Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Princeton

  • Snow Day No Ross Amico on WPRB

    Snow Day No Ross Amico on WPRB

    Due to the impending weather event (up to 12 inches of snow according to some sources), I hope you won’t mind too awfully if I sit out for “Classic Ross Amico” tomorrow morning on WPRB. My car is barely road-worthy even under the best of circumstances, and anyway I’ve been sick for the past two days (hence my paper-thin tone by the end of my air shifts). Taking a break will allow me to sit in my pajamas all day, propped up in bed, reading a book.

    Who or what, exactly, will take my place is uncertain. It might be a Princeton student or at any rate someone within walking distance of the station, or it might be the automation, which could not by any means pass for classical. (I’m told this will change, beginning in the 5 a.m. hour, in the coming weeks.) For as much as I would love to do a snow show, it would hinge on my actually being able to get to the station to do one! All in all, this could be a good time to reacquaint yourselves with your CD collections.

    Thank you for your interest. I’m hoping to be back next Thursday, from 6 to 11 a.m., on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com, with Classic Ross Amico.

    UPDATE: It looks as if the shift will be split between two student DJs, Nicky and Bobby, starting at 7 a.m. They’ll likely draw pretty heavily from the station’s arcana section, so a lot of the music will be contemporary and/or avant-garde. The name Pauline Oliveros has been bandied. Thanks, guys!

  • Westminster Choir College Protest Princeton

    Westminster Choir College Protest Princeton

    If you’re in the Princeton area, and you just can’t sleep, Westminster Choir College is holding a 24-hour marathon performance-protest against its overlord university.

    Rider University, desperate to shore up its own finances, is floating the idea of absorbing the operation of the Princeton music school into its Lawrenceville campus. Of course that would mean the primary artifacts of Westminster’s history, in the form of its neo-Georgian buildings, quadrangles, and invigorating greenery, would be left behind for a new owner to do with what it will. How Rider would propose to move all those organs is anyone’s idea.

    Anyway, the marathon began at 11:00 this morning and will run through 11:00 tomorrow morning at Nassau Presbyterian Church. Performances will include the college’s bottomless arsenal of pianists, organists, harpists, and of course singers, with solidarity appearances by Princeton Girlchoir and Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus.

    Nassau Presbyterian Church is located at 61 Nassau Street in Princeton. Just be aware that Princeton doesn’t like cars to be left on many of its streets after 2 a.m.

    You can read more about it here:

    http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/Westminster-Choir-College-begins-24-hour-performance-protest.html

    And here:

    http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2017/01/westminster_choir_college_musicians_sing_oppositio.html

  • Save Westminster Choir College in Princeton

    Save Westminster Choir College in Princeton

    Anybody else care about keeping Westminster Choir College in Princeton (as opposed to it being relegated to the music department of Rider University)? Sign the petition now.

    Article:

    http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2016/12/hundreds_sign_petition_against_selling_moving_west.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

    Petition:

    https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-unification-of-the-westminster-choir-college-campus-and-the-rider-campus

  • Affetto Records Revives Classical Music

    Affetto Records Revives Classical Music

    “The philosophy of the label is very simple,” says John C. Baker, founder of Affetto Records. “We want to bring high-end musicians through a world of broadcast and CD distribution to people who may not have heard them before or know of them, with unique recordings of world premiere music – new arrangements, new compositions – and that’s basically what we have done in the last year.”

    Baker, a multi-Grammy nominated producer and recording engineer, established the Princeton-based Affetto in 2004 for the purpose of a jazz release. It was revived only last year to serve reputable classical musicians who were having difficulty finding labels willing to record them.

    “They were having trouble getting their recordings released,” he says. “It has become so much more difficult in this world of decreasing CD impact, although classical music is one of the only genres in which CD sales are still increasing, especially overseas. So I was encouraged, shall we say, to start my own label.”

    One of those musicians was Elmira Darvarova, former concert master of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Darvarova performs on Affetto’s most recent release, “Amalgam,” an unusual venture, which places her alongside Indian sarod master Amjad Ali Kahn, his two sons, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan, and tabla player Tanmoy Bose. The album was released overseas through an arrangement with Times Music, India’s largest record label and music publisher.

    “Amalgam” is only the most recent of a stimulating – and growing – catalog of recordings in Affetto’s stable, including first issues of music by Bach, Mendelssohn, Cyril Scott, and composers of American art song.

    Since 1992, Baker has recorded more than 200 albums, both self-released and for other labels. He engineers many of the live concerts heard on WWFM – The Classical Network and contributes to both NPR and PRI.

    Find out more about it in my article in today’s Trenton Times.

    http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2016/08/classical_music_princeton_prod.html

  • Princeton’s Carnivalesque Organ Rally

    Princeton’s Carnivalesque Organ Rally

    The atmosphere in Princeton this weekend might best be described as “carnivalesque,” as COAA – Carousel Organ Association of America and AMICA – Automatic Musical Instruments Collector’s Association bring their historic and wondrous collections to the community.

    The organizations will combine for a “band organ rally” that will grace Princeton’s public spaces with ornate, century-old mechanical organs that may conjure memories for some of a bygone America from halcyon days.

    The elaborate mechanical instruments will be on display in the streets, squares and parks of Princeton on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Information desks and exhibits will help provide context.

    On Saturday at 10 a.m., at Nassau Presbyterian Church, across from Palmer Square, a one-hour multi-media presentation and orientation will be held to help acclimate the public to the music, the organizations, and their history.

    The rally will include everything from crank, grind or monkey organs, to large, trailer-mounted models that approximate the sounds of marching bands or concert orchestras.

    Music will range from vintage, classical and dancehall tunes to today’s greatest popular hits, which will be reinterpreted in very distinctive ways.

    Find out more about the organizations and the mechanical instruments in my article in today’s Trenton Times.

    http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2016/08/classical_music_carnivalesque.html

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