Thursdays at 8:00 pm and Sundays at 10:00 pm, beginning February 1
The ASO returns to GPB radio for a third season of broadcasts. Hear performances from the orchestra's 2006-2007 concert season, along with commentary by the conductors and exclusive interviews with guest artists and members of the Atlanta Symphony. Visiting soloists include violinists Midori, Gil Shaham, and Itzhak Perlman, and pianists Emanuel Ax, Stephen Hough, Peter Serkin, and André Watts. The ASO's regular conductors are Robert Spano, Donald Runnicles, and Laura Jackson. Guest conductors this season include Bernard Labadie, Jun Maerkle, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Roberto Abbado, and Nicholas McGegan.
Thursday, February 1, at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, February 4, at 10:00 pm
Vaughan Williams: Serenade
Higdon: Dooryard Bloom
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (Choral)
(Robert Spano, conductor; Jessica Rivera, soprano; Measha Brueggergosman, soprano; Kelley O'Connor, mezzo-soprano; Thomas Studebaker, tenor; Nmon Ford, baritone; Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Choruses)
Friday, February 2, at 3:00 pm
On the first Friday of the month at 3:00 pm, Georgia Public Broadcasting Radio offers the Consumer Call-in program, a live, one hour call-in where experts take calls and answer questions about consumer issues. The program, hosted by Rickey Bevington, includes experts such as Secretary of State Cathy Cox, Public Service Commissioner Bobby Baker, and representatives from the Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs. The program covers a wide variety of consumer topics from how to protect your identity to dealing with unfair business practices. You can e-mail your questions and comments to consumer@gpb.org. The number to call is 1-866-RADIO-GA (1-866-723-4642).
Friday, February 2, at 8:00 pm
Guest Marie Marcus
Marie Marcus was a remarkable stride pianist and a protégé of Fats Waller. A native of Boston, Marcus played in all the jazz hot spots before settling down in Cape Cod, where she became known as the Cape's "First Lady of Jazz." When she joined McPartland in 1993, she talked about her mentor, Fats Waller, and performed a medley of his most famous tunes.
Saturday, February 3, at 1:30 pm
Giacomo Puccini: La Bohème
Puccini's classic, based on Henry Murger's novel Scènes de la Vie de Bohème and first performed in 1896, has become the quintessential opera. It depicts the life and loves of a group of poor artists in Paris, including the poet Rodolfo who falls in love with Mimi, a poor seamstress slowly dying of tuberculosis, and his roommate Marcello, a painter involved with the flirtatious Musetta. Carlo Rizzi conducts this production.
Cristina Gallardo-Domâs (Mimi); Marcello Giordani (Rodolfo); Dwayne Croft (Marcello); Aaron St Clair Nicholson (Schaunard); John Relyea (Colline); Paul Plishka (Benoit/Alcindoro)
Saturday, February 3, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, February 3, at 9:00 pm
Harry O'Donoghue hosts this locally produced Celtic music program. Playlists are available at the Green Island archive page.
Sunday, February 4, at 12:00 noon
Guest: Jonathan Biss
Twenty-six year-old pianist and rising star Jonathan Biss brings his artistry and his insight to the studio this week. On the program are sonatas by Beethoven and Mozart, along with selections from Robert Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze. In this work the composer brings to life the two opposing personalities that often appear in his music. Schumann even gave them names: the fiery and passionate Florestan, and Eusebius, the dreamy and instrospective character. Jonathan Biss gets in touch with both sides of Schumann's musical personality, and we get to hear firsthand why he's one of the most sought-after pianists performing today.
Sunday, February 4, at 1:00 pm
This week From the Top comes from the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas, at the annual convention of the Music Teachers National Association. Highlights include a teenage pianist from in Texas performing a Liszt Transcendental Etude, a young flutist from Kentucky performing the music of Georges Hue, and a 15-year-old cellist from California performing two movements of Ligeti’s Sonata for Solo Cello. Also, a major grudge match pits students against teachers in From the Top’s most down-and-dirty round of "Musical Jeopardy!" ever.
Monday, February 5, at 8:00 pm
GPB celebrates Black History Month with a special series hosted by NPR's Michele Norris. Every Voice and Sing looks at the rich but little-known history of choral music and choirs at historically black colleges and universities. The five-part series covers the period from Reconstruction to the present. Part one, "The Early Legends," airs at 8:00 this evening, featuring the founding and growth of the black colleges, and the birth and development of their choirs, specifically those at Fisk, Hampton, Morehouse, and Wilberforce. It tells how the early directors and their groups built a repertoire and a following, and played a vital role in the survival of many of those colleges. Part two, "The Legend Grows," follows at 9:00. It discusses the lives, works, and accomplishments of some of the college choir directors and composers, including Jennie C. Lee and Portia Washington Pittman at Tuskegee Institute, R. Nathaniel Dett, first at Hampton Institute then later at Bennett College, and the directors and composers at several other colleges, including Spelman and Talladega.
