Friday, September 1, at 8:00 pm
Guest George Wein
Pianist, author, and jazz impresario extraordinaire, George Wein is said to have expanded the audience for jazz more than any other promoter in the music's history. Wein began his career as a pianist, playing in Boston jazz clubs before he opened his own successful venue, Storyville. He also helped to organize the first Newport Jazz Festival, which kicked off a highly successful career as a preeminent jazz promoter. Wein teams with McPartland on "Lady Be Good," and he shows off his vocal chops on "Just a Gigolo."
Saturdays at 11:00 am, beginning September 2
This month, GPB adds two new programs on Saturdays. Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me! is an oddly informative news quiz from NPR. Peter Sagal hosts the fast-paced, irreverent show, which might be described as the news Olympics. Callers, panelists, and guests compete by answering questions about the week's events, identifying impersonations, filling in the blanks at lightning speed, sniffing out fake news items, and deciphering limericks. Listeners vie for a chance to win the most coveted prize in radio: having offical judge and scorekeeper Carl Kasell record the outgoing message on their home answering machine.
Saturdays at 12:00 noon, beginning September 2
Each week, host Kai Ryssdal looks at major national and international stories that affect the average listener's wallet. Produced by the Marketplace team, the program offers smart topics, expert advice, and current information. Ryssdal and his guests help listeners map out the path to financial well-being, with advice on topics like how to pay for college and whether to buy or lease a car. Formerly known as Sound Money, the show has a new sound and a new host, but it's still as informative and useful as ever.
(These two shows replace Whad'ya Know)
Saturday, September 2, at 1:30 pm
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito
The Magic Flute is often credited as Mozart's final opera. But the last one he composed is actually La Clemenza di Tito. It was written as a sort of old-fashioned "occasional piece." But the music is mature Mozart at its finest, shot through with startling innovations and stunning beauty. Heinz Fricke conducts this production by the Washington National Opera.
Tatiana Pavlovskaya (Vitellia); Michael Schade (Tito); Marina Domashenko (Sesto); Jossie Pérez (Annio); Hoo-Ryoung Hwang (Servilia); Nikolai Didenko (Publio)
Saturday, September 2, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, September 2, at 9:00 pm
Harry O'Donoghue hosts this locally produced Celtic music program. Playlists are available at the Green Island archive page.
Sunday, September 3, at 12:00 noon
Guests: James Galway, flute; Phillip Moll, piano
Beloved the world over for his singular artistry and sound, this week Sir James Galway also gives us a taste of his infectious wit and warmth. The legendary flutist joins friend and longtime collaborator Phillip Moll for a program that reveals the wide-ranging mastery of the "Man with the Golden Flute." Sir James brings music of several French composers to life and honors his Irish origins, too, with a poignant pennywhistle tune called "Dawning of the Day." Tune in for a truly special hour.
Sunday, September 3, at 1:00 pm
This edition of From the Top comes to us from the Virginia Arts Festival in Norfolk, Virginia. It features a flute choir from the area and very young pianist Kevin Lu from Newport News. We'll also hear percussionist Brian Flescher, age 18, from Lawrence, Kansas; violinist Kristin Baird, 16, from Virginia Beach; and horn player Kolio Plachkov, 17, originally from Bulgaria.
Friday, September 8, at 8:00 pm
Guest Jim Hall
Widely recognized and admired as a gifted and innovative player, jazz guitarist Jim Hall enjoys a career that has spanned more than fivr decades. His sound is lush and his playing is always warm and expressive. Recently, Hall has entered a new creative space, writing and arranging choral and orchestral compositions, all the while continuing to record and perform in a variety of settings. The 2004 NEA Jazz Master inductee teams up with McPartland and bassist Gary Mazzaroppi for "Blue Monk" and solos on "All The Things You Are."
Saturday, September 9, at 1:30 pm
Umberto Giordano: Fedora: Act II
Giuseppe Verdi: Otello: Act IV
Franz Lehar: The Merry Widow: Act III
This special trilogy is a showcase for the legendary talents of the Washington National Opera's music director, tenor Placido Domingo. His unmistakeable voice illuminates acts from three very different operas, and Domingo's portrayal of the title character in Verdi's incomparable Otello is a performance for the ages.
Giordano: Eugene Kohn, conductor; Placido Domingo (Loris); Sylvie Valayre (Fedora); Amanda Squitieri (Olga); Lee Poulis (De Sirieux)
Verdi: Heinz Fricke, conductor; Placido Domingo (Otello); Barbara Frittoli (Desdemona); Erin Elizabeth Smith (Emilia); John Marcus Bindel (Iago); Corey Evan Rotz (Cassio)
Lehar: Eugene Kohn, conductor; Placido Domingo (Danilo); Christiane Noll (Valencienne); Leslie Mutchler (Hanna); Steven Condy (Baron Zeta); Corey Evan Rotz (Njegus)
Saturday, September 9, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, September 9, at 9:00 pm
Harry O'Donoghue hosts this locally produced Celtic music program. Playlists are available at the Green Island archive page.
