Gershwin
Rhapsody in Blue

Opening with a klezmeric wail from the clarinet, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (1924) is a “musical kaleidoscope of America”. This performance will be the original version for jazz band and piano, complete with saxophones and other instruments omitted from the better-known orchestral version.

Gershwin
An American in Paris

An American in Paris, originally composed in 1928 for the concert hall, was reused for part of the soundtrack of the 1951 Gene Kelly film. It is an impressionistic sound painting of Paris by day and by night, drawing on influences from French composers, jazz and the blues.

Copland
Fanfare for the Common Man

Brass and percussion also feature heavily in both pieces by Copland. Fanfare for the Common Man was written for the American troops during the Second World War.

Copland
Canticle of Freedom

Brass and percussion also feature heavily in both pieces by Copland. Canticle of Freedom (1955) ends with a tuneful and resounding setting of a 14th century Scottish poem.

Bernstein
Chichester Psalms

Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms had its UK premiere in Chichester Cathedral in 1965, with our conductor David Gibson singing the boy treble solo. Words from the Hebrew Psalms are set to an eclectic mix of musical styles, with more than a hint of West Side Story and Broadway.

Lambert
Rio Grande

Lambert’s The Rio Grande (1927) sets a poem by fellow Englishman Sacheverell Sitwell about a fantasy Latin American land where “they dance in the city down the public squares”. The exuberant and evocative music is inspired by jazz, with Latin American rhythms and percussion, brass and stunning piano solos.

Tanya Gabrielian
Piano

Tanya Gabrielian was born in 1983 in America to parents of Korean and Armenian heritage. With recent international successes including first prizes in both the 2004 Scottish International Piano Competition and 2003 Aram Khachaturyan International Piano Competition, Tanya’s career has taken her across the United States and Europe, performing in such venues as Carnegie Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall. Hailed by The Times as “a pianist of powerful physical and imaginative muscle”, Tanya began her piano studies at the age of three and later became a scholarship student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Since 2000, Tanya has lived in London as a full-scholarship student at the Royal Academy of Music and has worked with Christopher Elton, Hamish Milne, Artur Pizzaro, Martin Roscoe, and Alexander Satz.

Tanya has performed with a number of orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra with Alexander Lazarev, the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the New London Sinfonia, and recently toured the United Kingdom with the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra. During her studies in the United States, she was the winner of over twenty competitions and performed across the country, including New York, Boston, Miami, Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Tanya has been featured on Public Radio International on the show From the Top: A Showcase of America's Finest Young Classical Musicians, as well as on live radio broadcasts in Germany. She was also a featured artist in the American syndicated television show Grand Piano. Recent performances include a recital in St. Martins-in-the-Field, a recording for Zen-On Publishers (Japan), the Park Lane Group Young Artists Concert Series in the Purcell Room, and concertos with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Armenian Chamber Orchestra.

Upcoming engagements include concertos in the United Kingdom and in the United States, a series of four concerts with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, a tour of Germany with her trio, and solo recitals in London, Scotland, and San Francisco.