Classic Ross Amico

Tag: WPRB

JoAnn Falletta’s WPRB Radio Fest

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

Falletta is in Princeton with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra for this year’s NJSO 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 new works and a piece by Institute director Steven Mackey, will take place at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium Saturday at 8 p.m.

We’ll celebrate Falletta’s return by sampling from her vast discography, with orchestral music by, among others, Romeo Cascarino, Kenneth Fuchs, Jack Gallagher, E.J. Moeran, Jerome Moross, Behzad Ranjbaran, Igor Stravinsky, and Marcel Tyberg, performed by orchestras with which Falletta has had fruitful associations, including the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, and the Women’s Philharmonic.

We’ll also listen to a couple of new releases of music by Richard Strauss and Vítězslav Novák, issued on the Naxos label, a rare recording featuring Falletta as guitarist, and two that she made with her husband, the clarinetist Robert Alemany.

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 for some entrancing musical rarities, courtesy of JoAnn Falletta, on Classic Ross Amico, from 6 to 11 EDT on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com.

July 13, 2017
JoAnn Falletta Returns to WPRB

I am very pleased to announce that JoAnn Falletta has agreed to return as my guest this week on WPRB.

Falletta is in Princeton as part of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Edward T. Cone Composition Institute. Four emerging composers will have their works rehearsed and performed by the NJSO, participate in masterclasses with Institute Director Steven Mackey, receive feedback from NJSO musicians, and benefit from career-building advice from music-industry leaders.

Falletta will help mentor the composers and then conduct the orchestra in representative works by Noah Kaplan, Sam Lipman, Alyssa Weinberg, and another former Classic Ross Amico guest, Saad Haddad, alongside Mackey’s “Four Iconoclastic Episodes.” The concert, which is open to the public, will take place at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium this Saturday at 8 p.m.

Tune in to WPRB this Thursday morning at 9:00 to hear Falletta talk about the institute and some of her other projects. As music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, she’s always very busy, with plenty of concerts, festivals and recordings in the pipeline. Falletta has championed dozens of works that could easily be classified as unusual and neglected. She is also an indefatigable champion of new music.

To celebrate her return to Princeton, we’ll enjoy a full morning of her recordings, including selections from new releases of music by Richard Strauss and Vítězslav Novák on the Naxos label. Mark your calendars for another Falletta Fest on Classic Ross Amico, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com.

Meet the composer, Saad Haddad:

http://www.njsymphony.org/about-njso/newsroom/in-the-news/meet-the-cone-institute-composers-saad-haddad

July 12, 2017
Ashkenazy at 80 Uncommon Classics on WPRB

Classical music radio stations around the world will be celebrating the 80th birthday of Vladimir Ashkenazy. How many will do so, I wonder, by playing “B-sides?”

This morning on WPRB, we’ll take our usual tack and try to focus on the unusual and neglected, with Ashkenazy as pianist, performing music by Taneyev, Stravinsky, Previn and Rautavaara (okay, we’ll toss in a little Rachmaninoff, too), and as conductor, performing works by Franck, Prokofiev, Scriabin and Boris Blacher.

At 9:00, we’ll pause for a visit from accordionist Robert Young McMahan. McMahan, who is on the faculty of The College of New Jersey, is one of the foremost authorities on his instrument. He is on the governing board of the American Accordionists’ Association, which will hold its annual festival at the Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village, from July 12 to July 16. Tune in to learn more, or look online at http://www.ameraccord.com. The AAA has commissioned prominent contemporary composers to write for the accordion for over 65 years. McMahan will share some of his insights and recordings.

It will be mostly Ashkenazy, with a dash of accordion, this morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. Come to think of it, when are we not dashing, on Classic Ross Amico?

PHOTO: Ashkenazy, oblivious of the dress code

July 6, 2017
Accordionist Robert McMahan on WPRB Radio

At 9:00, we’ll take a break from our celebration of the 80th birthday of Vladimir Ashkenazy to welcome accordionist and composer Robert Young McMahan to the studio. McMahan, who is on the faculty of The College of New Jersey, is one of the foremost authorities on his instrument. He is on the governing board of the American Accordionists’ Association, which will hold its annual festival at the Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village, from July 12 to July 16. Tune in to learn more, or look online at http://www.ameraccord.com. The AAA has commissioned prominent contemporary composers to write for the accordion for over 65 years. McMahan will share some of his insights and recordings.

Then, at 10:00, we’ll be back to Ashkenazy, with music by Sergei Rachmaninoff and André Previn. Between now and then, we’ll have recordings of Ashkenazy performing works by César Franck, Igor Stravinsky, Boris Blacher and Einojuhani Rautavaara. Plenty of unusual and inspiring music to come until 11 a.m. EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com.

July 6, 2017
Ashkenazy at 80 A WPRB Birthday Salute

July 6 marks the 80th birthday of Vladimir Ashkenazy. Who hasn’t heard his Rachmaninoff, his Beethoven, his Chopin? It’s been done.

Then, the more I thought about it, I started to remember his cherishable recording, as conductor, of César Franck’s “Psyché.” And his disc of rarely-heard orchestral works by Boris Blacher. And his album of two-piano music by Igor Stravinsky, recorded with Andrei Gavrilov. And his Robert & Clara Schumann lieder recordings with Barbara Bonney. And his solo turns in André Previn’s Piano Concerto and Einojuhani Rautavaara’s “Gift of Dreams.” And I thought, okay, I guess I really do have the justification and the means to put together a truly compelling show.

I hope you’ll join tomorrow morning on WPRB as I salute Ashkenazy at 80.

We’ll also have a visit from accordionist Robert Young McMahan. McMahan, who is on the faculty of The College of New Jersey, is one of the foremost authorities on his instrument. He is on the governing board of the American Accordionists’ Association, which will hold its annual festival at the Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village, from July 12 to July 16. Tune in tomorrow to learn more, or look online at http://www.ameraccord.com. The AAA has commissioned prominent American composers to write for the accordion for over 65 years. McMahan will share some of his insights and recordings in the 9:00 hour.

It will be Ashkenazy in concord with the accordion, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. We’ll be tickling the keys, in whatever form, on Classic Ross Amico.

July 5, 2017

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