• JoAnn Falletta’s Musical Morning on WPRB

    JoAnn Falletta’s Musical Morning on WPRB

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    It’s a Falletta Fest! All recordings of works conducted and/or played by JoAnn Falletta this morning.

    Falletta is in Princeton with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra for this year’s Edward T. Cone Composition Institute, five days of intensive compositional evaluations and consultations, master classes and career-building opportunities, which will culminate in a live concert performance of participating composers’ works. The concert, including four world premieres and a piece by Institute director Steven Mackey, will take place tonight at Richardson Auditorium at 7:30 p.m.

    In the meantime, composers you can expect to hear on this morning’s program will include Miguel del Águila, Romeo Cascarino, Eric Ewazen, Kenneth Fuchs, Gustav Holst, E.J. Moeran, Jerome Moross, Behzad Ranjbaran, and Marcel Tyberg, among others, performed by orchestras with which Falletta has had fruitful associations, including the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra, the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Women’s Philharmonic.

    Falletta herself will drop by around 9:00 to talk about the institute and some of her other projects. She’s always very busy, with plenty of concerts, festivals and recordings in the pipeline.

    I hope you’ll join me, this morning from 6 to 11 a.m. ET, for some entrancing musical rarities, at WPRB 103.3 FM or online at wprb.com.


  • JoAnn Falletta on WPRB Tomorrow!

    JoAnn Falletta on WPRB Tomorrow!

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    I am elated that JoAnn Falletta has accepted my invitation to drop by WPRB tomorrow. She has always been a conductor after my own heart.

    As music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra (among her numerous other credits), she has championed dozens of works which could easily be classified as unusual or neglected. She is also an indefatigable champion of new music.

    Falletta is in Princeton this week with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, as part of this year’s Edward T. Cone Composition Institute. The institute is an intensive workshop and lab for young composers who are shepherded through the process of getting their music from manuscript through rehearsals to performance. They are also provided with valuable career insights into what it means to be a professional composer.

    The program will culminate in a public concert made up of four world premieres, including Luke Carlson’s “The Burnished Tide,” Brendan Faegre’s “Dirt to Gold,” Shuyin Li’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night,” and Reinaldo Moya’s “Siempre Lunes, Siempre Marzo,” tomorrow night at Richardson Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Institute director Steven Mackey’s “Urban Ocean” will also be heard.

    Tomorrow morning on WPRB, Falletta will talk a little bit about the institute and some of her other upcoming projects. She is a prolific recording artist. The entire show will be devoted to selections from her extensive discography.

    Some of the composers you can expect to hear will include Miguel del Águila, Romeo Cascarino, Eric Ewazen, Kenneth Fuchs, Gustav Holst, E.J. Moeran, Jerome Moross, Behzad Ranjbaran, and Marcel Tyberg, among others. You may even get to hear Falletta play the guitar.

    Expect her visit around 9:00. I hope you’ll join me, tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 a.m. ET, at WPRB 103.3 FM, or online at wprb.com. Keep it classy with glassy-eyed Classic Ross Amico.


  • Bastille Day Méhul French Revolution Composer

    Bastille Day Méhul French Revolution Composer

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    July 14. Bastille Day.

    Étienne-Nicolas Méhul was perhaps the most important opera composer of the French Revolutionary Era. When one of his works was banned for political reasons, Méhul quickly figured out on which side his baguette was buttered and began writing propaganda pieces and patriotic songs. Vive la France!

    He was rewarded by being the first composer named to the newly-established Institute de France in 1795. He was also installed as an inspector at the Paris Conservatory. Allegedly, he was one of the favorite composers of Napoleon, with whom he was on friendly terms.

    According to musicologist and Berlioz biographer David Cairns, Méhul was also the first composer to be classified as “Romantic.” Judge for yourself, when I play his Symphony No. 4, around 1:30 p.m. ET, on WRTI 90.1 FM (in the Philadelphia area) or online at wrti.org.


  • Hear Ross Amico Live & On Demand Radio

    Hear Ross Amico Live & On Demand Radio

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    Last chance to hear Classic Ross Amico live until Thursday morning (on WPRB). Of course, you can always enjoy the rerun of Sunday night’s “The Lost Chord” (“Port of Riches”) on WWFM tomorrow evening at 6. For today: WRTI, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET. Stock up at 90.1 FM or wrti.org.


  • Django Unchained Hateful Eight & Morricone

    Django Unchained Hateful Eight & Morricone

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    Am I the only one who found Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” disappointing and gross? As you probably know, I love a good spaghetti western, but “Django” was neither especially good (for the first rate production values) nor very “spaghetti.” The unnecessarily bloody experience kind of dampened my enthusiasm for the forthcoming “The Hateful Eight,” despite that wonderful cast (and Kurt Russell’s absurd period facial hair).

    However, I confess my interest has been rekindled, grudgingly, with the announcements that “The Hateful Eight” will be released on 70 mm FILM (as opposed to digital) and – most intriguingly – the film will be scored by the great Ennio Morricone.

    Tarantino’s affection for Morricone’s music is evident, as he generally reuses something from the composer’s extensive output somewhere in his films, yet consistently he has been unable to coax an original score from The Master. That is, until now. Can Morricone, who is 86 years-old but still going amazingly strong, really be writing his first western score in 40 years? Even if I don’t see the movie, the soundtrack is definitely going on my wish list.

    http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/ennio-morricone-to-score-quentin-tarantinos-hateful-eight-20150712

    The genius of Ennio Morricone (for Rose):


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