The Vermont Youth Orchestra has joined a nationwide effort to commemorate the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue by premiering a new piano concerto in all 50 states.
Youth musicians will accompany visiting pianist Jeffrey Biegel in the Vermont premiere of Peter Boyer’s Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue as part of the VYO’s season finale concert on Sunday, May 4, at the Flynn in Burlington. The new work offers “a fantastic opportunity for our musicians to explore contemporary classical music with a renowned soloist,” Vermont Youth Orchestra Association music director Mark Alpízar said in a prepared statement.
Biegel, 63, and the student orchestra will also perform Rhapsody in Blue.
“I can’t think of a more fun piece to play,” Alpízar told Seven Days of what is considered Gershwin’s best-known work.
Bandleader Paul Whiteman asked the American composer to create a jazz concerto for a February 1924 concert called “An Experiment in Modern Music” in New York City. Legend has it that Gershwin forgot his obligation until seeing a newspaper article about the concert in January. He composed the work in three weeks.
“It’s an iconic piece of music, Rhapsody in Blue, because it reflects the world,” said Biegel, who teaches at the Conservatory of Music of Brooklyn College. Blending jazz and classical elements, the piece represents immigrants and the impact America made on them, he added. “So you’ll hear ethnic dances in there. You’ll hear ragtime and also tips of the hat to classical composers Beethoven and Prokofiev … It’s very much a melting pot.”
To celebrate the composition’s centennial, Biegel collected money to commission Boyer, a 55-year-old Grammy-nominated California composer, to produce a new work. Boyer’s compositions have received over 800 public performances by more than 300 orchestras, with Ellis Island: The Dream of America considered his major work. He has contributed orchestrations to more than 35 feature film scores.
Biegel embarked on a mission to play Boyer’s Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue with an orchestra in every state. He kicked off the tour with the Utah Symphony in June 2023 and has been performing with a wide range of orchestras: community, university, mid-level and top-tier ensembles.
Vermont is the 34th state to host a premiere, and the VYO is among just three youth orchestras on the roster. Young musicians “have fresh energy and adrenaline and excitement, and I wanted them to be part of this process of bringing new music into the world,” Biegel said.
The 74-member VYO includes high school students and three middle schoolers from across Vermont and upstate New York. They will have three rehearsals with Biegel, the same number a professional orchestra would get before performing with a visiting artist, said Alpízar, 39.
The concert, “American Rhapsody,” marks the farewell performance for 29 seniors. The featured senior soloist, South Burlington High School violinist Emma Xia, 17, will perform the first movement from Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in E Minor.
Rounding out the program are Chen Yi’s Ge Xu (Antiphony) and Florence Price’s Dances in the Canebrakes.
Boyer’s Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue keeps the VYO on the cusp of current trends, Alpízar said. The cinematic work feels very American, Biegel added, with a Charleston dance rhythm that reflects Gershwin. Yet the piece doesn’t sound like anything Gershwin wrote, he continued.
“There’s a little jazz-combo section, and then there’s a beautiful, slow, lyrical section, which I call the heart of the piece,” Biegel said. “Then he ends it in a very big, flamboyant way, like fireworks.”