AMERICAN IN PARIS

Join CMSCVA for an evening where artistic innovation and collaboration resonate across both sides of the Atlantic. George Gershwin’s iconic masterpiece, An American in Paris, transports us to the sophisticated soundscapes of early 20th-century France—a time when American culture found an eager audience in legendary composers like Maurice Ravel and Darius Milhaud. Their sonatas and ballet music shimmer with the unmistakable pulse of jazz and the blues. We further bridge this cultural divide through the music of contemporary American composer Valerie Coleman, exploring the legacy of Langston Hughes, whose own travels to Paris fostered a profound and lasting poetic exchange.

Program Details:

Darius Mihaud: “La Création du monde”
Valerie Coleman: Parisian Cafe and Harlem Nights from “Portraits of Langston”
Maurice Ravel: Violin Sonata
George Gershwin (arr. Zachary Wadsworth): “An American in Paris”