You might say this afternoon will get off to a Rocky start. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, when you consider we’re talking about the Rocky Mountains and the Strings Music Festival Steamboat Springs, CO.
Today’s Noontime Concert on The Classical Network will be drawn from two separate programs from last year’s festival, including a Baroque celebration, with works by Handel (the Concerto Grosso in G major, Op. 6, No. 1) and Neruda (the Trumpet Concerto in E-flat Major), and a Czech chamber music concert, including works by Smetana (the Duo for Violin and Piano “From My Homeland”) and Martinu (the Trio in F major for Flute, Cello and Piano).
Strings Music Festival presents music of the highest quality performed by some of the world’s finest musicians in stunning Northwest Colorado. This summer will mark Strings’ 31st season, which will include nearly 60 events, with 32 concerts and free community programs. The season will begin this weekend. The opening orchestra concert will take place on June 23. For more information and complete concert listings, look online at stringsmusicfestival.com.
This Friday at 8 p.m., The Classical Network will present “Rhapsody in Blue, Live and On the Air: George Gershwin in Steamboat Springs,” a recreation of a radio broadcast concert of the 1930s, with the Strings Festival Orchestra led by Loras John Schissel and special guest host sportscaster Verne Lundquist. On the program will be music by Gershwin – including “Rhapsody in Blue” with soloist Wendy Chen – Jerome Kern, Vernon Duke, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
Following today’s concert broadcast, stay tuned for another tribute to conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky, who died on Saturday at the age of 87. We’ll hear a complete performance of Tchaikovsky’s “The Sleeping Beauty,” presented live with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, from 1979.
That’s a lot of Beauty. Join me for this embarrassment of riches, from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
