The ninth video in our Staying Alive series features soprano Madison Leonard singing “Love Is Here to Stay.” She is accompanied by Tulsa Opera Artistic Director Tobias Picker at the piano.
Regarding the song, Tobias Picker said:
“George Gershwin wrote “Love Is Here to Stay” for the 1938 film The Goldwyn Follies. His brother Ira completed the words as a tribute to George immediately following the composer’s tragic death in 1937.
“Gershwin’s “Love Is Here to Stay” often reminds me of Mozart’s Requiem, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, Puccini’s Turandot, and Strauss’s Four Last Songs. All of these works were their composer’s last, and all of them were premiered posthumously.
“Though small in scope relative to the final works of Mozart, Mahler, Puccini, and Strauss, the Gershwin message of the eternal Earth and the transcendence of love is no less poignant or moving, especially now.”
If you would like to support Tulsa Opera, please donate today. Your support is even more vital now than ever before.