Friday, August 4, at 3:00 pm
Host Mike Savage is joined by Secretary of State Cathy Cox, Public Service Commission Chairman Robert Baker, and a representative from the Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs, to answer listeners' consumer questions. The number to call is 1-866-RADIO-GA (1-866-723-4642).
Friday, August 4, at 8:00 pm
Guest Burt Bacharach
Composer, arranger, and conductor Burt Bacharach is a true legend of American popular music. With such landmark tunes as "Alfie," "The Look of Love," and "What The World Needs Now is Love," Bacharach has charmed and beguiled audiences across the musical spectrum. He sits down with McPartland for an hour of freewheeling music-making and conversation.
Saturday, August 5, at 1:30 pm
Ambroise Thomas: Mignon
Many consider Ambroise Thomas a one-hit wonder, with that hit being the opera heard last month, Hamlet. But Thomas's career actually got a jump-start with Mignon, the sparkling tale of a family struck by tragedy and reunited by fate. Patrick Marie Aubert conducts this performance from the Capitole Theatre in Toulouse, France.
Sophie Koch (Mignon); Laura Claycomb (Philine); Yann Beuron (Wilhelm); Giorgio Surian (Lothario); Blandine Staskiewica (Frederic); Christian Jean (Laerte); Phillipe Fourcade (Jarno/Antonio)
Saturday, August 5, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, August 5, at 9:00 pm
Harry O'Donoghue hosts this locally produced Celtic music program. Playlists are available at the Green Island archive page.
Sunday, August 6, at 12:00 noon
Guests: David Finckel, cello; Wu Han, piano
Ludwig van Beethoven's life story finds no more vivid expression than in the very music that engendered, and reflected, its ferocity and drama. This week, two superb guides - Emerson String Quartet cellist David Finckel and celebrated pianist Wu Han - trace both the tragedy and grandeur of Beethoven's life as they are reflected in his five sonatas for cello. The duo surveys all of them, offering between performances how and where each corresponds to Beethoven's life and development. Don't miss a transporting hour.
Sunday, August 6, at 1:00 pm
This week, From the Top comes from the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Chicago. The show is highlighted with performances by the prestigious violinist Rachel Barton Pine, the Chicago Children's Choir, and the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Friday, August 11, at 8:00 pm
Guest Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett is one of the great American singers, known throughout the world for his mellow tenor voice and swinging bel canto style. This year, as he celebrates his 80th birthday, Bennett has been named Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts. Tony talks about his love of painting, his favorite songwriters, and the significance of the American popular song. He and McPartland perform "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams," "All of Me," and other great standards.
Saturday, August 12, at 1:30 pm
Giovanni Paisiello: The Barber of Seville
We generally think of Rossini's The Barber of Seville as a sort of prequel, riding the coattails of that other Figaro opera, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. But Mozart's masterpiece was opportunistic in its own right - a true sequel to the first hit opera starring the wiley barber, this 1782 score by Paisiello, whose career spanned Mozart's entire lifetime. Rinaldo Alessandrini is the conductor in this production from the National Theatre in Brussels.
Elena Monti (Rosina); Stefano Ferrari (Almaviva); Giulio Mastrototaro (Figaro); Luciano de Pasquale (Bartolo); Filippo Morace (Don Basilio); Nabil Suliman (Simpleton/Notary); Donal Byrne (Giovinetto/Alcade)
Saturday, August 12, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, August 12, at 9:00 pm
Harry O'Donoghue hosts this locally produced Celtic music program. Playlists are available at the Green Island archive page.
Sunday, August 13, at 12:00 noon
Guests: Takács String Quartet
One mark of a masterful ensemble is its power to convey the idiomatic vision behind each work it performs, all while leaving no doubt as to its own. This week, the Takács Quartet offers absorbing takes on three works whose composers bear remarkably different approaches to the form: Beethoven's bracing "Serioso" quartet, a "sad burlesque" from Béla Bartók's sixth quartet, and the radiant opening movement of Maurice Ravel's Quartet in F Major. At each turn, the Takács' faithfulness to these works' individuality is underpinned by a voice, and virtuosity, all its own.
Sunday, August 13, at 1:00 pm
Waikiki beckoned and From the Top came back to the beautiful Hawaii Theatre in Honolulu for a show featuring a wonderful local string orchestra and some great kids from Oahu and the mainland. We'll hear 17-year-old violinist Laura Keller, from Honolulu; pianist Andrew Ramons, age 13, from Waipahu; double bassist Nathan Vadal, 16, from Seattle; and soprano Elizabeth Hertzberg, 16, from San Rafael, California.
Friday, August 18, at 8:00 pm
Guest Chick Corea
Pianist and composer Chick Corea is one of the most creative and inventive musicians in the jazz world today, and the newest inductee into that select group of musicians, the NEA Jazz Masters. On this 1987 program recorded at Corea's California studio, the two introduce an electronic element into Piano Jazz with a duet of "Crystal Silence," as McPartland plays the Fender Rhodes and Corea plays the KX5.
Saturday, August 19, at 1:30 pm
Gioacchino Rossini: The Barber of Seville
Okay, it's not the original Barber of Seville, as we learned from Paisiello last week, but Rossini's blockbuster is still the one that gets most of the glory, and for good reason. Joyce DiDonato is a striking Rosina in this first-rate production from the Houston Grand Opera, conducted by Patrick Summers.
