Gaffigan Conducts Gershwin & Ellington

Immerse yourself in our country's most distinctive cultural resource: its music. George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, and Carlos Simon guide you on an exhilarating, globe-trotting tour of Harlem and points beyond, in a program conducted by James Gaffigan. In works like the Piano Concerto in F and American in Paris, Gershwin captured our national sound by blending all the styles he knew--jazz, blues, classical, sacred Hebrew laments, Eastern European hoedowns, and Broadway balladeering. Sophisticated and streetwise, Ellington's Harlem celebrates the multi-ethnic capital of Black culture via sweet swing rhythms and salty avant-garde harmonies. Simon grew up in Atlanta, but his 2018 orchestral study The Block is pure Harlem, inspired by the work of African American painter and songwriter Romare Bearden.
Concert Extras

A preconcert talk will be presented from the stage one hour before the concert. Free to all ticketholders.

Artists

James Gaffigan
Conductor

Hélène Grimaud
Piano

San Francisco Symphony

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Rehearsal Tickets: https://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2025-26/GERSHWIN-ELLINGTON-OR
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Program

Carlos Simon
The Block

George Gershwin
Piano Concerto in F

George Gershwin
An American in Paris

Duke Ellington
Harlem