Father/son piano duo Donald and Barron Ryan, can play everything from jazz to the Beatles to Chopin. But for their March 2 concert at the James Lumber Center in Grayslake, they will celebrate all things Gershwin.
They’ll perform George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” an audience favorite ever since they started Ryan & Ryan in 2009. And they’ll do it on two pianos, an arrangement Gershwin created after writing the piano solo with orchestra nearly a century ago.
Gershwin’s music continues to captivate audiences, the Ryans said.
“He captured the essence of what was happening in the music with a new generation in the 1920s,” Donald Ryan, 71, said. “When you compare what he was doing with other composers of the same generation and aspiration, he was certainly more edgy. And that edginess was captivating.”
The elder Ryan grew up in Trinidad and Tobago, playing piano at church where his father was a pastor. “I had an instinct for it,” he said of playing the piano. A friend recognized his talent and helped him get a scholarship to Oral Roberts University in the United States where he delved into classical music including compositions by Chopin. With help from his piano instructor Andrzej Wasowski, Donald Ryan entered an international Chopin competition.
“I was the first Black to every compete in that competition,” he said. “I was highly visible. They wanted to see how this Trinidadian boy from the West Indies is going to play a Chopin polonaise.” Though he didn’t win, he made it through many rounds, he said. Donald Ryan considered becoming a classical pianist, but said he didn’t have the temperament for it. He was able to support a wife and three children by performing jazz, blues, classical, religious, inspirational and other musical styles as a career.
When son Barron, now 34, was 4, he saw his father perform. “People would stand up and clap,” Barron Ryan recalled. “That seemed pretty cool. I wanted people to do that for me. I didn’t have to be cajoled into playing the piano. I started taking lessons from Dad when I was 4.”
Barron also played drums in a jazz group with his father, and when he was a sophomore, he and his father performed a duo piano concert to celebrate a new 9-foot Steinway piano purchased by the high school the young Ryan attended.
Donald Ryan said his son was already a great pianist by that time, but he didn’t want music for a career. “He wanted to go into engineering so he could make enough money to do whatever he wanted,” Donald said.
Barron said that’s true, but added, “I took one physics class and realized engineering was not for me.”
More Top Picks Black Decker Portable Air Conditioner Review
Instead, he majored in piano performance at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. After he graduated in 2009, father and son formed Ryan & Ryan. Each plays on his own piano facing the other.
“We thought it would be marketable,” Barron Ryan recalled. “It’s hard to make it as a musician and performer, and having a father/son team is unusual, so we thought we would be able to perform that way. I thought I could develop a reputation with Dad and lead into a solo career when he wanted to slow down.”
Both said they have few disagreements when rehearsing and performing, and both practice at least several hours a day.
“We give each other space. I don’t try to play the ‘Dad’ card on our decisions.” Donald said.
Barron said it helps that they share similar tastes in music. “We sort it out and it works really well,” he said.
Their debut as a duo happened at a fundraiser for music scholarships. They played Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” and it’s become a staple at their performances.
“Gershwin is the quintessential American composer,” Donald said. “Many classical composers took the popular music of their times and elevated it. That’s what Gershwin did for jazz, which is uniquely an American style of music. There’s a real feeling that he’s one of us. He’s an American and the rest of the world loves it as well. We take great pride in it the same way Polish people take pride in Chopin.”
Another Gershwin piece they’ll perform is “Porgy and Bess Fantasy for Two Pianos” written by Percy Grainger. Porgy and Bess is an opera that gained popularity with the public. The songs such as “It Ain’t Necessarily So” and “Summertime” will be familiar to the audience, Donald said.
They like the arrangement because both parts are challenging for the pianists.
Ryan & Ryan also will perform a few Gershwin piano roll transcriptions. Gershwin wrote a number of piano rolls meant to be performed on a player piano. They were later transcribed for two pianos.
Music has been written for four hands at one keyboard, but Donald said he and his son prefer playing on their own instruments.
“With two pianos, you can get just as soft as with one piano,” Donald said. “But when you want to get loud and want that wash of sonority, two pianos are ideal.
“If you want to emphasize a part you can play in unison or voice a chord more darkly or brightly than you could with one piano.”
Barron said he hopes the audience will be overwhelmed by the beauty of the sound of two pianos, adding, “We want (the audience) to join us in the experience of making music and celebrating such a uniquely American composer, a culture we all share.”
Going Gershwin: Ryan & Ryan
When: 7:30 p.m. March 2
Where: James Lumber Center, 19351 Washington St.., Grayslake
Tickets: $12-$35
Information: 847-543-2300, clcillinois.edu/events/the-arts-events/james-lumber-center-events
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.