Herbie Hancock, Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil Celebrate Gershwin, featuring that classic piece as well as “An American in Paris” and Hancock’s unique improvisation on the great standard “Someone to Watch Over Me,” airs on THIRTEEN’s Great Performances Friday, January 6 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).

Watch a preview:

Since his early teens, Gershwin had been enamored with the music he heard uptown in Harlem, quickly becoming the center of the jazz universe. His first attempt at a serious composition, the mini-opera Blue Monday, a story about characters in a Harlem nightclub was a flop and received only one performance.

Upon seeing the opera, band leader Paul Whiteman was enthused enough to commission Gershwin to write a concert piece in the jazz idiom for a program of American music, and Gershwin, was emboldened to take it on. As he later explained, “I heard it as a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America – of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our metropolitan madness.”

Rhapsody was introduced on February 12, 1924, with the composer as soloist in Ferde Grofé’s orchestration for jazz band. The piece made an indelible mark on the history of American music, on the fraternity of serious composers and performers – many of whom were present at the premiere – and on Gershwin himself, for its enthusiastic reception encouraged him to other and more serious projects.

It was a trip to Paris that inspired Gershwin to work in earnest on a recent commission he had received from the New York Philharmonic, one that would capture in music the tumult of Paris’ streets with their distinctive taxi horns, and create a concert work that didn’t center on the piano.

Back in New York, Gershwin finished An American in Paris, which he subtitled “A Tone Poem for Orchestra.” In an interview in the August 18, 1928 edition of Musical America, he said of the work: “this new piece, really a rhapsodic ballet, is the most modern music I have ever attempted.” He also gave a brief “program note” of the work:

An American in Paris was wildly successful with audiences – and Hollywood – and established Gershwin as an original voice in concert halls worldwide, a voice that resonates to this day.

“Someone to Watch Over Me” was composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin for the musical Oh, Kay! (1926), where it was introduced by British star Gertrude Lawrence. It has been performed by numerous artists in both popular and jazz versions.
The Los Angeles Times noted admiringly, “The L.A. Philharmonic is noted for its flexibility, and the solo riffs were jazzy, authentic and unself-conscious, all of which is a real rarity in the symphonic world.”

Concurrently serving as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (his third season), the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, Dudamel’s musical leadership spans three continents.

Beyond the forty-three weeks of his yearly schedule, he also guest conducts with a few of the world’s greatest orchestras each season. This season he returns to the Vienna Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic, along with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in Paris and the Israel Philharmonic. He also returns to La Scala, where he regularly conducts, for a performance of Mahler Symphony No. 2.

Herbie Hancock is a true icon of modern music. Throughout his explorations, he has transcended limitations and genres. His illustrious career has spanned five decades and 14 Grammys, including Album of the Year for River: The Joni Letters.

Hancock also maintains a thriving career outside the performing stage and recording studio. Recently named by the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Creative Chair for Jazz, he currently also serves as Institute Chairman of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, and he’s a founder of The International Committee of Artists for Peace. Hancock was made a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in July of 2011.

In 2010, Hancock released the critically-acclaimed, multiple Grammy-winning CD, Herbie Hancock’s The Imagine Project. Utilizing the universal language of music to express its central themes of peace and global responsibility, the ‘Imagine’ project features a stellar group of musicians.

Herbie Hancock, Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil Celebrate Gershwin is a production of THIRTEEN in association with WNET, Bernard Fleisher Moving Images, WDR in cooperation with ARTE, Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, and C Major.

Great Performances is funded by The National Endowment for the Arts, the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, Vivian Milstein, Jody and John Arnhold, The LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, The Starr Foundation, the Filomen M. D’Agostino Foundation, the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, public television viewers, and PBS.

Herbie Hancock, Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil Celebrate Gershwin is directed by Enrique Sanchez Lansch. Producer: Bernhard Fleischer. Producer for WDR/ARTE: Lothar Mattner. For Great Performances, John Walker is producer; Bill O’Donnell is series producer; David Horn is executive producer.

The eclectic, crowd-pleasing program is set to include Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in C major, Op. 56, performed by Ax, Ma, and Shaham, a selection of Duke Ellington songs – including “Solitude,” “Sophisticated Lady,” “On a Turquoise Cloud,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing” — performed by McDonald, and full performances of Antonin Dvořák’s Carnival Overture and George Gershwin’s An American in Paris.

Carnegie Hall 120th Anniversary Concert — featuring the works of Ludwig von Beethoven, Duke Ellington, Antonin Dvořák, and George Gershwin — will air as part of Great Performances on Tuesday, May 31, 2011 from 8-9:30 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings).

