Ethan Uslan - Music of the Ragtime Era

This is a free lecture but registration is required. Use the ticket link to register. If you like these kinds of events, please consider supporting the Museum's programming by making a donation.

A Lecture and Performance with Ethan Uslan - Before jazz, before the blues crept north, before the radio changed everything — there was ragtime. Syncopated, irresistible, and thoroughly American, it was the sound of a nation finding its rhythm.

In this one-of-a-kind talk, pianist, historian, and storyteller Ethan Uslan brings the ragtime era roaring back to life from the keyboard. This isn't a dry musicology lecture, it's a living, breathing tour through one of America's most vibrant musical chapters, told by someone who has spent a lifetime inside it.

Garrison Keillor of A Prairie Home Companion put it simply: "If you listen to this guy's recordings, it's something different. It's just got a snap to it, played the way they ought to."

That snap is the whole point. Ragtime played the way it was meant to be played — not as a museum piece, but as music with pulse, personality, and plenty of humor.

The Chicago Tribune's Howard Reich noted that "ragtime/jazz pianist" doesn't quite suffice as a descriptor for Uslan, calling him "a charming storyteller, wry wit and historian of musical Americana." Expect exactly that: music woven together with the tales, characters, and cultural moments that made the ragtime era one of the most colorful in American history.

What to expect... Live ragtime piano performance · Historical context and behind-the-music storytelling · An evening that's as entertaining as it is enlightening · Q&A to follow

Come curious. Leave humming.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Sigal Music Museum