Classic Ross Amico

Tag: WPRB

Happy Birthday Stravinsky & June Composers on WPRB

Happy Birthday, Igor Stravinsky!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNDbsj5zlV8

I hope you’ll join me tomorrow morning on WPRB, as we enjoy some of Stravinsky’s music, alongside that of the week’s other birthday celebrants, Edvard Grieg (born 6/15), Paul Gilson (6/15), Einar Englund (6/17), Charles Gounod (6/18), Manuel Rosenthal (6/18), Paul McCartney (6/18, by way of Leo Brouwer), Alfredo Catalani (6/19) and maybe even Jacques Offenbach (6/20). If I could find the time to plan more thoroughly, I would know for sure! The emphasis will be on lesser-played works and/or notable performances.

In addition, I’ll be joined on microphone by Melissa Bohl of Princeton University Summer Chamber Concerts. PUSCC will present four free events at Richardson Auditorium, beginning tomorrow night at 7:30. The Aeolus Quartet will perform music by Haydn, Bartók and Dvořák. The doors will open at 7, but you’ll want to get there extra early in order to ensure that you’ll get a seat, since everybody loves “free.” More information on the series may be found at http://www.princetonsummerchamberconcerts.org/.

As always, every aspect of the broadcast is extremely subject to change, dependent on my clouded brain, as I gaze, bleary-eyed, into my cabinet of wonders.

Tune in tomorrow from 6 to 11 a.m. to WPRB 103.3 FM, or listen online at wprb.com, and keep it classy with Classic Ross Amico.

Stravinsky rehearsing “Pulcinella”:

PHOTO: No applause, please, just throw money

June 17, 2015
Strauss, Bernstein & More on WPRB This Week

A lousy night’s sleep, but lots of great music ahead, including Strauss conducting Strauss (on his birthday); Bernstein conducting American music (by request); birthday candles for Carl Nielsen (6/9), Carlisle Floyd (6/11), and Carlos Chavez (6/13); in studio visits by Richard Tang Yuk, artistic director of the Princeton Festival (who will conduct “The Marriage of Figaro” at McCarter Theatre, starting this weekend), and members of the Assisi Quartet (who will talk about Olivier Messiaen, in anticipation of their concert tonight at Westminster Choir College’s Bristol Chapel).

I hope you’ll join me, from 6 to 11 a.m.: WPRB 103.3 FM, or online at wprb.com.

Keep it classy with… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

PHOTO: A nattily dressed Strauss, on his birthday

June 11, 2015
WPRB: Strauss, Messiaen & Princeton Festival

Here’s an idea of what you can expect to hear if you join me tomorrow morning on WPRB.

Once again, we observe birthdays, belated, in anticipation, or right on the nose, including those of Richard Strauss (born 6/11) and Carlos Chavez (6/13). There will be a nod to Carlisle Floyd (6/11), along with the fulfillment of a request made last week for some American music conducted by Leonard Bernstein. I haven’t quite gotten Carl Nielsen (6/9) out of my system. And we’ll see, we may hit one or two others, as well. It’s been a busy week for birthday anniversaries.

Members of the Assisi Quartet, for 15 years resident quartet of Assisi Performing Arts, will drop by at 9:00, to talk a little bit about Olivier Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time.” The ensemble will perform the work tomorrow night, alongside music of Franz Joseph Haydn, on a 7:30 p.m. concert at Bristol Chapel on the campus of Princeton’s Westminster Choir College.

Richard Tang Yuk will be on hand at 10:00, to tell us about The Princeton Festival, now in progress, and this year’s production of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.” Tang Yuk will conduct three performances of the opera at McCarter Theatre, on 6/13, 6/21 & 6/28.

Everything is extremely subject to change (I can’t seem to establish a playlist in advance, which makes it challenging since I bring all my own records), but in the best tradition of live radio, we will endeavor to push forward with a modicum of grace.

Tune in tomorrow from 6 to 11 a.m. to WPRB 103.3 FM, or listen online at wprb.com, and keep it classy with Classic Ross Amico.

