Gershwin’s music lives at the crossroads of concert hall brilliance and American popular song, instantly recognizable and endlessly fresh. Under Ron Spigelman, the BPO celebrates Gershwin’s birthday with vocalist Alexandra McArthur bringing favorites to life, including Fascinating Rhythm, Summertime, and The Man I Love, while pianist Eric Huebner takes center stage for Gershwin’s iconic Rhapsody in Blue. Expect swing, romance, and rhythmic sparkle, all elevated by the full sound of the orchestra. It is a feel good night built on melody and style, the kind of concert that makes the room smile and sends you back into the world a little lighter.

Program

Ron Spigelman, conductor
Alexandra McArthur, vocalist
Eric Huebner, piano

Jazz trio:
Harry Graser, piano
John Bacon, drum set
Stephen Parisi, bass

INTERMISSION

About Alexandra McArthur

Alexandra McArthur is a Buffalo-based vocalist, educator, composer, and artistic collaborator whose work spans jazz, choral music, musical theatre, arts education, wellness, and interdisciplinary performance. Over the past decade, she has built a multifaceted career in Western New York rooted in expressive musicianship, emotionally honest storytelling, and a deep respect for the histories, traditions, and people that shape the music she engages with, regardless of genre or tradition. She believes the most meaningful musical experiences invite us to listen, communicate honestly, discover something true within ourselves, and create together what no individual could achieve alone.

A four-time JazzBuffalo Female Vocalist of the Year (2018, 2021, 2022, 2023), Alexandra has performed throughout Western New York at venues and cultural institutions including Kleinhans Music Hall, PAUSA Art House, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Asbury Hall, and the Burchfield Penney Art Center. She is a longtime collaborator with the Buffalo Jazz Collective and the Historic Colored Musicians Club & Jazz Museum, and a featured vocalist and concert host with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s Education Program. Some of her career highlights include opening for Gregory Porter with Bob Sneider at Kleinhans Music Hall in 2026, composing and arranging original music and hymns commissioned by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo with Jessie Downs and Caroline Mallonee as mentors in 2025, portraying Billie Holiday alongside Grammy Award-winning pianist and longtime artistic collaborator George Caldwell in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill with MusicalFare Theatre in 2023 and 2026, and collaborating with legendary saxophonist Bobby Militello from 2015–2022.

Alexandra has maintained longstanding relationships with Vocalis Chamber Choir and the Toronto-based Nathaniel Dett Chorale since 2018 and is a current member of both ensembles, reflecting her deep commitment to choral artistry and collaborative music-making. She was recently brought on as Alto Section Leader for the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo’s choir. She studied musical theatre and classical vocal performance at the University at Buffalo and is an active music educator and teaching artist. She teaches music at Cardinal O’Hara High School and works with private voice students, in addition to leading workshops, masterclasses, and educational programs for students and communities of all ages.

Performing with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra is the realization of a lifelong dream, and Alexandra gives thanks to God, her guardian angels, and all of the people and opportunities that have brought her to this moment. She is especially grateful to her parents, Raymond and Beverly, whose faith, love of music, distinct musical influences, and the many ways they shaped her life helped lay the foundation for the artist she has become.

Alexmcarthurmusic.com

About Eric Huebner

Pianist Eric Huebner has drawn worldwide acclaim for his performances of new and traditional music since making his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 17. In January 2012, he was appointed pianist of the New York Philharmonic and currently holds the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Piano Chair. He has been featured in orchestral works by Lindberg, Stravinsky, Ives, Milhaud, Carter and R. Strauss, among others, and regularly appears in chamber music performances with musicians from the Philharmonic at New York City’s Merkin Hall and elsewhere. In March 2016, he was featured in recital as part of the New York Philharmonic’s “Messiaen Week”—a series of concerts featuring the work of the late French composer. Huebner has collaborated with the conductor David Robertson in performances of György Ligeti’s Piano Concerto, Olivier Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques, and on the American premiere with percussionist Colin Currie of Elliott Carter’s Two Controversies and a Conversation for piano, percussion, and chamber ensemble. Solo recitals have featured the piano études of the late Hungarian composer György Ligeti and include appearances on the St. Louis Symphony’s Pulitzer Arts Foundation Gallery series, at Bowling Green State University, and the University of Michigan. From 2001 through 2012, Huebner was a member of Antares, a quartet comprised of clarinet, violin, cello and piano. First prize-winners of the 2002 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Antares appeared regularly in major chamber music venues throughout the United States and worked closely with many composers on the commissioning of new works for its combination.

A passionate interpreter of the music of our time, Huebner has premiered countless new works, including a set of piano études by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Roger Reynolds. Huebner has been involved with the New York Philharmonic’s CONTACT! series since its inception and is a member of the orchestra’s Contemporary Music Ensemble Committee. A regular visitor to the West Coast, Huebner has twice been a featured recitalist at the Ojai Festival in California, has performed on the Monday Evening series in Los Angeles, at the Carlsbad Music Festival, and at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and made recital appearances at Zipper Hall, Villa Aurora and the Italian Consulate. In New York City, he has appeared as soloist and chamber musician in Carnegie’s Zankel and Weill Recital Hall, Miller Theatre, Merkin Hall, (Le) Poisson Rouge, Roulette and Subculture. Additionally, he has appeared with numerous NYC-based contemporary music ensembles, including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea, New York New Music Ensemble, American Contemporary Music Ensemble, Manhattan Sinfonietta, So Percussion, and the American Modern Ensemble.

A devoted teacher as well as performer, Mr. Huebner is Professor and Chair of the Department of Music at the University at Buffalo (SUNY) where he maintains a studio of graduate and undergraduate piano majors and minors and teaches courses in 20th-century piano music and piano literature. For several summers he was in residence at the Walden School, a program for young musicians that takes place each summer in Dublin, New Hampshire. From 2014 through spring 2024, he was a member of the adjunct faculty of The Juilliard School, where he taught a course in orchestral keyboard performance.

Mr. Huebner’s performances have been broadcast on PBS and NPR, and on radio stations KMOZ (Los Angeles), WNYC (New York), Radio Bremen (Germany), ORF (Austria), and the BBC. He has recorded for Col Legno, Centaur, Bridge, Albany, Tzadik, Innova, New Focus Recordings, and Mode Records. A solo release on New Focus Recordings features Huebner in works by Schumann, Carter and Stravinsky. Mr. Huebner holds a B.M. and M.M. from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal. He lives in Buffalo and New York City and is married to composer Caroline Mallonée.

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