About the Music : MILHAUD La création du monde GUILLAUME CONNESSON A Kind of Trane POULENC Suite from Les Biches GERSHWIN An American in Paris A Frenchman in America, longtime Cleveland Orchestra guest conductor Stéphane Denève leads a spirited rendition of Gershwin’s An American in Paris, the iconic 1928 symphonic poem that inspired the Gene Kelly film. Denève also conducts two more works out of the Roaring Twenties by his countrymen Milhaud and Poulenc, as well as the Cleveland premiere of Guillaume Connesson’s saxophone concerto A Kind of Trane — inspired by the great John Coltrane and performed by the acclaimed Steven Banks. This program’s Concert Preview lectures will be presented by Michael Strasser, Professor of Musicology, Baldwin Wallace University Performing Artists : The Cleveland Orchestra Stéphane Denève, conductor Steven Banks, saxophone
