Melbourne Youth Orchestra: Waterfront Rhapsody

Three great composers span the turbulent 20th Century with sumptuous, saxophone-infused, musical energy.

Rhapsody in Blue was something entirely new – neither jazz nor symphony, neither improvisation nor concerto – and with it, composer George Gershwin opened the door on a stylistic collaboration which continues to this day, almost 100 years later. Coming after the brooding power of Bernstein’s On the Waterfront, Rhapsody will take us back to the escapist days of post WWI America.

Symphonic Dances by the arch Romantic, Rachmaninoff, then jumps forward to pre-WW2 New York in music featuring the most American of musical sonorities, and highly unusual in an orchestral setting, the saxophone. Brilliant young pianist, Reuben Johnson, stars in this exuberant concert which draws MYO’s 2023 season to a close.