Conductor Comments

Maestro Kitsopoulos shares his insight about today’s program:

“There was something magical about the last 15 years of the 19th century. During that time, four of the giants of the ‘American Song Book’ were born. Many of the songs that were written by Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and Jerome Kern have become standards and have as much to do with defining what is great about America as do our stars and stripes.

These four composers have the ability to spin a melody and integrate it with words in a way that makes them inseparable. Even as a jazz musician might do a rendition of Porter’s ‘Night and Day,’ or Gershwin’s ‘I Got Rhythm,’ you can still hear the lyrics and their clever rhymes. Yet, somehow these four American greats managed to carve out their own distinctive styles. Cole Porter’s sometimes-suggestive lyrics sparkle with brilliant rhyme schemes that seem to dance over their musical rhythms. Irving Berlin’s songs are patriotic and innocent when it comes to love. George Gershwin’s music is clearly influenced by jazz. Jerome Kern is never afraid of emotional conflict.

Their songs started as the popular music of their day, then transcended time and have endured as a quintessential expression of what it means to live in a cultural melting pot.”