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Tag: WWFM

NYC Early Music Concerts on WWFM

The signal goes out for another Noontime Concert on The Classical Network, courtesy of Gotham Early Music Scene (GEMS).

Today’s program will be drawn from two of GEMS’ Midtown Concerts. Duo Dialogues (made up of harpsichordist Alissa Duryee and Baroque cellist Jérôme Huille) will present a program of suites and sonatas by Giacomo Cattaneo, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Jean Barrière; then Gold and Glitter (Baroque flutist Sang Joon Park, Baroque violinist Daniel Lee, viola da gambist Martha McGaughey, and harpsichordist Arthur Hass) will convene for Francois Couperin’s “La Françoise” from the collection “Les Nations” of 1728.

The concerts took place at St. Bartholomew’s Church, 50th Street and Park Avenue, in Midtown Manhattan, where free concerts are held every Thursday at 1:15 p.m. This Thursday, cellist Juliana Soltis and fortepianist Sylvia Berry will salute Hélène Liebmann, Marianna von Auenbrugger, and Maria Szymanowska on a program titled “In History’s Shadow: Forgotten Female Virtuosi.” To find a complete schedule of lunchtime performances, look online at midtownconcerts.org.

GEMS also presents evening concerts. The ensemble Artek will offer music by the three B’s of German Baroque music – Bach, Bruhns, and Buxtehude – this Friday at 8 p.m. at Holy Trinity Church, Central Park West and West 65th Street, on the Upper West Side.

Academy of Sacred Drama will present the U.S. premiere of Antonio Draghi’s “Oratorio di Guiditta,” inspired by the Biblical tale of Judith, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Corpus Christi Church, 529 West 121st Street.

And Voices of Ascension will celebrate the paintings of Francisco Zurbarán, “Joseph and His Twelve Sons,” currently on display at the Frick Collection, with related works by Cristóbal de Morales, Alonso Lobo, Francisco Guerrero, Roque Ceruti, and George Frideric Handel, next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, 921 Madison Avenue (at 73rd Street).

Gotham Early Music Scene is a non-profit corporation that supports and promotes artists and organizations in New York City devoted to early music – music of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, and early Classical periods. For more information and GEMS’ events calendar, look online at gemsny.org.

To the Batpole! It’s Baroque music from Gotham this afternoon at 12:00 EST. Then stick around until 4 – among my featured works, by request, will be a symphony by Edmund Rubbra and a concerto by Joachim Raff. Dark justice meets public service, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

March 6, 2018
Remembering Richard Hickox Champion of English Music

It’s sobering to think that Richard Hickox would have been 70 years-old today. Hickox, one of the great champions of English music, died of a dissecting thoracic aneurysm, suffered while recording Gustav Holst’s “First Choral Symphony,” in 2008.

For decades, Hickox applied his indefatigable zeal to filling out the catalogue with fine recordings of established classics and poor stepchildren. His early passing came especially hard at the end of what seemed like a run on great British conductors – Bryden Thomson (died in 1991), Sir Alexander Gibson (1995), and Vernon Handley (2008, only two months before) – that kept alive a venerable tradition too often dismissed abroad.

Hickox was the founder of the City of London Sinfonia and Collegium Musicum 90. He was also choral director of the London Symphony Orchestra, artistic director of the Northern Sinfonia, and principal conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. At the time of his death, he was music director of Opera Australia.

Hickox recorded prolifically – orchestral works, oratorios, and operas – for the EMI and Chandos labels. The recipient of many honours and awards, he was also president of the Elgar Society. He was the only conductor ever to program the complete symphonies of Ralph Vaughan Williams as a series in concert. Who knows how much more he would have accomplished had he lived another 20 or 25 years?

This afternoon on The Classical Network, we’ll remember Hickox and the Spanish conductor Jesús López-Cobos, who died on Friday at the age of 78. López-Cobos will conduct music of Heitor Villa-Lobos on the anniversary of the birth of Brazil’s most famous composer. I hope you’ll join me from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

March 5, 2018
Oscar Scores Webcast Your Movie Music Party

Due to its timely nature, my annual WWFM Oscar Party has been posted as webcast. I can’t promise you it’s the greatest thing ever (I didn’t eat lunch yesterday), but there’s plenty of enjoyable music from 18 films, including all five of this year’s nominees for Best Original Score (“Phantom Thread,” “Dunkirk,” “The Shape of Water,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”). Get yourself primed for the Oscars with three hours of classic and contemporary film scores. Follow the link, and crunch away.

http://wwfm.org/post/enjoy-picture-perfect-oscar-party-friday-afternoon

March 3, 2018
Movie Music Oscars Special on The Classical Network

“You see, this is my life. It always will be. There’s nothing else. Just us, the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark. All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up!”

Join me (and Norma Desmond) this Friday afternoon on The Classical Network as we mark the 90th anniversary of the Academy Awards with a SPECIAL THREE-HOUR BROADCAST celebrating the history of music in the movies. Hear selections from all five of this year’s nominees for Best Original Score, alongside music from some of the best-loved and most-honored movies of all time – including “The Godfather,” “Star Wars,” “Titanic,” “The Lord of the Rings,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Ben-Hur,” and “Gone with the Wind.”

The music IS big; it’s the PICTURES that got small. The playlist will be positively cinematic, this Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

March 2, 2018
Academy Awards Film Music Celebration

Attention, film music fans: “Picture Perfect” is about to go epic.

Join me this Friday afternoon on The Classical Network as I mark the 90th anniversary of the Academy Awards with a SPECIAL THREE-HOUR BROADCAST celebrating the history of music in the movies. Hear selections from all five of this year’s nominees for Best Original Score, alongside music from some of the best-loved and most-honored movies of all time – including “The Godfather,” “Star Wars,” “Titanic,” “The Lord of the Rings,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Ben-Hur,” and “Gone with the Wind.”

You provide the popcorn; I’ll provide the music, this Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

March 1, 2018

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