Muskingum News

The Muskingum Valley Symphonic Winds will present “Love and Gershwin” on Sunday, Feb. 11 at 3 p.m. in Muskingum University’s Brown Chapel. The concert intertwines Valentine’s Day and a tribute to American composer George Gershwin.

Opening the concert is Gordon Jacob’s “William Byrd Suite,” a setting of Elizabethan keyboard works freely transcribed for winds. These delightful pieces are followed by a powerful work from Richard Wagner’s opera Lohengrin, “Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral.” After intermission, the program turns to the music of American composer and pianist George Gershwin. “An American in Paris” is a work inspired by Gershwin’s time in Paris and evokes the energy of the French capital during the 1920s. The centerpiece of the program is a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Gershwin’s masterwork “Rhapsody in Blue,” performed by Muskingum faculty pianist Harsha Abeyaratne, Associate Professor of Music, and Director of Keyboard Studies. Gershwin wrote that the musical inspiration of this work coming to him while on a train journey to Boston, and that he heard the piece as a sort of “musical kaleidoscope of America, and of our metropolitan madness.”

The Muskingum Valley Symphonic Winds exists as a partnership with Muskingum University and is comprised of local amateur and professional musicians, as well as Muskingum students, faculty, and staff. The Symphonic Winds receives funding from the Ohio Arts Council. The Symphonic Winds is conducted by David Turrill, Muskingum Associate Professor of Music and Director of Bands.

The concert is free and open to the public, but donations will be accepted at the door. For more information, contact the Muskingum Department of Music at 740-826-8095 or music@muskingum.edu.