George Gershwin

The Washington National Opera presents George Gershwin's landmark opera, in a performance originally webcast live on NPR.org from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The show also includes interviews with director Francesca Zambello, conductor Wayne Marshall and more.

Fresh off a Grammy nomination for her latest album (Avant Gershwin), the veteran vocalist performs "A Gershwin New Year's Eve," live from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Acclaimed choral master Philip Brunelle presents a varied history of American choral music with his own VocalEssence ensemble. Various members of the Washington, D.C. choral community join to celebrate colonial anthems, the African-American choral tradition, barbershop quartets, and the music of Leonard Bernstein.

Some pure Americana comes from the pen of recent four-time Grammy winner William Bolcom. His "Ragomania" honors jazz great Eubie Blake and Bolcom's idol George Gershwin. Marin Alsop conducts the Aspen Festival Orchestra.

The poetry and lyricism in songs by George Gershwin have universal appeal. The Lark Quartet plays three songs by Gershwin, arranged for string quartet by Stanley Silverman. "He Loves and She Loves," "Do It Again," and "Sweet and Lowdown," with a touch of Ella Fitzgerald.

Rupa Marya was born to Indian parents in San Francisco and raised in the U.S., India, and the South of France. Now she sings in French, Spanish, English, and Hindi while maintaining a career as a physician.

Veteran guitarist Ralph Towner has a unique style of playing, and his compositions are inspired by a wide array of influences, from Bach to Brazil and jazz. Towner plays an original piece, "Anniversary Song," followed by his own arrangement of George Gershwin's "My Man's Gone Now."

The Baltimore Symphony conductor chooses a season of music built on the belief that understanding where we come from, and celebrating diversity, can create a sense of continuity, history and belonging — not to mention some great concerts.

The radio showcase for young musicians hits its 10-year mark and celebrates by checking back with some of its most illustrious alums. They include William Harvey, who played on the pilot edition of From the Top and now heads his own organization, promoting cultural harmony through music.

Leonard Bernstein does full justice to the still racy and spontaneous score of Rhapsody In Blue in this 1959 recording. As both conductor and pianist, he brings a smoky, sultry jazziness to the piece.

You never get a second chance at a first impression, the old adage goes. At the start of the new year, Rob Kapilow describes how it works for composers, who want to set a certain tone from the very opening notes of their works.

Gershwin placed his song "Summertime" at the beginning of his opera Porgy and Bess, and for good reason. Pianist and composer Rob Kapilow demonstrates how, in just a few measures, Gershwin transports the listener into the languid world of Catfish Row.

It's an extraordinarily simple song from a work initially met with indifference. But with summer now at full tilt, George Gershwin's enduring ode to the season is again in the air wherever the living is easy.

Patti Austin is best known as an R&B singer. But on her new album, she reinterprets the American standards of George Gershwin — including the controversial song "Swanee," made famous — and infamous — by Al Jolson.

On this day in 1935, Porgy and Bess, George Gershwin's opera about black life in the South Carolina town of Charleston at the turn of the century, made its Broadway debut. Karen Grigsby Bates offers an appreciation.

At age 25, George Gershwin took only three weeks to compose his most identifiable masterpiece. The episodic and jazzy one-movement piano concerto evokes the hustle and bustle of New York's grand metropolitan aura.

New tracks from 1930s Broadway and radio star Ruby Elzy have been released in a CD called Ruby Elzy in Song: Rare Recordings (1935-1942). Elzy's vocal talents brought her wide acclaim until her tragic death at the age of 35.