George Gershwin was an American composer who blended jazz and classical music into an exciting new sound, most famously in his piece Rhapsody in Blue — reportedly written in just a few weeks after he learned from a newspaper that he was already booked to premiere a new "jazz concerto." With his brother Ira writing the words, he composed hit songs and Broadway shows loved by millions, as well as the opera Porgy and Bess. Though he died young, at just 38, his music remains some of the most performed American music ever written.