Friday, February 1, at 8:00 pm
Guest Tony DeSare
Tony DeSare has recently earned a reputation as one of New York's hottest young singer/pianists. Whether performing classic standards or sophisticated original compositions, DeSare delivers a cool vocal tone with swinging piano accompaniment. He sings and plays his deliciously romantic original "How I Will Say I Love You," and McPartland backs him on "Memories of You."
Saturday, February 2, at 12:30 pm - note early start time
Richard Wagner: Die Walküre (The Valkyries)
The Valkyries is the second part of The Ring of the Nibelungen, Richard Wagner's epic re-telling of ancient Nordic legends. The hero Siegmund, mortal son of the chief god Wotan, meets and unknowingly falls in love with Sieglinde, his own twin sister. He vows to free her from her unhappy forced marriage to Hunding, and appeals to his father for help. Wotan sends his warrior daughter Brünnhilde, eldest of the Valkyries, to defend Siegmund in his fight with Hunding. However, Wotan's wife Fricka, goddess of marriage, insists that the law is on the side of the wronged husband, and Wotan is forced to change his mind and tell Brünnhilde to assist Hunding instead. But when she speaks to Siegmund, she is moved by his love for Sieglinde and decides to defy her father and help the lovers. Siegmund is winning his battle with Hunding, until Wotan appears and shatters his sword, leaving him to be killed. Brünnhilde escapes with Sieglinde and the broken sword, sending the grieving woman into hiding with the news that she is pregnant with Siegmund's child. Wotan punishes the Valkyrie for her disobedience by making her mortal and placing her in an enchanted sleep surrounded by a magic fire, until an extraordinary hero comes to pierce the fire and waken and win her. That hero will be Sieglinde's child, Siegfried. Loren Maazel is the conductor.
Lisa Gasteen (Brünnhilde); Deborah Voigt (Sieglinde); Michelle DeYoung (Fricka); Clifton Forbis (Siegmund); James Morris (Wotan); Mikhail Petrenko (Hunding)
Saturday, February 2, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, February 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, February 3 at 12:00 noon
Guests Zehetmair String Trio
Franz Schubert: String Trio in Bb Major, D. 471
Gideon Klein (1919-1945): String Trio
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Divertimento in Eb Major, K. 563: Adago, Andante
Eugène August Ysaÿe: Ballade (Solo Violin Sonata No. 3, Op. 27)
Sunday, February 3, at 1:00 pm
A beautiful concert hall on the campus of one of America's great boarding schools is the setting for this week's program. Tucked into the rolling hills where West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland meet, the Burgin Center at Mercersburg Academy provides a great place to hear music for the school and surrounding community. Our young performers include: flutist Priscilla Wadsworth, age 16, from West Blocton, Alabama; pianist Julie Sohn, 15, originally from Seoul, South Korea; baritone Benjamin Hyman, 17, from Washington, Pennsylvania; trombonist Alexis Smith, 17, from Palm Beach Gardens; and violinist Piotr Filochowski, 15, from Saddlebrook, New Jersey.
Sunday, February 3, at 8:00 pm
This week's author is Atlanta's Sheila Moses, who will discuss her new young adult novel The Baptism, the story of 12-year-old twins who must prepare for baptism, if they can stay out of trouble!
Friday, February 8, at 8:00 pm
Guest Hiromi Uehara
Hiromi Uehara is a brilliant young pianist from Japan, by way of Berklee College of Music. Her exciting mixture of musical genres and high-energy playing is made even more thrilling by her amazing technique and complex ideas. She demonstrates her original approach with her own composition "The Tom and Jerry Show," a frenetic tune inspired by the famous cartoon.
Saturday, February 9, at 1:30 pm
Gioacchino Rossini: L'Assedio di Corinto (The Siege of Corinth)
Thomas Schippers conducts this classic performance of Rossini's 1826 drama, recorded on April 19, 1975.
Beverly Sills (Pamira); Shirley Verrett (Ismène): Harry Theyard (Cléomène); Justino Díaz (Mahomet II)
Saturday, February 9, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, February 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, February 10, at 12:00 noon
Guests Helen Callus, viola; Phillip Bush, piano
Johannes Brahms: FAE Sonata
Traditional Scottish (arr. Rebecca Clarke): I’ll Bid My Heart Be Still
Rebecca Clarke: Morpheus
Sergei Prokofiev: Six Pieces from the Ballet Romeo and Juliet
Pamela Harrison: Viola Sonata: movement III
Sunday, February 10, at 1:00 pm
The Cleveland Institute of Music's beautiful Mixon Concert Hall is host to this week's program. We'll hear performances by: violinist Alena Merimee, age 15, from Strongsville, Ohio; marimba player Joshua Jones, 16, from Chicago; pianist Daniel Song, 10, from Springfield, Pennsylvania: trombonist Joseph Hudson, 16, from Lexington, Kentucky; and the Playing Hoopes Trio, featuring Alexandra Hoopes, 15, violin; Chad Hoopes, 13, violin; and Anna Hoopes, 17, viola, from Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Sunday, February 10, at 8:00 pm
To be announced
Friday, February 15, at 8:00 pm
Guest Steve Kuhn
Pianist Steve Kuhn is a highly accomplished player, a creative composer, and a longtime friend of McPartland. In his youth, Kuhn played with Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, and John Coltrane. Over the years, he's honed a unique style built on melodic variation, rhythmic sparkle, and his ceaseless imagination. He joins McPartland for "Walkin'" and "Too Late Now."