Great Performances is a production of THIRTEEN for WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media partners.

The eclectic, crowd-pleasing program is set to include Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in C major, Op. 56, performed by Ax, Ma, and Shaham, a selection of Duke Ellington songs – including “Solitude,” “Sophisticated Lady,” “On a Turquoise Cloud,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing” — performed by McDonald, and full performances of Antonin Dvořák’s Carnival Overture and George Gershwin’s An American in Paris.

Dvořák conducted his Carnival Overture with the Boston Symphony at Carnegie Hall when he came to New York to assume his post as director of the National Conservatory of Music on October 21, 1892.

Gershwin’s An American in Paris was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, and conducted by Walter Damrosch in the New York premiere on December 13, 1928 at Carnegie Hall. (The concert hall was the home base of the New York Philharmonic until the orchestra moved to its current location at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall in 1962.)

Ellington played his first historic Carnegie Hall concert on January 23, 1943, beginning an extraordinary series of concerts there of his long-form works.

In the late 1800’s, New York City was emerging as an international capital, and composers were flourishing in the classical world. In 1891, Carnegie Hall, founded by industrialist and entrepreneur Andrew Carnegie, opened its doors as simply “Music Hall” on May 5, 1891 with none other than Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducting. It was renamed “Carnegie Hall” in 1893 when Carnegie allowed the use of his name and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962.

Carnegie Hall 120th Anniversary Concert is a co-production of Carnegie Hall and THIRTEEN for WNET.  For Great Performances, John Walker, Cara Cosentino, and Mitch Owgang are producers; Bill O’Donnell is series producer; and David Horn is executive producer. It will be directed for television by Brian Large.

Major funding for the Great Performances telecast is provided by The National Endowment for the Arts, The Anna Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, the Arlene and Milton D. Berkman Philanthropic Fund, The Lillian Goldman Programming Endowment, Victor and Sono Elmaleh, Vivian Milstein, the Starr Foundation, the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, and Joseph A. Wilson, with additional funding in memory of Virginia and Leonard Marx.

The television broadcast of this concert is supported by S. Donald Sussman, with additional support to Carnegie Hall from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Producer: Anu Krishnan
Production Assistant: Diana Cofresí-Terrero
Copy Editor: Leslie Kriesel
HTML Implementation Assistance: Brian Santalone
Director of Production: Daniel B., Greenberg
Director of Digital Strategy: David Hirmes
Creative Director: Nicholas Miller
Technical Director: Brian Lee

GREAT PERFORMANCES Web pages copyright © 2008 Educational Broadcasting Corporation.

Thirteen Online is a production of Thirteen/WNET New York’s Kravis Multimedia Education Center in New York City. Dan Goldman, Executive Director. Bob Adleman, Business Manager.

Television Credits

THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC LIVE FROM NORTH KOREA

Executive Produced & Produced by
Paul Smaczny

Directed by
Michael Beyer

Executive Producers
Tom Baer
Gabrielle Babin Gugenheim
David Horn
Song-Kun Pang

Producers
John Walker
Jean Wittersheim
Hyok-Ki Hong

Line Producer
Oliver Rieger

Director of Photography
Nyika Jancsò

Camera
Martin Baer
Jürgen Clemens
Rolf Gihsa
Eugen Gross
Manuel Lucentini
Andreas Naumann
Karl-Heinz Nitschke
Christian Schulz
Andreas Splett

Technical Director
Hak-Dong Joh
Bok-Yong Chun
Rainer Kampe

Lighting
Si-Woo Eim

Vision Control
Matthias Block
Daniel Düsdieker
Hung-Yong Park

VTR-Operator
Jae-Hyeun Ha

Sound Technician
Frank Mosch
Myung-Jae Lee

Assistant Sound Technician
Yong-Seong Lee

Technical Assistant
Yoon-Keun Kim

Transmission Coordinator
Mostafa Bibak

Assistant Director
Martin Feil

Vision Mixer
Barbara Saxer

Floor Managers
Sabine Koch
Claudia Groh

Assistant to the Producer
Maria Stodtmeier

Production Assistants
Birgit Filimonow
Robert Urmann

Public Relations
Frank Gerdes

Balance Engineers
Toine Mertens
Georg Obermayer

Audio Producer
Christopher Alder

Operations Manager
Martin Hammer

Production Coordinator, MBC
Helena Park

Production Manager, Arte France
Pascal Aron

For Euroarts Documentary Unit
Director
Ayelet Heller

Cameraman
Michael Boomers

Camera Assistant
Andreas Köppen

Production Manager
Alexander Helsing-Hu

For New York Philharmonic
Music Director
Lorin Maazel

President and Executive Director
Zarin Mehta

Director of Public Relations
Eric Latzky

Artistic Administrator
Matías Tarnopolsky

Operations Coordinator
Brendan Timins

Production Consultant for North Korea
Michele A. Balm

For ABC News
Host
Bob Woodruff

Executive Producer
Rudy Bednar

Senior Producer
Ann Reynolds

Director, Foreign News
Chuck Lustig

Producers
Clark Bentson
Margaret Aro
Beth Loyd

Associate Producer
Bryan Taylor

Editors
Sharon Kaufman
Bram Harris
Ruth Iwano
Mike Mongulla
Gina M. Pampinella
Bud Proctor

