The Oconee Performing Arts Society (OPAS) will present on April 25, George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue" at Festival Hall in Greensboro.
The concert will feature Tony Award-winning pianist and conductor Stuart Malina and his 22-year-old son, Zev Malina, who recently made his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
“I’m always thrilled to return to OPAS, my friend Doug LaBrecque, and the wonderful people I’ve met during my visits to Lake Oconee,” Stuart Malina said. “This time will be particularly sweet for me in that I get to perform some of my favorite music of all time and with my son.”
The highly anticipated performance promises to be a night of musical brilliance. It will celebrate Gershwin’s iconic 1924 composition, “Rhapsody in Blue." This 100-year-old masterpiece fuses classical and jazz elements and is among the most beloved works in American music history.
“With the possible exception of Franz Schubert, Gershwin is, in my opinion, the greatest songwriter of all time,” Malina declared. “I grew up in a household where we frequently sang Gershwin tunes at the piano. I’ve conducted well over a hundred performances of ‘Porgy and Bess,’ and I’ve performed most of his piano and orchestral music. ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ was the piece with which I made my Carnegie Hall debut.”
Malina will perform simultaneously with his son in a four-hands arrangement, which refers to two pianists playing different parts of the same composition on one piano instead of a piano duo playing separate instruments.
“Zev and I have been playing piano four-hands since he was a young child,” Malina said. “He’s a terrific pianist and a great collaborator. Having the opportunity to make music with my child has been one of the great treats of my life. This should be a very special performance.”
Additionally, the concert will feature other selections from George and Ira Gershwin’s catalog of popular songs and music from Porgy and Bess.
Among the impressive accolades and awards for Zev Malina were the prestigious 2020 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, two National Young Composers’ Challenge awards (2017-18, orchestral), and first prize in the jazz/ragtime category of the 12th Fidelio Piano Composition Competition.
A recent Shepherd School of Music graduate at Rice University, Zev Malina premiered his Fantasy for Cello and Double Bass, “Togetherness,” in December at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.
This exceptional performance of “Rhapsody in Blue” promises to be a night of unparalleled artistry, nostalgia, and musical magic at Festival Hall.
Tickets to “Rhapsody in Blue,” presented by OPAS, are available online now at tix.com/ticket-sales/opas/4689 for $79 and $99 each.
Suzanne Snyder and Kevin Bates sponsor this event and season sponsors Donna Freeman and Mike Heyne, Luxury Lake Oconee Real Estate Group, Reynolds Lake Oconee, and Signature FD.
Visit OPAS at opas.org or call 706-467-6000 for more information.