Percussionist

Banjo player

Béla Fleck, banjo virtuoso, centennial celebration of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with your SSO.

EPSG:4326

NightLights II Concert – Béla Fleck

Clark State Performing Arts Center

Experience a fresh take on an American classic. Béla Fleck, “arguably the greatest living banjo player in the world” (NPR), marks the centennial of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with a dazzling new banjo transcription of this beloved showpiece. Conductor Brett Mitchell rounds out this all-American evening with orchestral gems by Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Barber, and William Grant Still.

Rhapsody in Blue

Blossom Music Center

Prepare to be mesmerized when four virtuosi present a concert based on their latest album As We Speak. Tabla player Zakir Hussain explains “When we are performing on stage, in composing mode or creating mode, we are basically having a conversation. So the music emerges as we speak.”

Special Event As We Speak with Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer bass, Zakir Hussain tabla, and Rakesh Chaurasia bansuri

Aspen Meadows Resort

16-time Grammy Award-winner Béla Fleck joins the CSO for a celebration of the American sound. Fleck’s reimagining of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue pays homage to the legendary composer while redefining an all-time classic. Contemporaries Florence Price and Aaron Copland did the same in their time, shaping, contextualizing and creating indelible music that feels like it was always here. Copland’s ballet music to Rodeo, featuring the rip-roaring and instantly recognizable "Hoe-Down," became a new soundtrack to the American West. Florence Price, merging traditional African American themes with the latest music of her day, established a singular voice all her own.

Béla Fleck

Percussionist, Banjo player

Events

May 18, 2024

NightLights II Concert – Béla Fleck · Springfield Symphony Orchestra

Jul 6, 2024

Rhapsody in Blue · The Cleveland Orchestra

Jul 17, 2024

Special Event As We Speak with Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer bass, Zakir Hussain tabla, and Rakesh Chaurasia bansuri · Aspen Music Festival

4 - 5 Oct, 2024

Gershwin, Price & Copland · Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Future and recently performed repertoire

Banjo in Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

About

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