June 10, 2015
WPRB Summer Classical Music Program Starts Now

A reminder to tune in to WPRB 103.3 FM this morning from 6 to 11 a.m. ET, to enjoy the first of 14 summer programs, hosted by Classic Ross Amico.

Among my guests this week will be Sandy Steiglitz, host of WPRB’s “Sunday Morning Opera with Sandy” (heard Sundays, from 6 to 10 a.m.), who will introduce recordings of baritone Robert Merrill, on this his birthday anniversary. That should take place around 8.

I’ll also be joined by Marvin Rosen, host of “Classical Discoveries” (Wednesdays, 5:30 to 11 a.m.), “Classical Discoveries Goes Avant Garde” (Wednesdays 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and “Treasures of Early Music” (Mondays, 5:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.), who will introduce something extra special from his own record collection. Marvin will be flitting around all morning, since he doesn’t sleep.

Richard Tang Yuk will be in to talk about The Princeton Festival at 9. The festival kicks into high gear this weekend. Tang Yuk, the festival’s artistic director, will conduct three performances of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” June 13, 21 & 28, at McCarter Theatre. For more information on the Princeton Festival, look online at http://www.princetonfestival.org.

Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of American composer Alan Shulman. We’ll mark the occasion by listening to one of his neglected works. Also expect birthday nods, belated, in anticipation, or right on the nose, for Sir Edward Elgar, Carl Nielsen and Yevgeny Mravinsky.

If you tune in bright and early, you may even hear a couple of concert works by composers better known for their achievements in film. The signal is far-reaching, but if for some reason you can’t get it, you can hear the program anywhere via streaming at http://www.wprb.com.

Best wishes to the great Teri Noel Towe, host of Towe on Thursday, who, for just about the first time in seven years, did not have to uproot his life to ride New Jersey Transit on a Wednesday evening.

Keep it classy, folks, and remember I’m just getting my sea legs!

PHOTOS: Shulman enjoys a cigarette for his hundredth birthday; Mravinsky is just plain smokin’.

June 4, 2015
Ross Amico Returns to WPRB! Princeton Airwaves

Classic Ross Amico returns to the airwaves! Beginning tomorrow, and for the next 14 weeks, I will be manning Thursday mornings at WPRB 103.3 FM, broadcasting from a bunker deep beneath Princeton University’s Bloomberg Hall.

The shift will extend from 6 to 11 a.m. ET, though apparently it is not unusual for hosts to turn up earlier and start spinning discs at 5:30. I’m suffering from a “summer cold” at the moment, so we’ll have to see about that.

Tune in for guest appearances by Sandy Steiglitz, host of WPRB’s @Sunday Morning Opera with Sandy (heard Sundays, from 6 to 10 a.m.), and Marvin Rosen, host of Classical Discoveries (Wednesdays, 5:30 to 11 a.m.), “Classical Discoveries Goes Avant Garde” (Wednesdays 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and “Treasures of Early Music” (Mondays, 5:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.).

Sandy will help us celebrate the birthday anniversary of American baritone Robert Merrill, and Marvin will introduce a special surprise from his own collection, long out of print and never issued on CD, which I am very excited to hear again after decades.

At 9:00, we’ll be joined by Richard Tang Yuk, who will talk a bit about The Princeton Festival, which begins in earnest this Saturday. Tang Yuk, the festival’s artistic director, will conduct three performances of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” June 13, 21 & 28, at McCarter Theatre. For more information on festival events, look online at http://www.princetonfestival.org.

What else can you expect to hear? I’m still trying to figure that out. But you can bet there will be nods to American composer Alan Shulman, on the 100th anniversary of his birth, and conductor Yevgeny Mravinsky, on the 112th of his.

The signal is strong – it can be heard as far away as Philadelphia on old school analogue radio – but it is also accessible worldwide at http://www.wprb.com.

Join us tomorrow and keep it classy with Classic Ross Amico.

PHOTO: Marvin and me, exuding class

June 3, 2015

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