Worthing Symphony Orchestra promise electrifying Gershwin classics

WSO’s I Got Rhythm concert on Friday, January 27 at 7.30pm in the Assembly Hall, Worthing under conductor John Gibbons will be Maria’s third time with the orchestra. ​Maria, who grew up in Seaford, made her debut with WSO in 2019 when she played Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto; she returned last year for Beethoven’s Emperor concerto. Now for Gerswhin… with old friends.

“They are just such a joy to work with,” Maria said. “They are such a musically intuitive orchestra. I really feel that we feel the same way. My first rehearsal with the orchestra will be on the day but I just feel that John is such a fantastic musician and the orchestra are so great. There is a wonderful sense of friendship in there as well in the group, and I am sure it really does come across. I did the Shostakovich with them and then last year I did the Emperor and when I did the Emperor it just felt like we took off from where we were before. It was just like meeting a friend again for the first time that you haven't seen for a little while. You just carry on from where you were. I love the fact that they play with such vitality and energy and there is so much joy in their playing.

“I played Rhapsody in Blue at the Royal Albert Hall last May and John and I keep in touch and he suggested a performance but what was new to me was his suggestion of I Got Rhythm. I had played it before and I knew the wonderful classic song so well but I did not know that it existed for piano and orchestra. So it really is a new discovery for me. And I just love it. I love the dialogue between the piano and the orchestra. There is so much call and response. It is almost like a witty conversation with the piano and orchestra finishing off each other’s sentences and like Rhapsody in Blue it has this wonderful fusion of classical and jazz but in I Got Rhythm you've also got oriental moments. It is such an in-depth piece. You've got so many different influences going on there. It is lovely to do. As a classically trained performer although I love jazz and I love the jazz elements in Gershwin, I know that the jazz piano is a very specific idiom. It's the dialogue that Gershwin creates and also the freedom that he creates within the concerto form. When he first wrote Rhythm In Blue it was done pretty hastily on a train. Even at the premiere he was improvising and we don't actually know what he played at that premiere. He did his best to pen it down afterwards but it was very much a piece in the moment and in fact pianists still today improvise when they play it. You can hear people putting glissandos and extra notes in. Trying to keep that improvisational freedom of the work and combining jazz and classical are the big challenge but it is also about the fun of the piece. Both the Gershwin pieces are so full of fun and vitality and freedom.”