Carnegie Hall

Louis Langrée conducts New York’s own Orchestra of St. Luke’s in an irresistible all-American program that opens with Ives’s mystical short work, The Unanswered Question. Ellington premiered his New World a-Comin’ rhapsody at Carnegie Hall in 1943, and its declarative piano solo is played tonight by dynamic jazz pianist Gerald Clayton. In 1955, Ellington’s Night Creature was also premiered at the Hall, later reappearing on the exquisite Symphonic Ellington and choreographed by Alvin Ailey. Gershwin brought his own hand-selected Parisian taxi horns to Carnegie Hall for the premiere of An American in Paris, much to the audience’s delight. The concert concludes with a powerful 20-minute suite from Bernstein’s sole film score to the American cinema classic, On the Waterfront.