We kick off our 36th season with music shaped by African and African American traditions. Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 5, written during his time in Egypt, is infused with exotic melodies and dazzling virtuosity. Gershwin and Weill both wove blues and jazz into a classical framework in their groundbreaking operas, Porgy and Bess and The Threepenny Opera, whose unforgettable tunes – like Mack the Knife and Summertime – have become standards of both the concert hall and the Great American Songbook.