Kenneth Kiesler, conductor
Logan Skelton, piano

Pre-concert lecture at 7:15 PM in the lower lobby.

The University Symphony Orchestra performs dance--inspired music by Gershwin and Rachmaninoff. In Gershwin’s Cuban Overture, originally entitled Rhumba, Cuban percussion instruments and Caribbean rhythms evoke the sounds and atmosphere of Gershwin’s visit to Cuba. With its famous opening clarinet slide, swagger and charm, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue springs from the America of the Roaring Twenties and crosses the tracks between the jazz and popular song of New York’s Tin Pan Alley and the classical realm of Carnegie Hall. U-M faculty member, Logan Skelton, who recently played Gershwin’s Concerto in F with the USO returns as piano soloist. The program continues with Rachmaninoff's virtuosic and colorful Symphonic Dances, a suite of 3 dances which balances Rachmaninoff’s lush melodies, colorful harmonies, and energetic rhythms with Russian church music. It also features one of the most famous and lyrical saxophone solos in the orchestral repertoire. As the last piece he composed for orchestra, Symphonic Dances sums up Rachmaninoff’s style, with its innovation as well as its nostalgia for the Russia of the past.

PROGRAM:
Gershwin - Cuban Overture, Rhapsody in Blue
Rachmaninoff - Symphonic Dances