George Gershwin premiered his “Rhapsody in Blue” 100 years ago, in 1924. His innovative work provides a jazzy showcase for piano soloist Father Sean Duggan, who last appeared with the orchestra in Bach’s Keyboard Concerto #1 in 2023.

This afternoon “Classics Lite” concert is a great opportunity for families to experience a live orchestra concert together.  

About the Artists:

Worcester Symphony Orchestra (formerly New England Symphony Orchestra and Thayer Symphony Orchestra) is the continuation of 40-plus years of music making in central Massachusetts.

The orchestra is committed to several local performances each year and is engaged in discussions with several local groups about potential collaborative programming. Roderick MacDonald has been the orchestra’s music director since 2014. He is the former principal trumpet of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig and a former conducting student of both Kurt Masur and Bernard Haitink. Under his leadership the orchestra has increased its use of video programming during the COVID pandemic through such initiatives as NESO at Home (downloadable videos of small groups of NESO musicians in intimate settings) and the co-production of AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS with VOX New England.

Father Seán Brett Duggan, O.S.B., attended Loyola University in New Orleans and received a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance and a Master of Fine Arts degree at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He graduated summa cum laude with a Master of Arts degree in Theology from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans and was ordained to the priesthood. In September 1983, Father Duggan won first prize in the Johann Sebastian Bach International Competition for pianists in Washington, D.C., which entitled him, among other honors, to give various concerts around the country and a two-month tour of Germany. In the “Bach Year,” 1985, he gave complete performances of The Well-Tempered Clavier in New Orleans, Pittsburgh, and Birmingham to critical acclaim. In 1991 he participated again in the Bach Competition in Washington, D.C.; this time he was one of three first-place winners, which entitled him to another round of concert engagements and a second tour of Germany.