An Evening of Gershwin with David Stewart Wiley and Karen Beluso

On Tuesday, August 18, 2009, Long Island Philharmonic Music Director and Conductor, David Stewart Wiley, and Karen Beluso (Long Island Philharmonic Director of Education and Community Engagement) performed the first movement of J.S. Bach’s Piano Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052, Wiley’s arrangement of Grainger's Fantasy on Themes from Porgy & Bess for two pianos, and an excerpt of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue at the Steinway Piano Gallery in Melville. This concert featured the Steinway "Rhapsody" piano which was crafted in tribute to the 100th anniversary of Gershwin's birth in 1998.  Designed by Frank Pollaro - one of the leading veneer craftsmen in the United States today - the piano is a brilliant blue with over 400 mother-of-pearl stars hand cut into the piano and inlaid in random fashion. The plate is gilded in silver to give the impression that the piano is emanating light when it is opened.  Only a limited number of these pianos were made. Maestro Wiley also discussed the impact of Gershwin's music on the classical music concert scene.