Camera
Francois Bisson
Jane Hartney

Sound
Magnus Macedo
Giovanni Battista Grimaldi

For THIRTEEN/WNET
Coordinating Producer
Cara Cosentino

Line Producer
Mitch Owgang

Chief Engineer
Frank Graybill

Editors
Scott Lozea
Laura Young

Audio Editor
Jon Berman

Engineering
Jeff Dockendorff
Charlie Kirby
Sean Riordan
Roman Rossell

Production Assistants
Jessica Lacombe
Kristen Sonntag
Michael Weinstein-Reiman

Intern
Shaun Kilroy

Tape Operators
Michael Nickolas
Frank O’Rourke
Kirk Rosario

Transmission Engineer
Nat Tam

Graphic Design
B.T. Whitehill

Business Affairs
Arlen Appelbaum

Director of Program Development
Bill O’Donnell

Executive in Charge of Production
Neal Shapiro

A production of Euroarts Music International in coproduction with Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, Arte France, and Thirteen/WNET New York, in association with New York Philharmonic, and ABC News, in cooperation with European Broadcasting Union

© Euroarts Music and Educational Broadcasting Corporation 2008

The contents of these GREAT PERFORMANCES Web pages are copyrighted under United States and other copyright laws. You may not download, reproduce, transmit, display, distribute or make derivative works from the contents of the GREAT PERFORMANCES Web pages other than for personal use without the advance written permission of the copyright owner. Any unauthorized use of any of the contents of the GREAT PERFORMANCES Online Web pages may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution.

Chris Lee

Lorin Maazel, who has led more than 150 orchestras in more than 5,000 opera and concert performances, became music director of the New York Philharmonic in September 2002. His appointment came 60 years after his debut with the orchestra at Lewisohn Stadium, then the orchestra’s summer venue. As music director, he has conducted seven World Premiere-New York Philharmonic Commissions, including the Pulitzer Prize®- and Grammy Award®-winning “On the Transmigration of Souls” by John Adams; Stephen Hartke’s “Symphony No. 3″; and Melinda Wagner’s “Trombone Concerto.” He has led cycles of works by Brahms and Beethoven, and, in fall 2007, a festival devoted to Tchaikovsky. He also led the orchestra’s inaugural performances in the DG Concerts series, a groundbreaking initiative to offer downloadable New York Philharmonic concerts exclusively on iTunes. Mr. Maazel has taken the orchestra on numerous international tours, including the May 2007 Tour of Europe; the November 2006 visit to Japan and Korea; the Philharmonic Tour of Italy in June 2006, sponsored by Generali; and the two-part 75th Anniversary European Tour to 13 cities in five countries in autumn 2005. Previously, he conducted the Philharmonic on tours to Asia, three Southern U.S. states, and the American Midwest, and in residencies in Cagliari, Sardinia, and the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado.

Mr. Maazel is also music director of two recently created organizations: the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain, and Italy’s Symphonica Toscanini, an orchestra of top young professional players, based in Rome. A frequent conductor on the world’s operatic stages, in January 2008 he returned to The Metropolitan Opera for the first time in 45 years to conduct Wagner’s “Die Walküre.”

Prior to his tenure as New York Philharmonic Music Director, Mr. Maazel led more than 100 performances of the orchestra as a guest conductor. He served as music director of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (1993-2002) and has held positions as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1988-96); general manager and chief conductor of the Vienna Staatsoper (1982-84); music director of The Cleveland Orchestra (1972-82); and artistic director and chief conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (1965-71). He is an honorary member of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic.

A second-generation American, born in Paris, Mr. Maazel was raised and educated in the United States. He took his first violin lesson at age five and his first conducting lesson at seven. Between ages nine and 15 he conducted most of the major American orchestras. In 1953 he made his European conducting debut in Catania, Italy. Mr. Maazel is also an accomplished composer. His opera, “1984,” received its world premiere on May 3, 2005, at London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and will be revived in the 2007-08 season at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia and at Teatro alla Scala in Milan.

