American Roots

Centered on George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, performed by Piano Cleveland Artistic Director Yaron Kohlberg, this program explores the common roots of American music in ragtime, Broadway, and jazz. Also in celebration of the 100th anniversary of John Coltrane’s birth, CityMusic will premiere a new arrangement of his seminal work A Love Supreme, commissioned by CityMusic from David Balakrishnan of the Turtle Island Quartet. William Grant Still’s The Black Man Dances, commissioned by Paul Whiteman contemporaneously with Rhapsody in Blue, will receive its second performance at these concerts, which are rounded out with selected rags by Scott Joplin and Gershwin’s Girl Crazy Overture. Grammy-winning conductor John McLaughlin Williams will lead these concerts.