Sold out for “The Elegance of Symphonic Jazz”: Gershwin at La Nuvola in Rome.
The concert on Sunday, March 1, at the La Nuvola Convention Center in Rome is sold out: “The Elegance of Symphonic Jazz. Gershwin,” a tribute to the visionary American pianist who elevated jazz to classical music, building a bridge between seemingly irreconcilable worlds.
The event, part of the Dialoghi Sinfonici, was performed by the Europa InCanto Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Germano Neri, and was structured in two distinct but complementary parts.
The first part was a veritable lesson in harmony and rhythm: a guided journey to understand how popular music, born on the streets, has become a fully-fledged part of the symphonic tradition.
“To show how popular music, street music, has become a fully-fledged part of what is defined as classical music. Gershwin was a composer who related to his surroundings,” Maestro Germano Neri told The Gram Journal.
The second part focused on the composer’s repertoire: from An American in Paris to I Got Rhythm, to Rhapsody in Blue, in a crescendo that showcased the modernity of his writing.
The entrance of soloist Lucia Paradiso enlivened the format with performances sung in period costume, transporting the audience back to the Roaring Twenties: the era of the Charleston, the birth of mass communication thanks to cinema and radio, and the affirmation of jazz as a language of identity.
Gershwin’s miracle lies precisely here: in having intertwined the irreverent syncopation of jazz, the visceral energy of blues, and the rigorous architecture of classical music. On Sunday morning, this intertwining materialized in sound before an audience that did not limit itself to listening.
The format of the Symphonic Dialogues, with its educational and narrative elements, transformed the hall into something more than just an auditorium: a temporary community of knowledgeable listeners, guided to understand why certain harmonic choices send shivers down the spine and why it is impossible to remain still with certain rhythms.
Maestro Neri confirms himself not only as a talented conductor, but also as a narrator capable of making complexity accessible without trivializing it. Explaining Gershwin means moving between the alleys of Harlem, the boulevards of 1920s Paris, and the concert halls of Broadway, while always keeping an eye on the score. The guidance was solid, clear, and engaging.
Dialoghi Sinfonici thus confirms itself as one of the most interesting formats on the Roman music scene: capable of attracting a diverse audience, drawing in newcomers without boring experts, and restoring to symphonic music that collective and shared dimension that traditional concerts often tend to forget.
And perhaps this is the most authentic legacy of the morning: the awareness that music, when it is recounted and shared, ceases to be repertoire and returns to being a living experience. Gershwin not only united jazz and symphonic music; he reminded us that art is born from listening to one’s own time. And yesterday, at La Nuvola, that time began to breathe again with us.
