
Leeds Philharmonic Chorus
Airedale Symphony Orchestra
John Anderson - conductor
Ian Banks - leader
Sarah Power - soprano
Neil Balfour - bass-baritone
Programme to include:
Gershwin - Porgy & Bess concert version
Gershwin - An American in Paris
Rodgers & Hammerstein - Suite: South Pacific
Kern - Overture: Showboat
Celebrating the very best of American choral and orchestral music, the concert opens with the original overture to the musical Showboat, followed by one of the most famous baritone songs Ol’ Man River, made famous by the great American baritone Paul Robson.
Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess was first performed in Boston in September 1935, before it moved to Broadway in New York City. Despite an initially unpopular public reception, it is now one of the best-known and most frequently performed operas. The concert version, arranged by Robert Russell Bennett, features the very best music from the opera including Summertime and It Ain’t Necessarily So.