Earle Patriarco (Figaro); Joyce DiDonato (Rosina); Richard Croft (Almaviva); John Del Carlo (Dr. Bartolo); Vladimir Ognovenko (Basilio)
Saturday, August 19, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, August 19, at 9:00 pm
Harry O'Donoghue hosts this locally produced Celtic music program. Playlists are available at the Green Island archive page.
Sunday, August 20, at 12:00 noon
Guest: Hélène Grimaud, piano
In all she plays, pianist Hélène Grimaud reveals a searching and singular voice. This week from the stage of New York City's Academy of Arts and Letters - a suitable setting for an artist whose earliest creative discoveries were often literary - she brings alive three companionable forms. Opening with "Fantasia on an Ostinato," John Corigliano's hypnotic homage to Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, she continues with a pair of rhapsodies by Johannes Brahms and a trio of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Études-Tableaux. Ms. Grimaud fathoms each composer's distinct vision with uncompromising faith in her own.
Sunday, August 20, at 1:00 pm
Though the beaches of Maui are beautiful, there is something even more amazing in this episode of From the Top, recorded at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center. Listen to breathtaking performances by 16-year-old guitarist Guillaume DeZwirek and violinist Zoe Martin-Doike, 16. You'll also hear two 12-year-old pianists, Luke Harvey and Kevin Hong; double bassist Kathryn Schulmeister, 16; and pianist Aimi Watanabe, 16.
Friday, August 25, at 8:00 pm
Guest Jimmy Heath
Saxophonist, composer, and NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Heath is the middle brother of the illustrious jazz family, the Heath Brothers. A bebop player and big band leader, Heath also performed with the likes of Miles, Dizzy, and Coltrane. In 2001, he joined McPartland and bassist Rufus Reid for an hour of unforgettable talk and music, including "You've Changed" and Jimmy's most famous tune, "Gingerbread Boy."
Friday, August 25, at 9:00 pm
Grammy-award-winning tenor saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter was born on August 25, 1933, in Newark, New Jersey. His career has spanned more than 50 years, and in that time he has composed a long list of jazz standards. He has also performed with some of the most innovative groups in jazz, including Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, the Miles Davis Quintet, and Weather Report. Join Masani, host of The Jazz Spot, for this conversation with Wayne Shorter, celebrating his life in jazz.
Saturday, August 26, at 1:30 pm
George Frederick Handel: Julius Caesar
There was a time when people were surpised to learn that Handel was among the most acclaimed opera composers of his time. Now, he's quickly becoming a favorite of our own time as well. This star-studded production of Julius Caesar shows us why Handel's reputation in the opera house continues to be on the rise. The Houston Grand Opera is conducted by Patrick Summers.
David Daniels (Julius Caesar); Laura Claycomb (Cleopatra); Brian Asawa (Ptolemy); Phyllis Pancella (Cornelia); Patricia Risley (Sextus); Joshua Winograde (Achillus); Matthew White (Nirenus); Nikolay Didenko (Curius)
Saturday, August 26, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, August 26, at 9:00 pm
Harry O'Donoghue hosts this locally produced Celtic music program. Playlists are available at the Green Island archive page.
Sundays at 6:00 am, beginning August 27
A new 13-week series featuring performances by the Seattle Symphony, conducted by Gerard Schwarz. The first program includes the world premiere of Sparkle by Shafer Mahoney; Don Quixote by Richard Strauss, with guest cellist Lynn Harrell; and Brahms' Symphony No. 4 in E-minor.
(Replaces Deutsche Welle Festival Concerts)
Sunday, August 27, at 12:00 noon
Guests: Milan Turkovic, bassoon; David Shifrin, clarinet; Shai Wosner, piano
Acclaimed bassoonist Milan Turkovic doesn't think about the keys on his instrument when he performs - he listens instead for its natural voice. That way "it's like singing," he says, "because the human voice is the most natural instrument we have." This week Mr. Turkovic is joined by two celebrated friends who share the same vision: clarinetist David Shifrin and pianist Shai Wosner. In addition to a heart-on-sleeve trio by Beethoven, the performers will play another work that fits their lyrical approach just as beautifully, Mikhail Glinka's Trio Pathètique in d minor. The Russian composer’s enduring passion for Italian opera graces each phrase. Listen in for some exquisite instrumental bel canto.
Sunday, August 27, at 1:00 pm
From the Top is at home on the stage of New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall in Boston for a show featuring Ania Filochowski, an 11-year-old violinist who just moved to the U.S. from Poland, and the Merit Honors Trombone Quartet from Chicago. In addition, performances by composer/pianist Neara Russell, age 17, from Wisconsin; soprano Carolyn Sproule, 17, from Montreal; and pianist Nathan Bello, 18, from Oregon.
Sunday, August 27, at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, September 3, at 10:00 am
Coming up on this month's program, Atlanta author Emily Giffin joins host St. John Flynn to talk and take listener calls about her new novel Baby Proof (St. Martin's Press, 2006), which explore the question, "Is there ever a deal-breaker when it comes to true love?" First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes... a baby carriage? Isn't that what all women want? Not so for Claudia Parr. And just as she gives up on finding a man who feels the same way, she meets Ben. They fall in love and agree to buck tradition with a satisfying, child-free marriage. But then the unexpected occurs: one of them has a change of heart. One of them wants children after all! The toll-free number to call during the program is 1-866-RADIO-GA (866-723-4642).
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Page updated 7/24/06