Some regard a “blood moon” eclipse as a portent of the End of Days. Others blanch at the cataclysmic implications of swapped air shifts.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/doomsday-predicted-as-blood-moon-coincides-with-sukkot/

Chances are you will either be in synagogue this morning, or you’ll wish you were, when flighty bird Classic Ross Amico sits in for the always reliable Marvin Rosen at WPRB. Ah well, we might as well make the best of it.

We’ll be jumping on the media bandwagon this week to salute Pope Francis and maybe grumble a little bit about the situation in Philadelphia, where the Pope Fence is going up and tow trucks are impounding cars all across Center City.

We’ll honor the Pope (it’s not his fault) with music inspired by his namesake, St. Francis. Francis brought forth musical tributes from many composers across the centuries. We’ll hear from Kenneth Fuchs, Paul Hindemith, Franz Liszt, Francis Poulenc, Joaquin Rodrigo, Sir William Walton, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Leo Sowerby.

Also, because of Francis’ well-known affinity with and for the critters, we’ll leaven the proceedings with works evocative of the animal kingdom, pieces like Samuel Barber’s “The Monk and His Cat,” Jennifer Higdon’s “An Exaltation of Larks,” Peter Schickele’s “Bestiary,” and of course Gioachino Rossini’s “Cat Duet.”

Marc Uys, Executive Director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, will drop by at around 9:00 to tell us a little bit about the PSO’s upcoming season, which will begin on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium, when violinist Jennifer Koh will perform Anna Clyne’s “The Seamstress” (after a poem of William Butler Yeats) and Rossen Milanov will conduct Sergei Rachmaninoff’s wonderfully wistful Symphony No. 2.

Due to Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, Marvin Rosen’s Classical Discoveries will be heard on THURSDAY this week, from 5:30 to 11 a.m. ET. Despair not! This is only a temporary circumstance. Marvin will return to his regular Wednesday slot next week, and I’ll be back on Thursdays.

For the time being, I hope you’ll join me for St. Francis and friends, this morning from 6 to 11, on WPRB 103.3 FM or online at wprb.com. The fur will fly this week, on Classic Ross Amico.