We are delighted to share that the University of Maryland’s National Orchestral Institute + Festival (NOI+F) has released a new album of American music featuring our critical edition of George’s Gershwin’s 1928 tone poem, An American in Paris! The album, titled Bernstein, Gershwin and Copland, also includes performances of Leonard Bernstein’s Songfest and Aaron Copland’s An Outdoor Overture under the direction of conductor James Judd. Judd’s performance of An American in Paris offers particular fidelity to the insights gleaned from Gershwin’s 1929 recording of the work that informs our edition. Find or stream this recording and others by the National […]

Sarah and Frances, two undergraduates who joined the Gershwin team through the U-M UROP program, would like to step back and say a word about their journey into the world of research with the Gershwin Initiative over the 2015–16 school year.     What’s UROP, Exactly? UROP, the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, has been introducing undergraduate students to hands-on research experience at U-M for twenty-five years. Through it, students can assist with scholarly research projects alongside U-M professors and faculty, as well as graduate students and undergraduate peers. We, Frances and Sarah, both found a place as research assistants with the […]

Editor-in-Chief Mark Clague was published in Senza Sordino yesterday, the official publication of the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM). His essay is an engaging write-up on the Gershwin Critical Edition, its genesis, its goals, and its current projects. Congrats, Mark!  

A photo uncovered in the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Archive sheds a revealing light on the question of what pitches composer George Gershwin intended to be used for his iconic taxi horn passages in the symphonic tone poem An American in Paris (1928). As described in an article by Michael Cooper in The New York Times as well as on NPR’s All Things Considered, the forthcoming George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition of An American in Paris suggests that the traditional realization of the iconic taxi horn parts used by orchestras today is incorrect. Rather than sounding the pitches A, […]

On February 21 and 23, the Reno Philharmonic gave a test performance of our current drafts for Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris. The response from the orchestra and the audience was fantastic, the performance a success, and our editor-in-chief Mark Clague was able to explore his suspicions about the taxi horn pitches in An American in Paris (see the New York Times article). Here, conductor Laura Jackson provides her own response to the edited scores and considers how the newly reintroduced material fared in performance. Q: Now that the concert is over–and was a huge success–what material did you find you […]

Reno, NV—As editor-in-chief of the Gershwin Critical Edition, I’ve been in Reno this week with fellow editorial board member Ryan Bañagale (Colorado College), working with advisory board member Laura Jackson and her orchestra (the Reno Philharmonic) to test drive our new draft editions of An American in Paris (1928/29) and Rhapsody in Blue (1924, original Whiteman jazz arrangement). We’ve also joined forces with the Donald Sinta Quartet, who are featured as soloists in William Bolcom’s Concerto Grosso for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra, but who also join the Philharmonic to perform the additional saxophone parts required by the new Gershwin editions. […]

It’s now April 2014 and we’re getting hints of Spring everywhere.  Aside from the welcome snowmelt, we’re seeing a little more green in the expanses of lawn across campus, and birds are chirping from the barren trees, claiming territory for the spring rituals of nest building and mating.  What a time of renewal! Such is the experience for the Gershwin Model A as well!  We now have strings!  And new keys! And a new hammer action!  It definitely is rebirth, a remaking of greatness. I visited PianoCrafters on Tuesday, April 1 to inspect the piano with its new strings, keyboard […]

As the newly appointed editor-in-chief of the George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition, I can’t believe my good fortune — to lead the team of scholars charged with the task of restoring and clarifying our understanding of the oeuvre of the Gershwin Brothers. It’s a privilege and honor to take on this responsibility and to contribute my passion for music and research to the task of making the works of George and Ira Gershwin available in full scholarly editions and for the first time. Most surprising to many, however, may be that this work needs to be done at all. […]