Chris Lee

The New York Philharmonic, founded in 1842 by a group of local musicians led by American-born Ureli Corelli Hill, is by far the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States, and one of the oldest in the world. It currently plays some 180 concerts a year, and on December 18, 2004, gave its 14,000th concert — a milestone unmatched by any other symphony orchestra in the world.

Lorin Maazel, who began his tenure as music director in September 2002, is the latest in a distinguished line of 20th-century musical giants that has included Kurt Masur (Music Director from 1991 to the summer of 2002; named Music Director Emeritus in 2002); Zubin Mehta (1978-91); Pierre Boulez (1971-77); and Leonard Bernstein, who was appointed Music Director in 1958 and given the lifetime title of Laureate Conductor in 1969.

Since its inception the orchestra has championed the new music of its time, commissioning or premiering many important works, such as Dvorák’s “Symphony No. 9,” “From the New World”; Rachmaninoff ’s “Piano Concerto No. 3″; Gershwin’s “Concerto in F”; and Copland’s “Connotations,” in addition to the U.S. premieres of works such as Beethoven’s symphonies 8 and 9 and Brahms’ “Symphony No. 4.” This pioneering tradition has continued to the present day, with works of major contemporary composers scheduled each season, including John Adams’ Pulitzer®- and Grammy® Award-winning “On the Transmigration of Souls”; Stephen Hartke’s “Symphony No. 3″; Augusta Read Thomas’ “Gathering Paradise: Emily Dickinson Settings” (for soprano and orchestra); and Esa-Pekka Salonen’s “Piano Concerto.”

The roster of composers and conductors who have led the Philharmonic includes such historic figures as Theodore Thomas, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, AntonÌn Dvor´k, Gustav Mahler (Music Director, 1909-11), Otto Klemperer, Richard Strauss, Willem Mengelberg (Music Director, 1922-30), Wilhelm Furtwängler, Arturo Toscanini (Music Director, 1928-36), Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, Bruno Walter (Music Advisor, 1947-49), Dimitri Mitropoulos (Music Director, 1949-58), Klaus Tennstedt, George Szell (Music Advisor, 1969-70), and Erich Leinsdorf.

The Philharmonic, long a leader in American musical life, has over the last century become renowned around the globe, appearing in 421 cities in 58 countries on five continents, in capitals such as London, Paris, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.

A longtime media pioneer, the Philharmonic began radio broadcasts in 1922 and is currently represented by THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC THIS WEEK — syndicated nationally every week and available on nyphil.org and XM Satellite Radio. The orchestra’s concerts are also broadcast throughout Europe on BBC Radio 3. On television, in the 1950s and ’60s, the Philharmonic inspired a generation through Bernstein’s YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERTS on CBS. Its television presence has continued with annual appearances on LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER on PBS, and in 2003 it made history as the first orchestra ever to perform live on the Grammy® Awards, one of the most-watched television events worldwide. Most recently, the Philharmonic became the first major American orchestra to offer downloadable concerts, recorded live and released by DG Concerts exclusively on iTunes. Since 1917 the Philharmonic has made nearly 2,000 recordings, of which more than 500 are currently available.

Chris Lee

The New York Philharmonic’s historic concert in North Korea’s capital city Pyongyang premieres via satellite, with Music Director Lorin Maazel leading the orchestra in Wagner’s Prelude to Act III of “Lohengrin,” Dvorák’s “Symphony No. 9″ (”From the New World”), and Gershwin’s “An American in Paris.” Opening with the national anthems of North Korea and the United States, the program will be transmitted from the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre, with behind-the-scenes coverage by Bob Woodruff of ABC News. The network has had rare access inside the closed society of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, where contact with the outside world is completely forbidden to citizens. The Philharmonic visit marks the first by American artists there. “I have always felt that music is a powerful language,” says Maestro Maazel, “in which those of us who are humane and intelligent can speak to each other, in defiance of political and cultural boundaries.” The concert is the centerpiece of a 48-hour visit to Pyongyang by the Philharmonic.

Find additional details about the New York Philharmonic, founded in 1842 and one of the oldest orchestras in the world, in the profile. Before becoming its music director, Lorin Maazel led the ensemble in more than 100 performances as a guest conductor. Learn more about his career and work with the orchestra in the biography.

Special funding for THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC LIVE FROM NORTH KOREA is provided by the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund and the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust.

Related Web Sites

• The New York Philharmonic
• MaestroMaazel.com
• ABC News: Bob Woodruff
• Wagner Web (in German)
• Carnegie Hall: Listening Adventures: Dvorák’s “Symphony No. 9″
• George & Ira Gershwin