CBSO: Kazuki Conducts Rhapsody In Blue

Wed 21 Jan 2026 View Venues, Dates & Times

Rhapsody In Blue, widely considered to be one of the great American masterpieces of classical music, is also one of the most hastily composed, with George Gershwin setting about producing it a mere 36 days before its premiere. 

His reason for working at such a frenetic pace? He didn’t even know he was supposed to be writing it!...
While relaxing one night with his brother, Ira, and lyricist Buddy DeSylva, he found out from a newspaper that he was apparently contributing to a concert of all-new music which was being performed five weeks later to celebrate the anniversary of former president Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.

And so Gershwin set to work on what was to become one of the most celebrated symphonic pieces of the 20th century... 

The pianist for this Symphony Hall performance of the work is Stewart Goodyear... 

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