Chicago Sinfonietta Presents 'American Rhapsody'
From the midnight cool of Miles Davis to the can't-sit-still energy of Gershwin, this program is jazz and orchestra colliding in the best possible way. Pianist Clayton Stephenson performs the electrifying Rhapsody in Blue, followed by the world premiere of Blues, Ballads, Bebop: A Miles Davis Symphonic Tribute by Chicago Sinfonietta’s Seth Pae. The evening closes with William Dawson’s powerful Negro Folk Symphony — all under the baton of Maestra Mei-Ann Chen.
Friday, May 8 / 7 PM / Wentz Concert Hall (Naperville)
Sunday, May 10 / 3 PM / Pick-Staiger Concert Hall (Evanston)
Tickets start at $30
Innovation has always defined America — especially its music.
In 1924, Rhapsody in Blue opened with a wild, sliding clarinet note that made people sit up straight. What followed was the first true fusion of jazz and orchestra — bold piano, jazz rhythms, and memorable melodies. Guest pianist Clayton Stephenson, praised as “a poet and master storyteller,” brings this electrifying music to life.
Then experience something brand new. Blues, Ballads, Bebop: A Miles Davis Symphonic Tribute is a world premiere by Chicago Sinfonietta’s own principal violist, Seth Pae, honoring the Chicago-legend who reinvented jazz again and again.
The evening closes with William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony, built on three African American spirituals he loved as a child, and brought to the symphonic stage in 1934, breaking barriers in the process.
Event Links
Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/3566013-0
