Maple Leaf Rag Day 2017

1 April 2017 marks 100 years to the day of Scott Joplin’s passing. Americans across the country honored the occasion in a tribute to the great composer of the “Maple Leaf Rag” whose wish to have this piece played at his funeral was not honored 100 years ago.

Richard Dowling performed all-Joplin concerts nationwide throughout 2017 & 2018 highlighted by the first public performance in history of The Complete Piano Works of Scott Joplin in Carnegie Hall on April 1, 2017, exactly 100 years to the day that Joplin died in New York.

Not many composers are publicly celebrated in such a high-profile fashion by professional musicians a century after their passing as Scott Joplin was. It speaks to the love and respect for the musical genre he catapulted to worldwide acclaim at the turn of the 20th century — Ragtime.

Here’s Richard performing excerpts of the Maple Leaf Rag and The Entertainer during the annual Scott Joplin Concert held outdoors at St. Michael’s Cemetery where Joplin is buried:

and an earlier performance by Mr. Dowling of the complete Maple Leaf Rag accompanied by orchestra: