Crossover Composers

Classical music has been influenced, impacted, and inspired by trends in popular music, especially American jazz. Explore works of composers with interests in both fields, including seminal compositions by George Gershwin, Darius Milhaud, Duke Ellington, Igor Stravinsky, and Wynton Marsalis. While we will devote a full day to Gershwin's seminal and game-changing Rhapsody in Blue, we will also listen to and examine a host of other similar works, many of which may be largely unfamiliar to students. Audio recordings, and live performances from the instructor on a variety of instruments, will make this course as lively as the music itself.