Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

  • Shakespeare 400 WPRB Celebrates the Bard

    Shakespeare 400 WPRB Celebrates the Bard

    To sleep, Perchance to dream…

    Ha! Not much chance of that on a Thursday morning, not when I have to be on the air at 6:00.

    Every Thursday morning in April, we’ll honor the Bard, as we mark the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. We’ll hear overtures, incidental music, symphonic poems, art songs, choral works, and operatic highlights inspired by the plays and sonnets. Some of the pieces may be familiar, or marginally so; others have been criminally underplayed.

    Tune in over the coming weeks to enjoy works like Constant Lambert’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Gerald Finzi’s “Love’s Labours Lost,” Josef Bohuslav Foerster’s “From Shakespeare;” Paul Moravec’s “Tempest Fantasy,” Florent Schmitt’s “Antony and Cleopatra;” Alexander Zemlinsky’s “Cymbeline,” and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ beloved “Serenade to Music,” set to a text from “The Merchant of Venice.”

    All the world’s a stage, this morning and over the next three Thursdays, from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. Brush up your Shakespeare, on Classic Ross Amico.

    #Shakespeare400

    The man that hath no music in himself,
    Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
    Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils;
    The motions of his spirit are dull as night
    And his affections dark as Erebus:
    Let no such man be trusted.

    – “The Merchant of Venice,” Act 5, scene 1

  • Shakespeare Henry V Music & Trenton School Benefit

    Shakespeare Henry V Music & Trenton School Benefit

    O for a Muse of Fire!

    We’re celebrating Shakespeare this week – and over the next three Thursday mornings – on Classic Ross Amico. Stick around for an extended suite from the Laurence Olivier film of “Henry V,” with Christopher Plummer the narrator.

    We’ll take a short break in the music around 9:00 for a worthy cause, as we are joined by representatives of the Foundation Academies Charter School in Trenton. Students of the Academy will join cellist Michelle Djokic, artistic director of Concordia Chamber Players, for a fundraising concert to acquire instruments for the students at Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion, this Saturday at 4 p.m.

    Then on Sunday at 3 p.m., the students will attend Concordia’s next concert at Trinity Episcopal Church, Solebury, PA., that will feature works by Mozart, Brahms and Michael Daugherty. Hopefully you will consider being there, as well. We’ll hear more about it, plus the Foundation Academy’s “Stand Partners” program, during the course of their visit.

    Then it’s back to music. Plenty of Shakespeare yet to come this morning, until 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 and at wprb.com

  • Shakespeare Month on Classic Ross Amico

    Shakespeare Month on Classic Ross Amico

    April marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. We’ll mark the occasion on Classic Ross Amico with a full month of programs inspired by his writings. That’s 20 hours worth of Shakespeare-related works – minus the weekly musician interviews, of course – as we enjoy overtures, incidental music, symphonic poems, art songs and choral works, all with a distinctive Bardic slant.

    We’ll take a short break tomorrow in the 9:00 hour, as we are joined by representatives of Foundation Academies Charter School in Trenton. Students of the Academy will join cellist Michelle Djokic, artistic director of Concordia Chamber Players, for a fundraising concert at the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion, this Saturday at 4 p.m.

    Then on Sunday at 3 p.m., the students will attend Concordia’s next concert at Trinity Episcopal Church, Solebury, PA, that will feature works by Mozart, Brahms and Michael Daugherty. Hopefully you will consider being there, as well. We’ll hear more about it, plus the Foundation Academy’s “Stand Partners” program, during the course of their visit.

    Then it’s back to the Bard! It’s all Shakespeare this month, every Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. Where there’s a Will, there’s a way, on Classic Ross Amico.

    #Shakespeare400

  • Granados Tragedy Wilson’s Invitation

    Granados Tragedy Wilson’s Invitation

    One more source of controversy for Woodrow Wilson:

    100 years ago, Enrique Granados was in New York for the premiere of his opera, “Goyescas,” at the Metropolitan Opera. An unexpected invitation to perform a recital at the White House caused the composer to miss his ship back to Spain. As a result, he booked passage on an English vessel. On March 24, 1916, on the second leg of their journey, he and his wife boarded the passenger ferry, “S.S. Sussex,” with the intention of crossing the channel for Dieppe, France. En route, the ferry was torpedoed by a German U-boat, and Granados drowned in an attempt to save his wife.

    Just before his departure from New York, the composer made some live-recorded player piano rolls for the Aeolian Company’s “Duo-Art” system.

    Granados piano roll of “The Maiden and the Nightingale” from “Goyescas”:

    And of the Spanish Dance No. 5 “Andaluza”:

    Granados began to write a piano concerto in 1909, breaking off work on it to compose “Goyescas.” He died before the piece could be completed. Six years ago, the sketches were discovered, and a realization of the concerto was recorded for the Hyperion label. The work will finally be heard in concert in Barcelona at the Palau de la Música Catalana on April 21. I recommend taking a plane.

    An ironic footnote: one of the Granados’ sons, also named Enrique, was a champion swimmer.

  • Gregory Peck Centennial on TCM

    Gregory Peck Centennial on TCM

    Today is the 100th birthday of Gregory Peck, and Turner Classic Movies: TCM is showing a full day of his films, including “To Kill a Mockingbird” (at 10 p.m. EDT).

    Happy birthday, Atticus!

    Full schedule here:

    http://www.tcm.com/schedule/?ecid=subnavfulltcmschedule

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