This program traces an unexpected yet illuminating arc through three distinct musical idioms — the Baroque suite, American symphonic jazz, and late-20th-century crossover composition. Heard in succession, works by Johann Sebastian Bach, George Gershwin, and Claude Bolling reveal how differing conceptions of rhythm, harmony, and instrumental color may nevertheless converse across centuries, each illuminating the others by contrast and affinity.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s (1685-1750) Suite No. 1 in E minor for Lute stands at the opening of the evening as both a historical anchor and a model of structural clarity. Though conceived for the lute, the suite’s contrapuntal transparency and dance-derived movements — from the probing Preludium to the refined Courante and culminating Gigue — adapt naturally to the harp, where the instrument’s resonance lends the music an almost architectural grandeur. In this transposed timbre, Bach’s idiom reveals its remarkable capacity to transcend specific instrumental identities.

From Bach’s abstraction, the program turns to the vibrant urban modernity of George Gershwin’s (1898 -1937) Rhapsody in Blue, presented here in the composer’s own solo piano version. Stripped of its orchestral palette, the work’s hybrid nature — poised between late-Romantic rhetoric and jazz-inflected rhythmic language — becomes even more exposed and compelling. The piano assumes a dual role: at times symphonic in its span, at others reminiscent of a smoky New York club. In its solo incarnation, Rhapsody in Blue emerges not merely as a showpiece but as a statement of early-20th-century American musical identity.

The evening culminates with Claude Bolling’s (1930-2020) Concerto for Guitar (Harp) and Jazz Trio, a quintessential example of the composer’s pioneering “crossover” aesthetic. Written for performers capable of traversing classical precision and jazz idioms with equal fluency, the concerto proposes a dialogue — sometimes playful, sometimes tightly interlocked — between the harp’s refined timbre and the rhythmic elasticity of the trio. Bolling’s writing retains formal clarity yet is permeated with swing, syncopation, and improvisatory gestures, demonstrating how classical and jazz traditions can coexist without compromise to either.

Together, these three works form a triptych of musical cross-pollination: Bach’s universal craft, Gershwin’s synthesis of classical and jazz, and Bolling’s deliberate fusion of traditions. Heard as a continuum, they invite the listener to consider genre not as a boundary but as a fertile meeting ground for invention.