Sunday, April 1, at 1:00 pm
From the Top is in Huntsville, Alabama, today with a show featuring outstanding musicians from 13 to 18 years old including a typically "weird" bassoonist (that’s her word) and a young guitarist whose stomach has a name! Special guest soprano Angela Brown tells the story of how she discovered classical music because of a teacher in Huntsville. She’ll also sing Mozart with an amazing teenage soprano.
Tuesday, April 3, at 8:00 pm
This special program explores the Festival of Spring and the ideal of freedom, from the origins of that dry flat "bread of affliction," the matzo, to the sophisticated nouvelle spreads now found at the Passover table. Led by host Arye Gross, comedians, writers, and musicians weigh in on the meaning of the Israelite slaves' Biblical exodus from Egypt. Passover: A Time to Crunch presents the notion of "crunch" in a culinary sense and with stories and interviews that underscore the "crunch" of surviving in the face of imminent danger. Refugees from Rwanda, artists from New Orleans, and the homeless on the streets of Los Angeles tell their stories against the backdrop of Passover, a time to think about freedom and opportunity. Actor Mandy Patinkin describes his favorite Passover dishes with his mother, cookbook author Doralee Patinkin Rubin. David Mamet holds court on his new book, The Wicked Son. Comedian Julie Hermelin has a new take on the old Biblical flight of the Hebrew slaves. Staff at an old-world matzo factory provide a grand tour. And composer Steve Reich premieres his new work honoring the memory of slain journalist Daniel Pearl.
(Pre-empts Studio GPB)
Thursday, April 5, at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, April 8, at 10:00 pm
Danielpour: Triptych from Margaret Garner
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Beethoven: Finale from Symphony No. 9 (Ode to Joy)
(Robert Spano, conductor; Alfred Walker, bass-baritone; Morehouse College Glee Club; Vinson Cole, tenor; Terrence Wilson, piano; Maya Angelou, speaker; Cynthia Haymon, soprano; Pamela Dillard, mezzo-soprano)
Friday, April 6, at 11:00 am
To mark this Good Friday, the renowned Vermeer String Quartet performs a work Haydn considered one of his greatest. The Seven Last Words of Christ was commissioned by the Cadiz Cathedral in southern Spain in 1785; the bishop wanted a Passion that could be performed annually during the Easter season. What Haydn created was a work that consists of seven slow "sonatas," each based on one of the "seven last words" of Jesus. Two additional movements frame these sonatas, a solemn introduction and a fiery finale depicting the earthquake which followed Jesus' death. First presented in a darkened cathedral on Good Friday 1787, the ceremony included the bishop reading and expounding upon each of Jesus' last utterances from the cross, followed by a performance of Haydn's corresponding music.
(Pre-empts Midday Music)
Friday, April 6, 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 Georgia's Secretary of State, Public Service Commissioner, 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, April 6, at 8:00 pm
Guest Roger Kellaway
Pianist Roger Kellaway is known for his eclectic musical sensibilities and his prolific musical contributions. He discusses being the musical director for pop icon Bobby Darrin and his recent release of jazz versions of tunes from the Darrin Songbook. Kellaway and McPartland combine forces on "I Found a New Baby" and "I'm Beginning to See the Light."
Saturday, April 7, at 1:30 pm
Umberto Giordano: Andrea Chénier
Giordano's 1896 opera is a story of love and betrayal, set during the French Revolution. Maddalena is an aristocrat forced into hiding by the Revolution. She loves the poet Andrea Chénier, an idealist saddened by the Revolution's degeneration into the Reign of Terror. Maddalena is spotted by L'Incroyable, a government spy, who reports her to Gérard, a former servant of her family who is in love with Maddalena himself. Torn between compassion and jealousy, Gérard first falsely accuses Chénier to the Tribunal, then tries to save him, but too late. Chénier and Maddalena go together to the guillotine. Marco Armiliato conducts this production.
Violeta Urmana (Maddalena); Ben Heppner (Andrea Chénier); Mark Delavan (Carlo Gérard)
Saturday, April 7, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, April 7, at 9:00 pm
Harry O'Donoghue hosts this locally produced Celtic music program. Playlists are available at the Green Island archive page.
Sunday, April 8, at 1:00 pm
Violin virtuoso Mark O'Connor is From the Top's special guest on this show recorded at the Texas Music Educators' Conference, featuring musicians from Texas. We'll hear performances by baritone Thomas Shivone, age 16; flutist Amber Packard, 17; clarinetist Elias Rodriguez, 16; violinist Julia Li, 17; violist Rainey Weber, 18; and cellist Branson Yeast, 17.