Sunday, September 10, at 12:00 noon
Guests: The Czech Nonet
Now celebrating its 80th year, the Czech Nonet makes a visit to Saint Paul Sunday for a program that includes three works composed especially for its uncommon recipe of winds and strings. The legendary ensemble's longstanding alliance with composers has inspired some of chamber music's greatest works. We'll get tastes this week of Förster and Krejcí side-by-side with fuller courses of Dvorak and Martinu. The latter holds special significance for the ensemble and echoes an expansiveness typical of Martinu's music. Each day as a sickly young child, the composer's father, a watchman, carried him up 193 steps to the top of their village tower. Years later Martinu wrote that this sense of space was to become central to his music - "space which I always have in front of me."
Sunday, September 10, at 1:00 pm
Béla Fleck, the man who's redefined the banjo, is this week's special guest. He joins young musicians to perform Bach, and his own arrangement for string quartet and banjo of a beautiful Irish folk song. Plus, a young violinist fresh from an appearance on Martha Stewart's television show gives Béla some much-needed redecorating tips.
Friday, September 15, at 8:00 pm
Norah Jones at Tanglewood 2003
A record crowd was on hand when Grammy-winning singer/pianist Norah Jones joined McPartland for a live taping of Piano Jazz at the 2003 Tanglewood Jazz Festival. In this live program, Jones debuts her version of Ellington's "Melancholia," for which she wrote new lyrics. She demonstrates her love of standards, singing and playing "Mean To Me," "Loverman," and "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most."
Saturday, September 16, at 1:30 pm
Gaetano Donizetti: The Elixir of Love
There's not a lot to be taken seriously in this comic romp by Donizetti. Unless, of course, you count the music. It's some of Donizetti's finest, and takes the opera beyond the world of farce to a place where simple confidence can lead to life-changing revelations. Emmanuel Villaume conducts the Washington National Opera.
Elizabeth Futral (Adina); Paul Groves (Nemorino); Marc Barrard (Belcore); Steven Condy (Dr. Dulcamara); Christina Martos (Giannetta)
Saturday, September 16, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, September 16, at 9:00 pm
Harry O'Donoghue hosts this locally produced Celtic music program. Playlists are available at the Green Island archive page.
Sunday, September 17, at 12:00 noon
Guests: Anonymous 4
First published in 1844 and in continuous use since, The Sacred Harp is an American tunebook that assigns to each musical note a shape (whether a diamond, triangle, circle, or square) and a corresponding syllable ("me," "faw," "sol," or "law") in a system devised to simplify singing for participants who might otherwise be unable to read music. This week the widely beloved ensemble Anonymous 4 offers us distinctive songs of this country's own early vocal traditions. They'll sing shape-note music from The Sacred Harp along with several other affecting songs of our folk and gospel heritage.
Sunday, September 17, at 1:00 pm
From the Top celebrates the adventuresome spirit of the young people on our program with a "What The Heck Was That Piece" show. The program features kids who brought us extraordinary performances of out-of-the-way music. Hear quizzical piano music of Polish composer Milos Magin and a fabulous and raucous piece written by a 10-year-old boy from New York City. Performers include: violinist Jing Wang, age 18, from New York City; pianist Ryan McEvoy-McCullough, 16, from Eureka, California; guitarist Gohar Vardanyan, 18, originally from Armenia; the Harbison Piano Quintet, ages 16 and 17; and pianist/composer Conrad Tao, 10, with pianist, Peng-Peng Gong, 12.
Monday-Friday, September 18-22, at 6:51 and 8:51 am
Valdosta folklorist Laurie Sommers presents an audio tour of some old and new cultural communities that make up south Georgia's cultural mosaic. This five-part series airs during Morning Edition at 6:51 am and 8:51 am, the week of September 18, made possible by Valdosta State University and the National Endowment for the Arts. Each segment explores the sounds, stories, and traditions of a different cultural group.
We visit the workshop of Creek-Scots woodcarver Bobby Johns, who grew up in southeast Georgia during the 1930s and '40s, preserving ancient Creek customs that were hidden from outsiders.
At the annual Chesser Homestead Open House, deep in the Okefenokee, descendants of the Chessers who homesteaded here in the 1850s share cherished musical traditions of the old swamper families, like sacred harp singing and the distinctive holler or yodel of the Okefenokee.
In the tiny Liberty County community of Riceboro, a small Baptist Church celebrates its Gullah roots with the McIntosh County Shouters, preservers of the nation's oldest and most African form of African American music and religious practice.
