2018 is the year of the 120th anniversary of the birth of renowned American composer andpianist George Gershwin. The European Foundation for Support of Culture, assisted by the
Marrucino Theatre (Italy), ArtEnsemble (Italy) and supported by the Fondazione Immagine
Foundation, is organizing a commemorative concert to mark this memorable occasion.
The artistic formation and heyday of Gershwin coincided with the “jazz age”, the period of the 1920s and 1930s in the U.S.A. That environment had a major impact on the composer who strived to express through music the very spirit of his time and of the American nation.
The year 1924 saw the performance of one of the best compositions of Gershwin – “Rhapsody in Blue’, written for piano and symphonic orchestra. The composer himself played the piano part at the premiere. This new work evoked great interest in the US music community. S. Rachmaninoff, F.Kreisler, J.Heifetz, L.Stokovsky attended the debut performance, which was a great success. On March 3, to pay tribute to the great Gershwin, the Marrucino Theatre in the Italian city of Chieti, will host a celebratory performance with the Academia Saxophone Quartet, whose members are Gaetano Di Bacco, professor at the Conservatoire in Pescara; Enzo Filippetti, professor at the Santa Cecilia Music Conservatoire in Rome; Giuseppe Berardinis, professor at the Music Conservatoire in L’Aquila and Fabrizio Poletti, professor at the Music Conservatoire in Udine. Pianist Maria Tzulimova, winner of numerous national and international contests, will present “Rhapsody in Blue’.