The Philharmonia season openswith John Adams’s Frenzy, which the composer describes as taking a melody “through a hall of mirrors.” Also on the program: a new arrangement of Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet. Conducted by Peter Oundjian, principal conductor and featuring trumpeter Grace O’Connell ’25MM.

EPSG:4326

Romeo & Juliet and John Adams

Yale University

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.

Grace O'Connell

Events

Upcoming events

Aug 6, 2026

Rhapsody in Blue: Music From The City · Manchester Music Festival

Past events

Sep 26, 2025

Romeo & Juliet and John Adams · Yale School of Music

Future and recently performed repertoire

Trumpet in Frenzy by Adams

Yale School of Music

Trumpet in Romeo & Juliet by Prokofiev

Yale School of Music

About

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