David Charles Abell conducts American masterpieces

Life, liberty and big, big tunes! Take raw optimism, add endless confidence and a wagon full of swinging melodies, and you’ve got yourself a supersized helping of American music.

And whether we’re hearing the plain-speaking cowboys of Aaron Copland’s Wild West, the high-kicking hustlers of Leonard Bernstein’s Big Apple, or Gershwin tap-dancing through Jazz-age Paris, the thrill is unmistakable. You know the tunes already, but one thing’s for sure: they sound even better performed live, all in honour of the University of Warwick’s 50th anniversary.

David Charles Abell conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the one and only Danny Driver brings all his inimitable flair to Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue: the sassiest, most swinging toast to New York ever composed. So, as we welcome the summer, join Abell and the Orchestra as they lift the roof off the Butterworth Hall with a concert that simply shouts ‘celebration’!

Music ensembles from the University of Warwick will play a set from the American Songbook, and a set from the Warwick Global Songbook to open the concert. Following this, the University of Warwick Symphony Orchestra will perform alongside the RPO during their concert.