In February 1924, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was premiered in New York City, capturing the exuberant essence of what the composer called “a musical kaleidoscope of America—our vast melting pot...”
Coming in 2024, iconoclastic American pianist Lara Downes celebrates the centenary of Gershwin’s masterpiece with a radical new arrangement by the Puerto Rican composer Edmar Colón, one that reverberates with the ever-changing sounds of American life.
1924 was a transformative moment: in the same year that Rhapsody in Blue was first heard, the United States passed an Immigration Act that drastically restricted European immigration but coincidentally opened a pathway for new arrivals from the British West Indies. Among them was Lara’s grandfather, who migrated from Jamaica to Harlem in 1924.
Much as Gershwin’s original composition reflected the diverse sonic world of his time, Colón’s buoyant and joyful new arrangement honors the waves of immigration that have continually transformed the sound of American music. Here, Lara’s own lineage enters into Gershwin’s soundscape with the introduction of Caribbean instruments and rhythms. Subsequent arrivals —- from Central and South America, Asia and all the corners of the globe —- are represented in moments of prismatic color that expand Gershwin’s soundscape to reflect the multicultural, kaleidoscopic sounds of America in our own century.
This re-imagination of a beloved American masterpiece creates a bridge between the past and the present, the known and the new, the timeless and the timely. An American Kaleidoscope will be released on the Pentatone label in 2024 with Downes as soloist alongside a future-forward ensemble of dynamic young musicians from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra and Roots, Jazz and American Music programs led by conductor Edwin Outwater.
INSTRUMENTATION
Piano Solo, strings, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, clarinet & bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, alto saxophone & tenor saxophone, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, timpani, and flexible instrumentation including batá, conga, bongo, shekere, steel pan, guitarrón, pipa, ruan, erhu, and electronics
The instrumentation for this arrangement is flexible, designed to include the participation of regional artists who reflect site-specific musical traditions and community histories.
