On February 12, 1924, George Gershwin’s seminal piece Rhapsody in Blue premiered in New York City’s Aeolian Hall. Gershwin’s work was an unprecedented composition fusing classical and jazz music and would come to be a beloved work of the 20th century musical corpus, reflecting the burgeoning national spirit of America in the mid-1920s. Now, 100 years later, Swarthmore’s Wind Ensemble will celebrate the centennial of Rhapsody’s monumental debut during their concert on Friday, November 15th at 8 PM in the Lang Concert Hall. The program also includes staples of wind band repertoire like Gustav Holst’s Second Suite in F and an arrangement of the Mission Impossible theme.

Gershwin’s Rhapsody serves as the centerpiece of the concert with director Andrew Hauze ‘04 performing on piano and student conductor Kielor Tung ‘25 leading the ensemble. “We’ve twice before performed Rhapsody in Blue as opportunities for student [conductors]. This goes back to before we had a lab orchestra, so I played the piano and coached the students in conducting.” said Hauze. “When I realized this year was the centennial of the premiere, I thought ‘We really need to do it again.’” The piece is one of Hauze’s favorites and allows him to work with the ensemble from a different perspective: “It’s fun to work with the group in a slightly different capacity, playing alongside them … [playing the piano] changes the way I listen to the group in the sense [that] I’m kind of embedded inside the music with them, making sounds together.”

Tung shares in Hauze’s love for the piece noting that “Rhapsody in Blue is one of my favorite pieces of all time, it’s one of my family’s favorite pieces of all time, and I think I can speak for many [in] that it’s probably one of their favorite pieces of all time.” Tung says his experience with the Wind Ensemble has been “nothing but a pleasure,” and he’s grateful for the opportunity. “[Working] with wind instruments is really rewarding because it’s something new. I’ll have to learn eventually and it’s good that I’m doing it now rather than later in my education.”

The first half of the program also features Bridges by contemporary composer Katajh Copley. Bridges serves as “an homage to teachers,” Hauze says. “It alludes to a lot of musical traditions that the teacher [who Copley] wrote it for loved … particularly the R&B and soul music of Patti LaBelle and Aretha Franklin.” The ensemble previously performed Copley’s work Sunshine as part of a virtual wind ensemble recording. Hauze thinks Copley’s music “has an incredible energy, beautiful harmonies, and a real sense of rhythmic propulsiveness.”

The second half of the concert includes Holst’s Second Suite and a short piece by Florence Price called Adoration, arranged by Cheldon Williams. Holst’s Second Suite is a cornerstone of wind ensemble repertoire and one of the core foundations of wind band music, along with works by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Percy Grainger. The piece reflects Holst’s interest in traditional English folk music, popular among many composers of his era. Price’s Adoration was originally written for organ: according to Hauze, Williams’s arrangement for Wind Ensemble works so well because “transcribing organ music for wind ensemble is a very natural thing to do, the sense of breath … the long lines and held notes … the organ is trying to imitate wind instruments a lot of the time.” The concert concludes with the Mission Impossible theme, a fan favorite written by Argentinian composer Lalo Schifrin and arranged by Toshio Mashima.

The wind ensemble performs Friday, November 15th at 8 PM in the Lang Concert Hall. Come for a night of fun and joyous music.