(Pre-empts Studio GPB)
Tuesday, February 6, at 8:00 pm
Part three of the series, "And Sing!," at 8:00 this evening, covers the rising popularity and early changes in college-influenced black choral music, and how composers and directors like John Work III, William L. Dawson, Eve Jessye, Hall Johnson, and Harry T. Burleigh, and certain singers and venues like Paul Robeson, Radio City Music Hall, and even Hollywood and the movies, affected the music and its acceptance. Part four, "A Different Drummer," is heard at 9:00. It looks at the origins and rise of gospel music, primarily through the work of Thomas A. Dorsey, and its struggle for acceptance in black churches from the 1930s to the mid-1960s. Also an examination of its various forms today, from the traditional gospel blues ot Thomas Dorsey to Shirley Caesar, Cissy Houston, Take 6, and the hip-hop gospel selections of Kurtis Blow and Hell's Most Wanted.
(Pre-empts Studio GPB)
Wednesday, February 7, at 8:00 pm
The concluding part of the series looks at the legacy of the black college choral music tradition, including the work of choral directors like Drs. Nathan Carter, Roland Carter, Moses Hogan and some new-generation directors, and how they and others are coming to terms with the power and reach of gospel music, including hip-hop gospel. And finally, what it all means to the future of the music.
(Pre-empts first hour of Studio GPB)
Thursday, February 8, at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, February 11, at 10:00 pm
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 (Emperor)
(Robert Spano, conductor; André Watts, piano)
Friday, February 9, at 8:00 pm
Guest Michel Camilo
Dominican jazz sensation Michel Camilo is one of the most creative and technically gifted players on the scene today. Although equally skilled as a classical player, his true calling is jazz, with significant Latin influences. Camilo and McPartland get together for a stellar hour of classic jazz standards, including "Willow Weep for Me" and Corea's "Windows."
Saturday, February 10, at 1:00 pm
Pietro Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana/Ruggero Leoncavallo: I Pagliacci
A traditional double-bill of two short operas. Cavalleria Rusticana tells of the tangled love affairs of young former army officer Turiddu. Having wooed Santuzza and gotten her pregnant, he returns to his former love, the already-married Lola. I Pagliacci is a play-within-a-play, where the romantic problems of a troup of actors, led by Canio and his discontented young wife Nedda, are mirrored in their production, which features the clown Pagliaccio, a betrayed husband. The conductor of both operas is Marco Armiliato.
Dolora Zajick (Santuzza); Frank Porretta (Turiddu); Mark Delavan (Alfio); Krassimira Stoyanova (Nedda); Salvatore Licitra (Canio); Lado Ataneli (Tonio)
Saturday, February 10, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, February 10, at 9:00 pm
Harry O'Donoghue hosts this locally produced Celtic music program. Playlists are available at the Green Island archive page.
Sunday, February 11, at 12:00 noon
Guests: Musicians from Marlboro
Vermont's famous and long-running Marlboro Festival, founded in 1951 by Rudolf Serkin and Adolf Busch, is a very unique environment for a chamber musician to spend the summer. This is a place where a young professional can collaborate side-by-side with an experienced master artist on a level playing field. The result? First-quality music-making, and a family environment unlike any other in the classical music world.
Sunday, February 11, at 1:00 pm
Christopher Parkening, one of the world’s preeminent virtuosos of classical guitar, is From the Top’s special guest this week. The show was recorded at Pepperdine University, where Parkening is in residence, and where the Parkening International Guitar Competition is held every four years.
Thursday, February 15, at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, February 18, at 10:00 pm
Elgar: Violin Concerto
Holst: The Planets
(Robert Spano, conductor; Gil Shaham, violin; Women of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus)
Friday, February 16, at 3:00 pm, and Sunday, February 18, at 10:00 am
Recorded last November at Georgia Historical Society in Savannah, this program features author Fergus Bordewich talking about his 2005 book, Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America. The Civil War brought to a climas this country's bitter division. But the beginning of the end of slavery can be traced to a courageous band of ordinary Americans, black and white, slave and free, who joined forces to create what came to be known as the Underground Railroad. The true story of the Underground Railroad is more morally complex and politically divisive than even the myths suggest. Against a backdrop of westward expansion arose a fierce clash of values that was nothing less than a war for the country's soul. Bordewich tells the stories of men and women like David Ruggles, who invented the black underground in New York City; bold Quakers like Isaac Hopper and Levi Coffin, who risked their lives to build the Underground Railroad; and the inimitable Harriet Tubman. Interweaving thrilling personal stories with the politics of slavery and abolition, Bordewich shows how the Underground Railroad gave birth to this country's first racially integrated, religiously inspired movement for social change.
Friday, February 16, at 8:00 pm
Guest Ellen Seeling
The Montclair Women's Big Band keeps the jazz ensemble tradition alive and swinging in the San Francisco Bay area. Trumpeter and veteran bandleader Ellen Seeling brings her tenor sax player and assistant director, Jean Fineberg, and the group's New York drummer, Allison Miller, to Piano Jazz, joining McPartland and bassist Gary Mazzaroppi for quintet versions of "Georgia" and "St. Thomas."
