Special Events
Matt Herskowitz &
Paul Merkelo :
GERSHWIN’S WORLD
Matt Herskowitz I Piano
Paul Merkelo I Trumpet
Matt Herskowitz &
© ProdCan 2022
Following in the footsteps of the great American composer George Gershwin, the spectacular soloist Paul Merkelo (Principal trumpet with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal) and the dazzling Montreal-based pianist and arranger Matt Herskowitz have imagined a novel concert program exploring Gershwin’s music and inspirations. A captivating journey that artfully blends musical substance, cross-inspiration jamming, and sheer virtuosity, creating a musical world of its own in which the spirit of Gershwin passes by.
“Gershwin showed us a model for humanity based on tolerance and inclusion through diversity. In this program, we aim to highlight these diversities through a new lens by arranging a trumpet and piano exploration of his music and that of his peers in a vocabulary of classical music for the common man inspired by his sentiment, virtuosity, rhythm and improvisation.” – Paul Merkelo
REPERTOIRE
Original arrangements and improvisations on the following pieces:
- Gershwin, An American in Paris
- Gershwin, Cuban Overture
- Gershwin Medley on Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht
- My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord (Tribute to Florence Price)
- D’Après Petrushka
- Ravel, Concerto en sol, II. Adagio assai
- Gershwin, Concerto in F, II. Andante