WASHINGTON, IL -- The Heartland Festival Orchestra's final concert of the season on May 25 at Three Points Auditorium, was an incredible event, with three works by George Gershwin, and his Rhapsody in Blue performed by a brilliant pianist, Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner.
Winner of the 2022 Concert Artists Guild Competition and other awards, he was a compelling soloist and performer on the Rhapsody concerto, backed by the large orchestra. The audience leaped to its feet, and he played a brief solo for an encore.
The other Gershwin works, An American in Paris and Lullaby were also engaging. In addition the orchestra played a Duke Ellington Medley of classic pieces, with artistic director/conductor David Commanday explaining that Ellington and Gershwin were friends and equally interested in jazz.
This was one of the most exciting of the Heartland Festival Orchestra's many concerts. The sound was terrific and the fast pace of the jazz/classical works left only one reaction: Wow!
-- Elaine Hopkins