Monday, April 9, at 8:00 pm
Join GPB for an extraordinary evening of song featuring two of the world's greatest sopranos together on the same Georgia stage. In this rare joint recital recorded at the RiverCenter in Columbus in September 2006, soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade perform songs and arias by Mozart, Poulenc, Copland, and many others.
(Pre-empts Studio GPB)
Thursday, April 12, at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, April 15, at 10:00 pm
A concert by the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra
Friday, April 13, at 8:00 pm
Guest Elvis Costello
It was an unseasonably cool day at the 2006 Tanglewood Jazz Festival, as McPartland was joined by the unquestionably cool vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Elvis Costello. He sang standards he'd never performed before, and debuted new lyrics to Strayhorn's "Blood Count" and McPartland's "Threnody." A surprise guest appearance from Costello's most significant collaborator, Diana Krall, rounds out this amazing concert.
Saturday, April 14, at 1:30 pm
Giacomo Puccini: Turandot
Puccini's fantasy of ancient China is based on a fairy taly by Carlo Gozzi. Turandot, the daughter of the Emperor of China, is beautiful, proud, and cruel. Determined not to marry, she sets three riddles as a condition for her hand; all suitors who fail to answer correctly are put to death. Calàf, the Unknown Prince, is the son of Timur, a former King now deposed and in exile. Smitten with Turandot's beauty, he determines to try her test, in spite of the danger. The slave girl Liù, Timur's one remaining servant, is in love with Prince Calàf herself, and gives her life to protect him. Moved by Liù's sacrifice, Turandot discovers love for the first time and agrees to marry Calàf, who has answered her riddles. Richard Armstrong is the conductor.
Andrea Gruber (Turandot); Hei-Kyung Hong (Liù); Richard Margison (Calàf); Oren Gradus (Timur)
Saturday, April 14, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, April 14, at 9:00 pm
Harry O'Donoghue hosts this locally produced Celtic music program. Playlists are available at the Green Island archive page.
Sunday, April 15, at 1:00 pm
This week on From the Top, Natasha Sinha, one of the honorees in From the Top's Young Composer Project, presents her duet for cello and piano, performed by cellist Soojin Lee, age 14, and pianist Ha Eun Lee, 18. We'll also hear terrific performances by other young musicians from up and down the East Coast, including violinist Elicia Silverstein, 16, tenor Geoffey Penar, 17, and the members of the Loki Quintet, all 17.
Thursday, April 19, at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, April 22, at 10:00 pm
Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
(Robert Spano, conductor; Louis Lortie, piano)
Friday, April 20, at 8:00 pm
Guest Duke Jordan
Piano Jazz remembers one of the innovators of the bebop style, pianist Duke Jordan. He's perhaps best known for his innovative work with Charlie Parker's legendary 1947 quintet, with Max Roach and Miles Davis, though he played with a number of other legends including Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, and Sonny Stitt. Jordan joined McPartland in 1980 for duets on "Groovin' High" and Jordan's own "Jordu."
Saturday, April 21, at 1:30 pm
George Frideric Handel: Giulio Cesare
Handel's 1724 version of the history of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra tells a complicated story of politics, power, and sex. Caesar has pursued his defeated rival Pompey to Egypt, which is ruled by Queen Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy (Tolomeo), who are engaged in a power struggle. Trying to curry favor with the powerful Roman Caesar, Ptolemy has Pompey killed, then falls for Pompey's widow Cornelia. Cleopatra seeks to strengthen her own position by disguising herself as the servant Lydia and seducing Caesar. Her ploy succeeds and Caesar places her on the throne after Ptolemy is killed by Sextus, the avenging son of Pompey and Cornelia. Harry Bicket conducts this production.
Ruth Ann Swenson (Cleopatra); David Daniels (Giulio Cesare); Alice Coote (Sesto); Patricia Bardon (Cornelia); Lawrence Zazzo (Tolomeo)
Saturday, April 21, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, April 21, at 9:00 pm
Harry O'Donoghue hosts this locally produced Celtic music program. Playlists are available at the Green Island archive page.
