Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Litton proved himself to be a formidable Gershwin pianist with the high-octane performance of Rhapsody in Blue he directed from the keyboard. (Chicago Symphony / Ravinia)

Andrew Litton, the program's hugely engaging conductor...served as both pianist and conductor in Gershwin's concerto, Rhapsody in Blue.... puckish, powerful, rhythmically teasing piano playing..." (Chicago Symphony / Ravinia)

The excitement surrounding the performance — staged with Brechtian force and directness by Lonny Price and conducted with fury and precision by Andrew Litton — was palpable in the audience for this one-night-only event even before the the first ghoulishly melodramatic organ chords and piercing guillotine-like screech of metal signaled the start of the tale of the "demon barber of Fleet Street".