THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 6, 1996 TAG: 9603060857
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GUY FRIDDELL
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Ask me my favorite composer, I'd blurt George Gershwin, whose music filled the air during my childhood and ever after, ever fresh.
To my delight, the McCullough Chorale will perform on March 15 at a Gershwin Gala in the Chrysler Museum's theater. The John Toomey Jazz Trio will accompany it.
When a Gershwin musical hit Broadway, it spread our way as sheet music reached the dime store and then records that we played on the wind-up Victrola. The minute my mother heard a new Gershwin tune, she played it on the piano, by ear, while my father sang.
When a brain tumor took Gershwin, age 38, in 1937, he was mourned in America as a member of the family.
Brooklyn born, he loved to play street games and scorned music; but it kept impinging on his ear, as it did at age 6 when he heard in a penny arcade Rubinstein's ``Melody in F.'' At 10, playing ball at school, he heard through a window a violinist playing Dvorak's ``Humoresque.'' It hooked him.
His collapse in Hollywood seemed at first to stem from exhaustion; but his near-constant creativity, seeking perfection, had assured us an everlasting legacy.
``When we came to choose a composer appealing to the broadest possible audience for our fund-raising gala, `Gershwin' just jumped from everybody's mouth,'' said Chorale Director Don McCullough.
``It was almost a group effort. The difficulty arose in deciding what not to do among his many compositions.''
Beginning at 7 p.m., a reception in Huber Court will offer hors d'oeuvres and wine along with a silent auction of gift certificates to area restaurants.
Opening selections for the first half in the theater will be ``I Got Rhythm,'' ``The Man I Love,'' ``Love Walked In,'' ``They All Laughed.''
The second session will include ``The Lorelei,'' ``Our Love Is Here to Stay,'' ``Someone to Watch Over Me,'' and a medley from the opera ``Porgy and Bess.''
During intermission within the theater, auctioneer Hope Mihalap will hear bids on canvases contributed by area artists: Charles Sibley, Lorraine Fink, Robert Vick, Lucette Ritter, Jenne Goodman, Tamara Mihalap, Charles Kello, and Suzanne Mastracco. Ronald York of Nashville also donated a work.
The theater-goers will return to the Huber Court for coffee and dessert. All that - and Hope.
To reserve tickets, at $50 each, call 627-8375.
Gershwin lets lovers of classical music remain in that realm while enjoying the best of the popular style, McCullough said. ``Then you have the opposite with those who are more drawn to popular music and Gershwin is a good way to bring them over to the other side.''
``His work is timeless. He will be around as long as the great masters and in his own right, that's what Gershwin is. He blended a style, like no other, in the jazz idiom with classical elements.'' by CNB