Sunday, April 22, at 1:00 pm
This week From The Top presents a group of great young musicians from the musical hotbed known as Kentuckiana (a.k.a. Greater Cincinnati), performing at the famed Music Hall in Cincinnati. We'll hear performances by the 60-member Cincinnati May Festival Youth Chorus; violinist Sophie Pariot, age 14; pianist Kevin Bao, 10; cellist Christoph Sassmannshaus, 17; and the members of the Fresh Winds Trio.
Thursday, April 26, at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, April 29, at 10:00 pm
Haydn: Symphony No. 48 (Maria Theresia)
Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier: excerpts
(Donald Runnicles, conductor; Twyla Robinson, soprano; Elizabeth Bishop, mezzo-soprano; Lyubov Petrova, soprano)
Friday, April 27, at 3:00 pm, and Sunday, April 29, at 10:00 am
Workplace conditions can greatly affect employees' mental health and on-the-job productivity. Gaps in insurance coverage, problems with access to care, and the stigma surrounding mental illnesses can contribute to an environment that discourages employees from seeking help and treatment. Join the Carter Center's Mental Health Task Force founder and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter as she leads this Conversation.
Friday, April 27, at 8:00 pm
Guest Janis Siegel
Singer Janis Siegel is one quarter of the jazz supergroup The Manhattan Transfer. Throughout the thirty years she spent with this musical institution, she's also released her own recordings featuring hip, seductive arrangements of standards as well as newer works. With pianist and accordion player Gil Goldstein, Siegel performs Tad Dameron's "Whatever Possessed Me" and Annie Lennox's "A Thousand Beautiful Things."
Saturday, April 28, at 1:30 pm
Giacomo Puccini: Il Trittico
This triptych of one-act operas premiered in 1918. Il Tabarro (The Cloak) is a drama of jealousy and murder. Giorgetta, tired of her husband Michele and their life on his river barge, falls in love with the stevedore Luigi. But Michele is suspicious, and when he catches Luigi visiting Giorgetta, he kills Luigi and conceals his body in a cloak. Suor Angelica tells the sad story of Angelica, a girl of noble family who was sent to a convent seven years ago after having an illegitimate child. She pines for news of her family. But when her aunt the Princess at last comes to visit her, it is only to demand that Angelica sign over her inheritance to her sister, and to tell her that her little son has died. Brokenhearted, Angelica agrees, and then drinks poison, determined to join her child in heaven. Gianni Schicchi is a more cheerful story, being Puccini's only comedy. Rinuccio, nephew of the dying rich man Buoso Donati, is in love with Lauretta, daughter of the shrewd peasant-turned-businessman Gianni Schicchi, but they cannot marry for lack of money. They appeal to Schicchi, who devises a con involving Donati's will, tricking the rich man's greedy relatives into handing over most of the inheritance. All ends happily, with the hypocritical relations foiled and the young lovers united. James Levine conducts.
Maria Guleghina (Giorgetta); Salvatore Licitra (Luigi); Juan Pons (Michele); Barbara Frittoli (Suor Angelica); Heidi Grant Murphy (Sister Genovieffa); Stephanie Blythe (La Principessa); Olga Mykytenko (Lauretta); Massimo Giordano (Rinuccio); Alessandro Corbelli (Gianni Schicchi)
Saturday, April 28, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, April 28, at 9:00 pm
Harry O'Donoghue hosts this locally produced Celtic music program. Playlists are available at the Green Island archive page.
Sunday, April 29, at 1:00 pm
From the Top visits east Texas this week to feature five terrific young soloists, including two Texans. Also, three soloists play a game called "Finish the Famous Musical Phrase." The performers are: violinist Laura Liu and pianist Tyler McCuen, from Texas; flutist Ridge Davis, age 16, from Fayetteville, Georgia; guitarist Matar-Itai Batyonathan, 15, from Baltimore; and soprano Stephanie Domingues, 17, from Ontario.
Sunday, April 29, at 8:00 pm and Sunday, May 6, at 10:00 am
On this month's program, Perry, Georgia, author Jackie K. Cooper joins host St. John Flynn to talk and take listener calls about his latest book, The Bookbinder (Mercer University Press, 2006). No man is an island. We are bound together by shared beliefs and experiences, and we are not as unique as we might have once thought; we have much in common with people living across the globe as well as people living down the street. In these stories Cooper offers remembrances, reflections, and experiences from his own life that strike a common chord with readers of all ages and origins. Set forth in these pages are the simple things that make us human and bind us together as we weep or as we laugh, as we regret or as we rejoice. The toll-free number to call during the program is 1-866-RADIO-GA (866-723-4642).
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Page updated 3/27/07