‘When George Met Arnold: a friendship forged in music’
World Premiere of a new orchestral show co-created by Simon Tedeschi and Roger Benedict, about the friendship between George Gershwin and Arnold Schoenberg, plays to a near sell-out Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.
To celebrate 2024 as the 150th anniversary of Schoenberg’s birth and also the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue – the Sydney Symphony Orchestra is joined by pianist Simon Tedeschi and conductor Roger Benedict in presenting this poignant story of memory, trauma, friendship, humour and hope, and above all, the power of music.
“When George Gershwin moved from New York to a new house in Hollywood in 1936, he discovered that the legendary Viennese composer Arnold Schoenberg lived around the corner.
These two geniuses of the 20th century struck up an unlikely friendship, playing tennis together every week, discussing music, art, love and the political situation in Europe.
When George Met Arnold is a unique event which combines a newly created film with live performance of selected works by both composers to tell the story of this remarkable relationship.”
Featuring works by GERSHWIN and SCHOENBERG, including excerpts from Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F and Porgy & Bess, and Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto, Pelléas and Mélisande and Five Pieces for Orchestra. Film directed by Laurence Coy ,with actors Chris Burke as Schoenberg, Sam O’Sullivan as Gershwin, and Emily Weare as Gershwin’s housekeeper, Hannah.
Reviews:
“[Gershwin and Schoenberg] were neighbours in Los Angeles in the 1930s after Schoenberg had left his native Vienna when Hitler came to power, and their surprising bromance was the subject of a thoroughly entertaining and unusual one-off Sydney Symphony Orchestra concert put together by conductor Roger Benedict and star pianist Simon Tedeschi. […]
Benedict, who was for several years Principal Viola with the SSO, is an energetic and enthusiastic conductor and kept the fast-moving two-part show moving along.
Tedeschi’s playing was superlative and he got plenty of opportunity to show his jazz piano skills with a three-minute improvisation on the Gershwin hits I Got Rhythm and But Not For Me, and some cross-hand wizardry in a grab from Rhapsody in Blue and the final movement of the Piano Concerto in F major. His versatility also shone through with some heavy-duty atonalism in the Adagio from Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto Op. 42.
Both thought-provoking and entertaining, Benedict and Tedeschi’s celebration of “a friendship forged in music” hit the mark with the packed-out audience.” [4 STARS]
– Limelight, May 2024 (live review, Sydney Opera House)
“Always an advocate for bridging classical music and jazz, Tedeschi drew out the brilliant energy of the climax of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and the finale of the Piano Concerto in F. … they capture contrasting perspectives sufficiently to give this brief flowering of friendship a telling cultural meaning. This is a confident America greeting Europe in its darkest hour. It is an ageing tradition of immense richness meeting the driving energy of a musical style that lacks both history and a desire to have one.“
– Sydney Morning Herald, May 2024 (live review, Sydney Opera House)