazz and the great European symphonic tradition, has enjoyed and continues to enjoy among a very wide audience, despite the passage of more than a century. The work fit perfectly with the plan of Paul Whiteman, director of the Palais Royal Orchestra in New York, to elevate the quality of jazz music by incorporating elements of the European symphonic tradition. To this end, he organized an experimental concert whose program included, along with works by composers of the classical tradition such as Purcell ,  Schoenberg ,  Bartók, and Hindemith, works by Gershwin himself, Kern, and Berlin, composers of light music. The concert, performed by French-Canadian singer Eva Gauthier at the Aeolian Concert Hall on November 1, 1923, was so successful that Whiteman asked Gershwin to write a piece for piano and jazz band that blended jazz with classical symphony. Thus was born Rhapsody in Blue , the music for which was composed in a very short time between the end of 1923 and January 1924. The orchestration was handled by Ferde Grofé, who wrote the score simultaneously with the composition of the music he gradually received from the composer. The historic premiere, attended by important figures of the New York cultural world, such as Heifetz, Kresler, Sousa, Stravinsky, and Rachmaninov, was a huge success for the very young composer, who from that moment on established himself on the world music scene. From a formal point of view, Rhapsody in Blue avrebbe dovuto essere, almeno nelle intenzioni del committente, un concerto di musica jazz, ma, sebbene la presenza di uno strumento solista, il pianoforte, avvicinasse la composizione a questa forma, il titolo faceva pensare piuttosto a un lavoro in un unico movimento di carattere rapsodico, quindi, di struttura irregolare e, per certi aspetti, improvvisata. Tutti i temi, complessivamente cinque, secondo quanto evidenziato da David Schiff, sono presentati nelle prime 14 misure ed evidenziano la straordinaria fantasia di Gershwin che, a proposito di questo suo lavoro, ebbe modo di manifestare le impressioni uditive e immaginifiche che sembravano scaturire non già dalla creatività di un solo compositore ma dalla sorgente nazionale e popolare della musica americana. Ecco le sue parole: “La udii come una sorta di multicroma fantasia, un caleidoscopio musicale che venisse dal nostro paese, da quel crogiolo di razze e di costumi, da quella incomparabile follia metropolitana che è la sintesi della nostra America”.

Gershwin/Bernstein

area archeologica contrada stretto

Ciminna - Piazza Matrice

Teatro Pollina

Academy Park

For years, our summer concert at Kleinhans Music Hall has been a thank you to our Donors and Subscribers. This year, we’re excited to welcome everyone because the BPO loves Buffalo and wants to share the music with the whole community! Led by JoAnn Falletta, this concert features a lively program with pieces the BPO musicians love but rarely perform. Celebrate the music, summer, and the community that makes it all possible!

Patron Appreciation Concert

Kleinhans Music Hall

Clarence Town Park

“Scenes from the City” captures the pulse of urban life, where ambition and restless energy collide in a vivid portrait of modern America. Bernstein’s On the Town bursts with Broadway swagger and jazzy syncopation, tracing the adventures of three sailors on a whirlwind leave in New York City. Gershwin’s An American in Paris rounds out the evening, blending brash city rhythms with lyrical nostalgia in a soundscape that feels cosmopolitan, exuberant, and unmistakably American.

Scenes from the City

Riverwalk Center

The wind quintet WindSync embraces the classics and the growing contemporary repertoire with a fresh sensibility. Versatile and vibrant, the group plays “many idioms authoritatively, elegantly, with adroit technique, and with great fun” (All About the Arts). In the span of one performance, they can cover vast musical ground from revitalized standards to freshly inked works to folk and songbook, the common thread telling a compelling story about music history and our human selves.

Bronze Medalist at the 2025 Van Cliburn Competition, American pianist Evren Ozel has won numerous honors and awards; most recently Evren was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2023. Other accolades include second prize and special prizes for Best Mazurka and Best Polonaise at the 2020 U.S. National Chopin Competition, first prize at the 2016 Boston Symphony Concerto Competition, second prize and the Mozart and Chopin special prizes at the 2018 Dublin International Piano Competition, second prize at the 2016 Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition, and scholarships from the U.S Chopin Foundation and Young Arts Foundation.

