George Gershwin, born and raised in Brooklyn, was one of the most significant and popular American composers of all time. He wrote primarily for the Broadway musical theatre, but important as well are his orchestral and piano compositions in which he blended, in varying degrees, the techniques and forms of classical music with the stylistic nuances and techniques of popular music and jazz. Throughout his life, he often collaborated with Ira, his younger brother. Together they wrote many popular songs, orchestral pieces, and musicals. But his best-known work remains the “Rhapsody in Blue” for piano and orchestra.