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Ira Gershwin artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music
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.
()NPR's Susan Stamberg continues her series on the meaning of "home" with the story of "Over the Rainbow," from the 1939 film classic The Wizard of Oz. The song that became Judy Garland's signature tune tells of longing to escape home for a more exciting place. Of course, as anyone who's watched the movie knows, Garland's Dorothy realizes there's no place like home. Hear different versions of the song.
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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.
()— NPR's Susan Stamberg remembers baritone Todd Duncan, who created the role of Porgy in Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess."
()As part of NPR's examination of the 100 most important American musical works, Jeff Lunden has an appreciation of Porgy and Bess. The opera is based on a story by DuBose Heyward and was set to music by George and Ira Gershwin. It was first performed in October 1935 and met with mixed reviews.
()![Star Is Born [Prism]](http://media.npr.org/images/amg/pop/cov75/drh000/h023/h02307svten.jpg)
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