Gershwin, Bernstein and Martin
This event has already happened
This event took place on Wednesday 5 July 2023.
- Wednesday 5 July 2023
- Cadogan Hall
Gershwin, Bernstein and Martin
Wed 5 Jul 2023
Need to know
Repertoire
- Bernstein On the Town: Three Dance Episodes
- Martin Lim Fantasy of Companionship for Piano and Orchestra
- Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue
- Gershwin An American in Paris
Features
- Robert Ziegler Conductor
- Mark Bebbington Piano
- London Voices Choir
- Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Who can mistake the thrilling, sliding, bluesy clarinet opening of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue? Tonight you can hear that fabulous piece alongside three other cutting edge works.
Looking for a follow up to the huge success of Rhapsody in Blue, Gershwin was inspired by the sound of Parisian traffic, Gershwin took his friend to car shops to buy actual car horns which he took home and used in his “rhapsodic ballet” An American in Paris. Premiered in New York in 1928 it was later featured in as a ballet in Gene Kelly’s Academy Award-winning film of the same name.
Bernstein’s On The Town also started life as a ballet which was met with such acclaim that it spawned a whole musical. This is another love letter to a city – New York. Filled with the pulsating energy of the big Apple, lust and love, Bernstein’s lush music is infectious.
The Lim Fantasy of Companionship for Piano and Orchestra opens with the same sense of mystical Broadway glamour and is an engaging and heartfelt work with a virtuosic solo part for pianist Mark Bebbington. Exploring the intersection between technology and music, Manu Martin is innovating just as Gershwin and Bernstein did before him when they blurred the lines between jazz, Broadway and the symphony orchestra.
“The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra truly played to an extremely high standard under Ziegler’s baton”
Bachtrack
The RPO gratefully acknowledges the support of leading partner
