The e-mail from Marc Gershwin began with a simple opening: “Dear Bob, I am pleased to let you know that I would definitely like to donate the piano to the U of M.” That’s all I needed to know.  We were going to be the lucky beneficiaries of a major gift; the last one of three pianos owned by George Gershwin, a long Model A Steinway grand piano that he purchased in 1933.  Wow! It wasn’t necessarily a sure thing.  The process began with an inquiry from the dean’s office about whether I knew any appraisers in New York who […]

Nothing quite matches the anticipation of a long-awaited item arriving by mail or UPS or Wells Fargo Wagon…or so goes the sentiment behind the song in “The Music Man” (forgive me the reference to a composition not by George or Ira Gershwin).  But that’s  the feeling I had when the semi truck from Modern Piano Movers pulled in to the Moore Building parking lot of the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance at 8:30 p.m. on April 13, 2013.  It was really “something special” to see that 75-foot vehicle pull in and unload George Gershwin’s prized Model […]

George Gershwin was among the world’s first “Crossover Artists,” a master of not only opera, stage, and screen, but as well, of melding the styles of popular jazz with those more traditionally identified in the symphonic orchestra. As such, his music invites new and fresh interpretation, while still retaining the essence of Gershwin’s own artistic identity. Jazz trumpet professor Bill Lucas leads the project and points out: “As a Symphonic musician with serious jazz roots, it is often difficult to have to play Gershwin’s music within the orchestra, so straight laced, without any of the tools a jazz musician is […]

Gershwin on the Fringe, a set on Flickr. U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance jazz trumpet professor Bill Lucas is in U-M’s Duderstadt Studio this month working on a new project — Gershwin on the Fringe — that taps into the lifeblood of Gershwins’ creativity by bringing a classical brass quintet together with a jazz combo. The resulting CD project will be released this spring with concerts in Ann Arbor and Detroit. Professor Lucas plays both jazz and classical music regularly as he is also a member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Other U-M faculty involved include David Jackson […]

In celebration of George’s 115th birthday this week, I was a guest on Craig Fahle’s radio show on WDET in Detroit. Every time I get to talk about the Gershwin Initiative at the University of Michigan or the new George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition, I get even more excited about the project. Click on the image above or here to listen to the segment on the Web. Thanks go to Craig and WDET for taking the time to celebrate this momentous opportunity.

As the newly appointed editor-in-chief of the George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition, I can’t believe my good fortune — to lead the team of scholars charged with the task of restoring and clarifying our understanding of the oeuvre of the Gershwin Brothers. It’s a privilege and honor to take on this responsibility and to contribute my passion for music and research to the task of making the works of George and Ira Gershwin available in full scholarly editions and for the first time. Most surprising to many, however, may be that this work needs to be done at all. […]

This summer an incredible delivery arrived at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance — George Gershwin’s 1933 Steinway grand piano!!! The composer’s nephew, Marc George Gershwin, was moving from his longtime NYC apartment and the burgeoning collaboration with the University gave him a place to send the instrument—a new home in which the piano would not only be cherished but where it would be used regularly in performance. The instrument is a relatively rare Steinway “Long A” model, which has exceptional sound characteristics for its size (6′ 4″). We’ve played the piano just a bit and […]

William Bolcom, Pulitzer Prize winning American composer Advisory Board Member, George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition “Finally there is a serious effort to put together a critical edition of George and Ira Gershwins’ work.  In the last few decades we’ve seen a growing number of worthwhile studies of American popular composers (see the recent Irving Berlin publications for example).  Others, like Jerome Kern and Alec Wilder, have written occasional chamber works alongside their song catalogues.  However George Gershwin, unlike his contemporaries in classic popular song, differs from the herd in that his non-Broadway work is major in substance, including one […]

Inspired by the improvisations of U-M jazz piano major Gil Chapman (see “Flash of Gershwin” in the Listen gallery), we asked U-M SMTD Comp-Theory Ph.D. student Michael Schachter to create a musical weave of George Gershwin’s iconic Rhapsody in Blue with the University of Michigan’s own theme — our fight song “The Victors.” Michael took up the challenge with skill, artistry and passion, as he reported to me via email: “I’ve been a big George Gershwin fan as long as I can remember.  His “Three Preludes for Piano” were my first entrée into classical music, and his perhaps unmatched ability […]