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Wearing appropriate costumes from the years 1890-1940, Helen Crayford performs virtuoso, syncopated piano solos by composers ranging from Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton to 'Fats' Waller and Billy Mayerl. Be entertained and illuminated by the stories behind the music, as Helen traces the story of Ragtime and its transformation into the 'Riches' of early Jazz. Rags To Riches was awarded a grant from the Arts Council's A4Express, with which Helen mounted her Gershwin centenary celebration, 'Lady, Be Good!' in the Purcell Room on 6th April 1998. As well as works by Gershwin himself, she performed pieces by his immediate predecessors and contemporaries, showing the context of his musical language. The concert built to an exciting climax with the performance of a newly-commissioned work by Richard Michael, which included allusions to George Gershwin.