¡Buenos días, amigos!

I hope you’ll join me today, as WWFM begins its fall series of “Noontime Concerts.” I’ll host a broadcast of Spanish guitar works performed by The Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo.

The concert took place on May 28 at Bethlehem Presbyterian Church in Pittstown, NJ, located in rural Hunterdon County, as part of the Raritan River Music Festival. Soprano Rochelle Ellis will join the duo for “Aranjuez, ma pensée,” after the famous adagio from Joaquín Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez,” and the composer’s “Four Love Madrigals,” as well as Manuel de Falla’s “Seven Spanish Folksongs.” Also on the program will be music by Isaac Albéniz.

The concert will open with the world premiere performance of “Incendia” by Ryan Sandor, an 8th grade student at Alexandria Middle School and a winner of the Hunterdon County Young Composers Contest.

Michael Newman has been on the faculty of Mannes College of Music in New York City for 37 years. Recently, he joined the faculty of The College of New Jersey. Laura Oltman is on the faculty of Lafayette College in Easton, PA. For more than three decades, she has also taught at Princeton University. Rochelle Ellis teaches at both Princeton University and Westminster Choir College.

The next Raritan River Music concert will be a special fall event, to honor America’s veterans. Singer-songwriter-storytellers Sally Rogers and Claudia Schmidt will appear at Bethlehem Presbyterian Church on November 6 at 2 p.m. For more information, visit RaritanRiverMusic.org.

Following today’s “Noontime Concert,” I will salute conductor Evgeny Svetlanov on his birthday anniversary with one of his many recordings of the symphonies of Nikolai Myaskovsky. Enjoy this and more, between 12 and 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.