Classic Ross Amico

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Groundhog Day Music Special

Tomorrow, the Groundhog will demonstrate the full scope of his prognosticatory powers, as he emerges from his den, briefly, to call the expiration date on winter.

But the Groundhog is not the only creature of the natural world possessed of extraordinary talents. Tomorrow morning on WPRB, we’ll salute this wise and gifted rodent through music inspired by zoological and cryptozoological wonders – creatures such as the Hedgehog, the Bee, the Unicorn, the Whale, and the Bold Umbrellaphant.

At 10:00, I will be joined by a very special guest, composer Saad Haddad, Composer, whose fascinating work, “Manarah,” was heard on a concert of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra this past weekend. Haddad will share more of his music, which similarly employs electronics to expand the palette of Western acoustic instruments, such as the trumpet, the piano, the violin, the viola, and the cello, to evoke the microtones and glissandi characteristic of the Middle East.

Join me, as I brag as lustily as Thoreau’s Chanticleer, standing on his roost, this Thursday morning, from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We shadow the Groundhog, on Classic Ross Amico.

February 1, 2017
Saad Haddad Composer on WPRB

Capping this Thursday morning’s broadcast on WPRB will be a special visit from Saad Haddad, Composer, whose fascinating work, “Manarah,” was heard on a concert of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra this past weekend. Haddad will share more of his music, which similarly employs electronics to expand the palette of Western acoustic instruments, to evoke the microtones and glissandi characteristic of the Middle East.

Haddad found his distinctive voice while transferring video tapes for his mother. “My mom had all these VHS tapes that she wanted me to convert to a digital format so that we could save them on a hard drive,” he says. “When you’re watching these tapes, it’s not like burning a CD, where it’s very quick. You have to watch the whole video for it to convert. So I started noticing my uncles, my aunts. They were my age about 20 years ago. I’m watching them, and I hear some music, the way that they speak, the rhythm of their voices.”

He also noted the singing of a congregation at the Melkite Catholic church where he and his brothers were baptized. The prolonged exposure to these images and sounds of his past inspired him to turn to Arabic inflections as the basis of his original compositions.

Tune in to sample for yourself. Saad Haddad joins me tomorrow morning at 10:00 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. I’ll be there at 6, on Classic Ross Amico.

February 1, 2017
Mozart’s Birthday A Salieri Celebration

Mediocrities everywhere, I absolve you!

Join me tomorrow morning (Thursday) on WPRB, as we steel ourselves for Mozart’s birthday. Mozart was born on January 27, 1756. How will we mark the occasion? Why, by listening to music written by other composers in tribute to him, of course. Not a note of actual Mozart will be heard! Mwah-ha-ha-hahaha!! That makes me so happy.

Composers from the 18th century to the present pay homage to “the creature” tomorrow, from 6 to 11 a.m. EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We’ll be channeling Antonio Salieri, on Classic Ross Amico.

January 26, 2017
Youth Music on the Radio This Sunday

O sweet bird of youth!

No, it’s not Tennessee Williams. Rather, it’s a full morning of music written especially for young performers.

We’ll have selections by Benjamin Britten, Aaron Copland, Dmitri Kabalevsky, Zoltán Kodály, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, William Mathias, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Robert Moran, Carl Orff, and Grace Williams, among others.

Furthermore, in the 9:00 hour, Larisa Epps will drop by from the Youth Orchestra of Central Jersey. YOCJ will present two concerts this Sunday at Kendall Hall on the campus of The College of New Jersey in Ewing. She’ll tell us a little bit about the programs and her worthwhile organization. Then at 10:00, we’ll be joined by Hilary Butler of the Princeton Girlchoir, which will appear at McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton on Sunday night.

I welcome you into my sandbox, this morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. Radio can certainly age you, but the music will keep you young, on Classic Ross Amico.

January 19, 2017
Tropical Heatwave Radio Show on WPRB

We’re having a heat waaaave… a tropical heat wave…

Only days after our first taste of snow, temperatures are poised to rise into the 60s.

This Thursday morning on WPRB, we’ll take our cue from Irving Berlin and ride the wave into the tropics. We’ll have music affiliated in some way or another with Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Brazil – broadly speaking, the Caribbean, the Amazon, and Latin America. Some of it will be in the form of picture postcards by European and (North) American composers; much it will be by artists who hail from equatorial climes.

Join me on my tropical estancia, tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We need more cow bell, on Classic Ross Amico.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCnJ_8Z5Nb4

January 12, 2017

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