WindSync with EVREN OZEL, piano

Maverick Concert Hall

North Park Community School #50

North Park Community School PS #50

Curtis on Tour in Siasconset, Nantucket, MA

Siasconset Casino Association

CMS’s summer tradition returns for its 11th year. Get the summer’s hottest ticket, featuring favorite chamber music works in the cool atmosphere of Alice Tully Hall. Stay after the performance and get to know the artists in the lobby with a complimentary glass of wine.

Summer Evenings III 2026

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

The concert begins with Mozart’s Trio in E major, a graceful and lyrical work highlighting his gift for chamber music. From there, the program moves to the Sonata for Violin and Piano by Maurice Ravel, the great French composer of the early 20th century, whose music shimmers with color and atmosphere.

Saratoga Springs, NY

Skidmore College

Join conductor Edwin Outwater, banjo legend Béla Fleck, and the SF Symphony for our annual free Stern Grove Festival concert in San Francisco’s beautiful outdoor amphitheater. Pack a picnic, grab some friends, and relax as the Orchestra fills the summer air with sparkling music.

Stern Grove Festival

San Francisco Symphony

Hailed by The New York Times at its Carnegie Hall debut as “invariably energetic and finely burnished… playing with earthy vigor,” the Grammy Award-winning Catalyst Quartet was founded by the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Organization in 2010. The ensemble  believes in the unity that can be achieved through music and imagine their programs and projects with this in mind, redefining and reimagining the classical music experience.

Catalyst Quartet

Summer Evenings II 2026

Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center

Concert for Unity

Elim Christian Fellowship

Presented with support from Niagara Falls State Park, Beaver Island State Park, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and in-park partner, Montante International.

Beaver Island State Park

Join the National Repertory Orchestra for a star-spangled celebration at Rainbow Park in Silverthorne! This year’s Fourth of July Spectacular commemorates our nation’s 250th and Colorado’s 150th anniversaries with A Star-Spangled 250, led by the one conductor uniquely suited to bring the scale, spirit, and celebration of this moment to life—Carl Topilow.

This free outdoor concert is a family-friendly event filled with music, fun, and patriotic spirit—an NRO tradition that brings the community together for an unforgettable Independence Day experience. Families will enjoy the NRO Instrument Petting Zoo, where kids can explore different instruments and get hands-on musical fun. Wear your red, white, and blue, and soak in the festive atmosphere with friends, neighbors, and music lovers of all ages.

Fourth of July Spectacular (Silverthorne)

Rainbow Park

Christopher Bell conducts the Grant Park Orchestra in this annual Chicago tradition. The family-friendly celebration includes patriotic favorites alongside Gershwin’s Three Preludes with principal clarinetist Dario Brignoli and Carlos Gardel’s Tango (Por Una Cabeza) with concertmaster Jeremy Black.

Independence Day Salute

Millennium Park

The love for music is in Czech genes. There is good reason for the saying: Every Czech is a musician. Czech musicians are rightly considered to be the absolute best in the interpretation of classical music in the world. Do you want to meet them live?Come to a concert of the Prague Music Orchestra chamber ensemble, which originated in the beginning of the 21st century and is one of the most renowned Czech musical ensembles today. It is distinguished by a unique, cultivated sound and it is a representative of highly appreciated interpretation art.

Composer

George Gershwin

Events

Upcoming events

Oct 29, 2026 - Apr 22, 2027

Grand Rapids, MI · Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Nov 7, 2026

Postcards from America · National Philharmonic

Nov 7, 2026

Gershwin's An American In Paris · Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Nov 7, 2026

Gershwin's An American In Paris · Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Nov 7, 2026

Tine Thing Helseth & Friends: The Boulangerie · Southbank Centre

Past events

Nov 1, 2026

Sorcery, Magic & Fireworks · Worthing Symphony Orchestra

Oct 29, 2026 - Apr 22, 2027

Grand Rapids, MI · Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

About

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