Rhapsody in Blue at 100

A century ago, a piercing clarinet glissando opened the premiere performance of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and forever changed American music. The fusion of jazz and popular elements vividly depicted New York City in 1924 and opened unopened possibilities for generations of composers to follow.  Copland fused melodies inspired by American roots music with the European symphonic tradition in his heroic and majestic Third Symphony, featuring the oft-performed Fanfare for the Common Man. GRAMMY®-award winning composer Jessie Montgomery’s Banner interweaves our national anthem with “a variety of cultural anthems, American folk songs and popular idioms” that reflect the diversity and vitality of our 21st century nation.