Saturday, February 17, at 1:30 pm
Leos Janácek: Jenufa
Janácek wrote his own text in Czech for his 1904 opera, based on a story by Gabriela Preissova. Heroine Jenufa is a trusting, honest, and intelligent girl. When the opera begins she has become pregnant by her lover, her cousin Steva, and is anxious to marry him before anyone finds out. But the wealthy and irresponsible Steva abandons her to become engaged to Karolka, the frivolous young daughter of the town mayer. Jiri Belohlávek is the conductor.
Karita Mattila (Jenufa); Anja Silja (Kostelnicka); Kim Begley (Laca); Jorma Silvasti (Steva)
Saturday, February 17, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, February 17, at 9:00 pm
Harry O'Donoghue hosts this locally produced Celtic music program. Playlists are available at the Green Island archive page.
Sunday, February 18, at 12:00 noon
Guests: The Amelia Piano Trio
Though formed just six years ago, the Amelia Piano Trio has already won significant acclaim, not least for its adventurous collaboration with living composers. This week it brings one of the most beloved works in chamber music - Felix Mendelssohn's wondrous D minor piano trio, a work Robert Schumann hailed as "the master trio of the age" - and pairs it with a movement from a new work written especially with the Amelias in mind: "Short Stories" by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Harbison. The threesome leads off with a vivid Schubert scherzo.
Sunday, February 18, at 1:00 pm
Béla Fleck, the man who has redefined the banjo, is the special guest on this week’s show. He’ll join young musicians aged 13 to 19, to perform Bach and his own arrangement for string quartet and banjo of a beautiful Irish folk song. You’ll hear a teenage ensemble perform Britten, and a young violinist perform Brahms. And that same young violinist, fresh from an appearance on Martha Stewart’s new television show, will give Béla some much-needed redecorating tips.
Thursday, February 22, at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, February 25, at 10:00 pm
Stravinsky: Octet
Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F
(Robert Spano, conductor; Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano)
Friday, February 23, at 8:00 pm
Guest Carli Munoz
Pianist Carli Munoz's musical journey has taken him from Puerto Rico to the studios and clubs of LA, and back to the island of his birth, where he now owns his own jazz club. His musical career has taken a similar circular trajectory. Having started out as a jazz musician, he played with pop musicians such as the Beach Boys and Rickie Lee Jones, before returning full time to his first love, jazz. He plays his own tune, "Mia," and joins McPartland for Cole Porter's "So in Love."
Saturday, February 24, at 1:00 pm
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin is a sophisticated, cosmopolitan man who inherits land in the country near Madame Larina’s estate. Larina's daughter Tatyana falls head over heels in love with him, but Onegin cannot offer her more than "a brother’s love." When Onegin idly flirts with Tatyana's sister Olga at a party, his friend Lensky, who is in love with Olga, challenges him to a duel. Valery Gergiev conducts.
Renée Fleming (Tatyana); Elena Zaremba (Olga); Ramón Vargas (Lensky); Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Onegin); Sergei Aleksashkin (Prince Gremin)
Saturday, February 24, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, February 24, at 9:00 pm
Harry O'Donoghue hosts this locally produced Celtic music program. Playlists are available at the Green Island archive page.
Sunday, February 25, at 12:00 noon
Guests: The Sixteen
This Palm Sunday, Harry Christophers will lead the Sixteen in a program of polyphonic Renaissance music for which the British ensemble is beloved the world over. The Sixteen will sing haunting works of Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Antonio Lotti, and Tomas Luis de Victoria. All are rooted in Passiontide and anchored by one of the most beloved of all Renaissance choral works, Gregorio Allegri's soaring Miserere. A young Mozart first transcribed the Miserere by ear after hearing it sung inside the Vatican, which at the time closely guarded the music as its sole property and, with Mozart, knew it to be a timeless musical treasure.
Sunday, February 25, at 1:00 pm
This week, From the Top comes to you from the Dale F. Halton Theater in Charlotte, North Carolina. Highlights include a young pianist from Pennsylvania performing Liszt, a teenage cellist from Chapel Hill performing Debussy, and a talented trumpeter performing Goedicke. You'll also hear a Bach flute sonata played on the tuba, and the hometown kids of the Charlotte Children's Choir will close the show with an especially lively piece featuring the talents of that teenage tubist.
Sunday, February 25, at 8:00 pm
Stone Mountain author Brian Egeston joins host St. John Flynn this month to talk and take listener calls about his most recent novel An Auburn Autumn (Rock Point Books, 2006). Based on true events, An Auburn Autumn is an emotional story about what happens when power, class, race, money, and big college football collide in a perfect storm that sweeps across the unsuspecting plains of a small Alabama town. The toll-free number to call during the program is 1-866-RADIO-GA (866-723-4642).
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Page updated 2/21/07