BSO, Jack Everly and friends celebrate the Gershwins

By: Marie Gullard
American Pops audiences can't seem to get enough of George and Ira Gershwin's music. Good thing, then, that the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra principal pops conductor, Jack Everly, will be leading the BSO in a performance of the Gershwin brothers' most popular works at the Music Center at Strathmore.

To help with the jazz-filled tribute, Everly has called on the talents of pianist Stewart Goodyear to perform the iconic "Rhapsody in Blue" and Broadway star Judy McLane to join him and the BSO in presenting a bounty of the Gershwins' hits.

"I feel so blessed to sing with a full orchestra; it's like no other place on a stage," said McLane, who is starring on Broadway as Tanya in the hit musical "Mamma Mia!" and has been given leave from the show for a few days to sing with the BSO. "I just have this overwhelming feeling of how lucky I am to be making that kind of music."

And where "that kind of music" is concerned, performers and audiences savor the Gershwins as a reciprocal treat.

"There are so many composers out there, but every artist wants to sing the Gershwin melodies, especially the lyrics of Ira," McLane continued. "The way he uses a lyric is poetic, yet very human and real."

Like naming her favorite presents under the tree this holiday season, she talks excitedly of the roster of songs she will perform with the BSO that includes "I Got Rhythm," "Someone to Watch Over Me," and "The Man that Got Away." She also credits Everly for giving her the chance to do so.

"Jack is a dear friend and also an amazing conductor and composer," she said. "He has such a gift of putting a program together. He really knows the genre so well; and the theater, because he's worked in the theater."

Indeed, in 1998, Everly created the Symphonic Pops Consortium, serving as music director. The Consortium, based in Indianapolis, produces a new theatrical pops program each season. In the past 12 years, more than 225 performances of SPC programs have taken place across the United States and Canada, including this season's new production, "Do You Hear the People Sing?" featuring the greatest hits of Alain Boublil and Calude-Michel Schonberg.

Thursday's celebration also includes George Gershwin's masterpiece, "Rhapsody in Blue," performed in the graceful, elegant style and exquisite technique that belongs to pianist Goodyear, whose career spans many genres -- concerto soloist, chamber musician, recitalist and composer

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/entertainment/music/2012/01/bso-jack-everly-and-friends-celebrate-gershwins/2060741#ixzz1is8qfbau