It’s Election Day – AT LAST???

In 24 hours, it will all be over, except for the lawsuits, the counter-lawsuits, and the recounts.

Join me in rising above the the anxiety with an afternoon of inspirational music. We’ll begin with a concert featuring PUBLIQuartet, captured live during last season’s Downtown Concert Series in Freehold, NJ. The program will include music by Britten, Debussy, Piazzolla, and Villa-Lobos, alongside works by contemporary American composers, such as Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw.

PUBLIQuartet reinvigorates the classical chamber repertoire with plenty of sass and panache. The ensemble caught the attention of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Colbert invited them to perform an improvised soundtrack to a live stream of the final presidential debate in real time on the show’s Facebook page.

The Downtown Concert Series’ next concert will feature the Mobius Trio, which will appear at historic St. Peter’s Church in Freehold on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Following today’s broadcast of PUBLIQuartet, I hope you’ll stick around for more American music. Aaron Copland will make a statement with his “Statements for Orchestra,” from 1934. Peter Boyer will remind us of the American Dream, with “Ellis Island: The Dream of America,” a work that employs the actual words of immigrants who came to this country in search of a better life. Peter Schickele will stir the musical melting pot with his String Quartet No. 1 “American Dreams,” from 1983, a piece reflective of Appalachian fiddle music, fox trots, waltzes, blues, bop, and even birdsong. And if you don’t like the way the returns are going, you can always contemplate foreign real estate with Michael Torke’s “An American Abroad,” from 2002.

Why worry? It won’t change anything. So why not make us your stress-free zone? Relax, recharge, and rejoice in the American experience, from 12 to 4:00 p.m. EST. It will be the second leg of a marathon of American music, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.