George Gershwin

Biography

George Gershwin was a pivotal American composer and pianist who masterfully blended popular, jazz, and classical music genres. He rose from a Tin Pan Alley song plugger to a celebrated figure of the Jazz Age, creating some of the most enduring music in the American canon. His orchestral works, including 'Rhapsody in Blue' and 'An American in Paris', brought jazz idioms to the concert hall. In an iconic partnership with his brother, lyricist *Ira Gershwin*, he composed numerous Broadway hits and standards. His ambitious folk opera, 'Porgy and Bess', which includes the classic song 'Summertime', is considered one of the most important American theatrical works of the twentieth century.