Rhapsody in Blue

New Years Eve Pops

Rhapsody in Blue

Ring in the New Year with the SLO Symphony! Pianist Maxim Lando will perform Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, in celebration of its 100th Anniversary, and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The program will also include works from Hollywood icons, including John Wiliams’ acclaimed score from Home Alone, Alan Silvestri’s Polar Express, and Michael Abel’s inspiring Global Warming (named for the warming of cultures, not necessarily the climate). 

The concert begins at 7:30 PM, and we will countdown to the New Year with the East Coast Ball drop at 9 PM.

Tuesday December 31, 2024, 7:30pm

San Luis Obispo Performing Arts Center

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Soloist sponsor: Mark Sherman and Denise Barilla

Program Details

John Williams

Hymn to New England

  • Composed 1987
  • Written as the accompaniment to “New England Time Capsule”
  • Read more

Alan Silvestri

Polar Express Suite

  • Composed 2004
  • Featuring selections from the film score
  • Read more

Williams

Home Alone

  • Composed 1990
  • Featuring selections from the film score
  • Read more

Sergei Prokofiev

Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 10

  • Composed 1912
  • Featuring pianist Maxim Lando
  • Read more

Michael Abels

Global Warming

George Gershwin

Rhapsody in Blue

  • Composed 1924
  • Featuring pianist Maxim Lando
  • Symphonic version orchestrated by Ferde Grofé in 1942
  • Read more

Classical 101:
More About This Program

  • The distinctive clarinet glissando (smooth slide between notes) began as a joke in rehearsal by clarinetist Ross Gorman. Gershwin liked it so much he asked Gorman to perform it that way
  • Ferde Grofé also orchestrated the first version of “Rhapsody in Blue” for Paul Whiteman’s 16-member orchestra in 1924. Listen to the original on YouTube here
  • Michael Abels is the composer for the TV series “Star Wars: The Acolyte”
  • Alan Silvestri played guitar for Wayne Cochran (“The White Knight of Soul”) and the CC Riders
  • Prokofiev’s early life highlights the importance of music education. He was inspired by hearing his mother play Chopin and Beethoven on the piano. The young prodigy composed his first piano piece at age five and his first opera at nine!
  • Abels’ “Global Warming” was inspired by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the thawing of international relations occurring at the time
  • Williams’ “Hymn to New England” was orchestrated by arranger and Boston Pops percussionist Pat Hollenbeck in time for the 1987 premiere with the Boston Pops. According to Hollenbeck, Williams “had other commitments”

What You’ll Hear

Enjoy a preview of what we have in store for you. This curated playlist is available in Apple Music and Spotify. To hear the entire pieces instead of excerpts, log in to your music service account or open the playlist in the app.

Note: Although the recordings of “Home Alone” and “Polar Express” include choir, this concert will not include a choir, unless the audience sings…

About Maxim Lando

American pianist Maxim Lando has been described as a “dazzling fire-eater” (ARTS San Francisco) and “a total musical being” (The New Criterion). He was lauded by Anthony Tommasini in The New York Times as displaying “brilliance and infectious exuberance” combined with “impressive delicacy” and a “wild-eyed danger.”

In addition to being named Musical America’s New Artist of the Month, Maxim has been awarded the 2021/22 Vendome Grand Prize as well as the 2020 Gilmore Young Artist Award. As winner of the Juilliard 2021 Concerto Competition, Maxim made his Alice Tully Hall debut performing with the Juilliard Orchestra led by Xian Zhang, and appeared with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium in a performance of the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 as First Prize Winner in the 2022 New York Franz Liszt International Piano Competition. Recent awards include “Best Chamber Music Album of the Year” at the 2023 International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) for his CD “Into Madness” (recorded by Bavarian Radio on Berlin Classics) with German violinist Tassilo Probst.

First Prize Winner of the 2018 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, Maxim held sold-out recital debuts at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall and the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, which included Liszt’s complete Transcendental Etudes and were hailed by The New York Times as a concert “You Won’t Want To Miss!” The previous year, Maxim made international headlines performing together with Lang Lang, Chick Corea, and The Philadelphia Orchestra led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin at Carnegie Hall’s 2017 Opening Night Gala. The performance led to an inspirational friendship with the late Chick Corea, and subsequent duo performances with Lang Lang included concerts with the Pittsburgh, Toronto, Hawaii, and Vancouver Symphonies and China NCPA Orchestra. As a solo artist, Maxim has made appearances with the Mariinsky Theatre and Russian National Orchestras, Israel and Moscow Philharmonics, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and St. Petersburg Symphony, as well as over 30 additional orchestras across the US and Europe.

Maxim partners frequently with violinist Daniel Hope, and is passionate about chamber music and unusual repertoire. Maxim is an alumnus of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, and studies with long-time mentors Hung-Kuan Chen and Tema Blackstone at The Juilliard School.

Program Notes

John Williams’ “Hymn to New England” was recorded in June 2000 and appears on the American Journey CD released in January 2002. Originally part of a score for the 1989 film project “A New England Time Capsule,” it captures a breathtaking panorama of New England sights. This three-minute concert version is arranged by Paul Lavender.

The 1990 holiday film Home Alone and sequel Home Alone II were both scored by John Williams. “Somewhere in My Memory” and “Merry Christmas” recall joyful remembrances of the holidays.

The “Polar Express Suite” contains songs from the 2004 animated Christmas fantasy adventure film, with music composed by Alan Silvestri. Based on the 1985 children’s book of the same name, written by Chris Van Allsburg, it tells the story of a young boy who sees a mysterious train bound for the North Pole stop outside his window and is invited aboard by its conductor. He joins other children as they embark on a journey to visit Santa Claus.

The Piano Concerto No. 1 in D flat major op. 10 by Prokofiev was first performed in Moscow in 1912. Sergei Prokofiev went on to write four more piano concertos, seven symphonies, piano sonatas, film and ballet scores. The concerto is in one movement divided into three sections: Allegro brioso, Andante assai, and Allegro scherzando.

Pulitzer-prize winning American composer Michael Abels wrote “Global Warming” in 1992 while living in Los Angeles and shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It begins and ends with a duo conversation between solo first violin and solo cello. In between, there are folksy Irish and Indian inflections for solo flute, piccolo, oboe and clarinet, emulating the diverse neighborhood of Los Angeles where Abels was living. To this end, the title’s intended reference was to the warming of global relations, rather than the climate.

We conclude with George Gershwin’s iconic “Rhapsody in Blue.” Written in 1924 for a concert entitled “An Experiment in Modern Music” in New York City, it changed the trajectory of American music. Originally written for Paul Whiteman’s jazz band with Gershwin playing the piano, it was later arranged for a full orchestra by Ferde Grofe, which has become the standard version most often performed.

— Andrew Sewell