Saturday, February 16, at 1:00 pm - note early start time
Giacomo Puccini: Manon Lescaut
Puccini's 1893 version is one of several adaptations of the popular novel by the Abbé Prévost, the story of the lovely young flirt Manon, who is torn between true love and riches, and comes to a bad end when she is unable to choose wisely. The young Chevalier des Grieux meets and falls in love with Manon, who is being sent to a convent by her father, escorted by her brother Lescaut. The old and wealthy gallant Geronte also has designs on Manon, planning to abduct and seduce her himself. She escapes and runs away to Paris with des Grieux. Eventually she succumbs to the lure of money and leaves the poor des Grieux to live with Geronte, but finds that luxury alone is not making her happy. When her brother brings des Grieux to see her, he first reproaches her for her faithlessness, but then forgives her, and they declare their renewed love. When Geronte arrives, Manon mocks and rejects him, and he leaves, promising revenge. Manon insists on staying to gather her jewels before running away, and the delay proves fatal; the city guards arrive, led by Geronte, and arrest her for theft, dragging her off to prison. Des Grieux hopes to rescue her before she is transported to America, but his plan fails, so he accompanies her on the voyage. They escape New Orleans together, but the sick and despairing Manon cannot go on, and dies in her lover's arms. James Levine is the conductor.
Karita Mattila (Manon Lescaut); Marcello Giordani (des Grieux); Dwayne Croft (Lescaut)
Saturday, February 16, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, February 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, February 17, at 12:00 noon
Guests Brentano String Quartet
Carlo Gesualdo: Madrigals, Book VI: Deh, come invan sospiro/Belta, pi che t'assenti/Resta di darmi noia/Gia piansi nel dolore/Moro, lasso
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quartet in A major, No. 18, K. 464
Sunday, February 17, at 1:00 pm
From the program's home at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall in Boston, this week's show features a line-up of outstanding young musicians. 17-year-old Nico Olarte-Hays from New Jersey performs the first movement of the Debussy Cello Sonata, and 15-year-old Roving Reporter Emily Mayer delves into that young cellist's colossal sleep issues. We'll also hear from violinist Charles Yang, 18, from Austin, Texas; marimba player Molly Yeh, 18, from Glenview, Illinois; pianist Gen Tomuro, from Tokyo; and the Elusium String Quartet (Audrey Wright, 17, and Alanna Tonetti-Tieppo, 16, violins; James Larson, 18, viola; and Ji Eun Lee, 16, cello).
Sunday, February 17, at 8:00 pm
To be announced
Friday, February 22, at 8:00 pm
Guest Max Roach
Drummer Max Roach was one of the legendary jazz drummers - an innovator and co-creator of what became known as bebop. In this encore program from 1998, Roach relates a few of his many musical memories of performing with such greats as Charlie Parker, Monk, and Dizzy Gillespie. Joined by bassist Ray Drummond, McPartland and Roach perform "Joy Spring" and "Now's The Time."
Saturday, February 23, at 1:30 pm
Georges Bizet: Carmen
Bizet's Carmen, with some of the most memorable music in opera, is a classic story of a decent man ruined by the love of a bad woman, based on a novel by Prosper Mérimée. Don José is a nice guy who looks after his mother, with a respectable job as a corporal in the army and a nice girlfriend named Micaëla. Then he meets Carmen, a ruthless, fickle, bewitching gypsy girl, who seduces him into betraying his duty, landing him in jail. When he is released, he returns to Carmen, who manipulates him into deserting the army and running away with her to live with smugglers in the mountains. Before long, Carmen tires of him and tells him to go back home to his mother, but, jealous of her flirtation with the bullfighter Escamillo, José only agrees to go when Micaëla arrives to tell him his mother is dying. Back in Seville, Carmen is going to a bullfight with Escamillo when José appears and begs her to come back to him. When she refuses, throwing away the ring he gave her, José stabs her to death and gives himself up for arrest. Emmanuel Villaume conducts.
Krassimira Stoyanova (Micaëla); Olga Borodina (Carmen); Marcelo Alvarez (Don José); Lucio Gallo (Escamillo)
Saturday, February 23, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, February 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, February 24, at 12:00 noon
Guests Zuill Bailey, cello; Awadagin Pratt, piano
Claude-Achille Debussy: Sonata: movement I
Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata No. 3 in A major: movement III
Johannes Brahms: Sonata No. 1 for Cello and Piano in e minor, Op. 38
Sunday, February 24, at 1:00 pm
From the Top heads to the home of NASCAR for a show that is sure to get Daytona Beach buzzing.
Sunday, February 24, at 8:00 pm
To be announced
Friday, February 29, at 8:00 pm
Guest Tammy Hall
Pianist, organist, composer and arranger Tammy Hall is one of the most in-demand musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area. A truly versatile pianist, Hall's pianistic virtuosity dazzles whether playing Brazilian, salsa or straight ahead jazz. She performs several of her own compositions, including "Sermon in Blue" and "Hymn to Lacy B."
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Page updated 2/14/08