Then there are the traditions of newer cultural groups, like the Mexican Americans of Douglas, who work in factories by day and by night continue Mexican customs like the colorful Christmas fiesta called "Las Posadas," a candlelight procession re-enacting the story of Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem.
Finally, experience the devotional songs and chants of Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, now celebrated in south and middle Georgia communities like Perry, Valdosta, and Savannah, where a growing number of Asian Indian families now make their homes.
Friday, September 22, at 8:00 pm
Taylor Eigsti at Tanglewood 2004
Piano prodigy Taylor Eigsti joined McPartland for a special live taping of Piano Jazz at the 2004 Tanglewood Jazz Festival. Eigsti dazzled the audience with his amazing technique and his flawless improvisations on "Fever," and then he and McPartland traded licks and creative piano techniques on "Oleo."
Saturday, September 23, at 1:30 pm
Giuseppe Verdi: I Vespri Siciliani
If you've ever wondered why some people think the opera's not over until all the characters are dead, this piece may be the reason. It has enough deadly plotting, and enough of Verdi's finest music, for several evenings in the opera house. The Washington National Opera is conducted by Placido Domingo.
Maria Guleghina (Elena); Franco Farina (Arrigo); Lado Ataneli (Montforte); Vitalij Kowaljow (Procida); Erin Elizabeth Smith (Ninetta); Robert Baker (Danieli); Corey Evan Rotz (Tebaldo); J. Austin Bitner (Manfredo); James Shaffran (Roberto); John Marcus Bindel (Bethune); Benjamin von Atrops (Vaudemont)
Saturday, September 23, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, September 23, at 9:00 pm
Harry O'Donoghue hosts this locally produced Celtic music program. Playlists are available at the Green Island archive page.
Sunday, September 24, at 12:00 noon
Guests: The Seattle Chamber Players and Friends
Seattle has long drawn treasure and world travelers into its port and heart. This week, Saint Paul Sunday travels to the Emerald City for a program of Baltic repertoire performed by several of its own musical treasures. The acclaimed Seattle Chamber Players, true to their collaborative spirit, invite guest artists to join them for works from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania - music that invites us into new soundworlds as it expands the bounds of our listening. Seattle Pro Musica, another celebrated group that calls its namesake home, joins SCP in the final work of the broadcast, Peteris Vasks's cosmic "Plainscapes."
Sunday, September 24, at 1:00 pm
This week From the Top is at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas. Highlights include a teenage pianist from Texas performing music by Liszt, and a young flutist from Kentucky performing the music of Georges Hue. We'll also have a round of student vs. teacher musical jeopardy. And we'll hear from 13-year-old violinist Robert Switala; soprano Laren Musumeci, 18; and cellist Gugene Kang, 15.
Sunday, September 24, at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, October 8, at 10:00 am
Joining host St. John Flynn on the program this month is McDonough, Georgia, auther W. Dale Cramer. He'll be in the studio to talk and take listener calls about his latest novel Levi's Will (Bethany House, 2005). At age 19 Will Mullet flees his Ohio community, leaving behind a pregnant girlfriend and all things Amish. He begins a new life, joins the army, marries, and has two sons of his own. But his new life is tainted by the hidden sins of his past. Hoping to patch things up with his father, Will takes his new family to meet the old one. But his father rejects him, and Will spends years working to regain his respect. Can Will learn that love, not work, will heal the past and give hope for the future? The toll-free number to call during the program is 1-866-RADIO-GA (866-723-4642).
Friday, September 29, at 8:00 pm
Guest Linda Ronstadt
Grammy-winning vocalist Linda Ronstadt has created stellar performances in a number of musical genres. Whether singing pop, country, Latin, or jazz, Ronstadt's crystal clear tone is unmistakable. Ronstadt has recently revisited the American standards that earned her multi-platinum success in the '80s. She joined McPartland in Worcester, Massachusetts, for a live Piano Jazz, where the two legends had the audience on its feet, with stunning versions of "Lush Life" and "Miss Otis Regrets."
Saturday, September 30, at 1:30 pm
Gioacchino Rossini: L'Italiana in Algeri
The plot is more than a little silly, not to mention politically incorrect in the extreme! But nobody did wackiness better - and more beautifully - than Rossini did in this brilliant score, heard here from a cast filled top to bottom with world-class Rossini singers. The Washington National Opera is directed by Riccardo Frizza.
Olga Borodina (Isabella); Juan Diego Florez (Lindoro); Ildar Abdrazakov (Mustafà); Lyubov Petrova (Elvira); Leslie Mutchler (Zulma); Bruno de Simone (Taddeo); Valeriano Lanchas (Haly)
Saturday, September 30, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, September 30, at 9:00 pm
Harry O'Donoghue hosts this locally produced Celtic music program. Playlists are available at the Green Island archive page.
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Page updated 8/29/06