To celebrate the centennial of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” an iconic work for piano and orchestra, famed pianist Jeffrey Biegel is playing Peter Boyer’s new “Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue” with many American orchestras. The performances – the first happened in Utah in June – are part of the Rhapsody National Initiative, in which Biegel aims to persuade an orchestra from each of the 50 American states to program Boyer’s Rhapsody through 2024, with Biegel as the soloist.

So far, orchestras in 45 states have signed on. Maine is one of the holdouts. It shouldn’t be.

The Portland Symphony Orchestra can and should participate in the initiative, having already paved the way for what would almost certainly be a positive reception of Boyer’s “Rhapsody” among Portland’s classical music fans. This was accomplished when the PSO programmed his popular “Ellis Island: The Dream of America” several years ago.

Although I did not attend that performance, I do not doubt that it went over extremely well. I was quite taken with the Winston-Salem Symphony’s performance of Ellis Island when I covered it as an arts reporter at the Winston-Salem Journal (2000-2012). (I relocated to Brunswick this past January.)

The bottom line: The Rhapsody initiative is giving lots of orchestras an opportunity to enlarge their repertoires with a piece of new music inspired by an established work. And, as Biegel points out, it’s become that rare instance where “American orchestras have unequivocally come together to celebrate our diversity and unity through music.”

Lobby the PSO to join this wonderful project!

Kenneth Keuffel Jr.
Brunswick