George Gershwin and his brother Ira elevated the Broadway musical to new and distinctive heights. He composed music for Broadway and both the classical and popular music concert hall.  In 1919, he wrote Swanee and when Al Jolson heard Gershwin play it at a party he immediately put it in his Broadway show.

It became an overnight hit and catapulted Gershwin to the top of the music industry.  In 1924, the brothers created Lady Be Good and in the same year he composed the concerto Rhapsody in Blue for bandleader Paul Whiteman to use in a concert to demonstrate the versatility of contemporary popular music.  His most ambitious composition was Porgy and Bess which Gershwin called a "folk opera". To gain understanding of black music, he attended black gospel churches and sang with the church choirs. It is now widely regarded as one of the most important American operas of the twentieth century.

This lecture is a look at the work of this great master and includes video and sound clips as well as great photographs.