Pianist Kevin Cole To Celebrate 100th Anniversary Of Rhapsody In Blue With Naxos Release & More

February 2024 marks the 100th birthday of George Gershwin's jazz piano concerto Rhapsody in Blue. Kevin Cole, revered interpreter of George Gershwin's fusion of classical and popular styles, will celebrate the anniversary with a Naxos release of the work, a performance with the Albany Symphony, and by playing the work on George Gershwin's personal piano at the University of Michigan.

On Friday, February 9, Naxos releases Cole's recordings of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Second Rhapsody with conductor David Alan Miller and musicians from the National Orchestral Institute + Festival, a program of the University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Performing Arts
Center.

Miller remarked on the significance of the project: "Recording these essential Gershwin masterpieces with the brilliant musicians of the National Orchestral Institute and Kevin Cole, the greatest Gershwin interpreter of our time, is a dream come true for me. While Kevin and I have performed these works all over the world, we have never had the privilege of recording them until now, and we are so proud to present them for the very first time restored to their original glory in the University of Michigan's Gershwin Initiative Critical Edition."

On Saturday, February 10, Cole performs Rhapsody in Blue with David Alan Miller and the Albany Symphony at 7:30 p.m. in the Proctors Theater in Schenectady.

On Sunday, February 11, The University of Michigan Gershwin Initiative in partnership with Ann Arbor's landmark Michigan Theater hosts a Gershwin Centennial Celebration Concert at 4:00 p.m. Cole will perform the solo on Rhapsody in Blue on a Steinway grand from Gershwin's Manhattan apartment that was donated to the University of Michigan by the composer's nephew Marc Gershwin. Gershwin used this instrument to compose such musical works as the folk opera Porgy and Bess as well as his I Got Rhythm Variations. The event is free and open to the public, but requires an electronic, general admission ticket (reserve here).

Cole has performed with over 100 orchestras worldwide including sold out performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, BBC Concert Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall, and the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. He is regarded as the foremost interpreter of George Gershwin's piano compositions and the first pianist to play all four of Gershwin's works for piano and orchestra in one concert (Albany Symphony).

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