Thursday, May 1, at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, May 4, at 10:00 pm
John Adams: My Father Knew Charles Ives
Ravel: Piano Concerto for the Left Hand
Berlioz: Symphony Fantastique
(Donald Runnicles, conductor; Adam Golka, piano)
Friday, May 2, at 8:00 pm
Guests Veronica Nunn with Travis Shook
Vocalist Veronica Nunn grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, absorbing all kinds of music, from jazz to funk to gospel. When she moved to New York in 1978, she split her time between Harlem's jazz clubs and the Theology department at Lehman College. Now a full-time jazz singer and accompanied by her pianist husband, Travis Shook, Nunn demonstrates her soulful touch on "One Note Samba" and "I'm Old Fashioned."
Saturday, May 3, at 1:30 pm
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio)
Mozart's 1782 comedy is set in 18th-century Turkey, with a text in German by Gottlob Stephanie, from a play by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner. Konstanze, a young Spanish lady, her English maid, Blondchen, and Blondchen’s lover Pedrillo have been taken prisoner by pirates and sold to the rich Ottoman Pasha Selim. Pedrillo, who is the servant of Konstanze’s fiancé, Belmonte, now works as the pasha’s gardener, while Konstanze has become her new master’s favorite. The pasha has given Blondchen to Osmin, his palace overseer. Belmonte has traced the trio to the pasha’s seaside palace, where he plots with Pedrillo to arrange their escape. They succeed in deceiving the pasha, but Osmin is suspicious. The pasha proposes marriage to Konstanze, but she refuses to betray her fiancé. The escape plan begins well, with Pedrillo getting Osmin drunk and placing a ladder so that Konstanze and Blondchen can climb out of their window, but then Osmin awakens and all four are caught before they can reach Belmonte's ship. The pasha is angry, but when he discovers Belmonte's true identity, he decides to repay evil with good, freeing both pairs of grateful lovers. David Robertson conducts.
Diana Damrau (Konstanze); Aleksandra Kurzak (Blondchen); Matthew Polenzani (Belmonte); Steve Davislim (Pedrillo); Kristinn Sigmundsson (Osmin)
Saturday, May 3, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, May 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, May 4, at 12:00 noon
Guests Mark O’Connor’s Appalachia Waltz Trio
Mark O’Connor: Appalachia Waltz
Traditional, arr. O’Connor: Blackberry Mull
Mark O’Connor: Vistas
Traditional, arr. O’Connor: Olympic Reel Medley
Sunday, May 4, at 1:00 pm
This week's From the Top comes from the Wortham Theater Center in Houston, Texas. Repertoire to be announced.
Thursday, May 8, at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, May 11, at 10:00 pm
Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 15
Mahler: Symphony No. 4
(Roberto Abbado, conductor; Heidi Grant Murphy, soprano; John O'Conor, piano)
Friday, May 9, at 8:00 pm
Guest Larry Vuckovich
Pianist Larry Vuckovich hails from Yugoslavia, where he studied classically until Armed Forces Radio turned him into an ardent jazz fan. He launched his jazz career in San Francisco in 1960 and has since carried his evocative and elegant music around the world. He plays his own composition "Blue Balkan," before conspiring with McPartland on "Billie's Bounce."
Saturday, May 10, at 1:30 pm
An opera special from Georgia Public Broadcasting, featuring favorite arias and performers, including excerpts from Puccini's "Girl of the Golden West" performed by Placido Domingo and Mara Zampieri, the duet from Bizet's "The Pearl Fishers" sung by Gino Quilico and John Aler, and an excerpt from Act II of "The Ballad of Baby Doe" by Douglas Moore, with Beverly Sills and Frances Bible.
(Metropolitan Opera has concluded its broadcast season. NPR World of Opera returns next week)
Saturday, May 10, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, May 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, May 11, at 12:00 noon
Guests The Harp Consort
Francisco de Escaladas: Villancico Cantan dos jilguerillos
Juan Gutierrez de Padilla: Kirie from Missa Ego flos campi
Santiago de Murcia: Cumbees
Juan Gutierrez de Padilla: Negrilla A siolo flasiquiyo
Juan Gutierrez de Padilla: Gloria from Missa Ego flos campi
Gaspar Fernandez: Guineo: Andres, do queda el Ganado
Anon 17th century Peru: Marizapalos a lo humano: Marizapalos bajo una tarde
Juan García de Zespedes: Guaracha Convidando esta la noche
Sunday, May 11, at 1:00 pm
This week's program comes from The Music Center at Strathmore, in Bethesda, Maryland. Highlights include teenage baritone John Brancy, from New Jersey, singing from Vaughn Williams' "Songs of Travel," 15-year-old local violinist Madeline Watson plays Saint-Saëns, and a talk with the mother of the nationally famous "girl who drove over her violin!" We'll also hear performances by guitarist Thales Smith, 15, from Austin, Texas; pianist Eun-Hye Lee, 18, from Los Angeles; and the members of the Newman String Quartet from the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, Robyn Bollinger and Justine Lamb-Budge, both 15, violin, Paul Laraia, 18, viola, and Sarah Rommel, 18, cello.
Thursday, May 15, at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, May 18, at 10:00 pm
Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2
Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 1
(Robert Spano, conductor; Yefim Bronfman, piano)
Friday, May 16, at 8:00 pm
Guest Oscar Peterson
Pianist Oscar Peterson was one of the giants of jazz piano. Fast fingers and a hard-wired sense of swing defined Peterson and made him a favorite musical partner for everyone from Ella to Dizzy to Herbie Hancock. In this encore presentation, Peterson demonstrates his deft touch and amazing technique on his own "Love Ballad" before joining McPartland on Ellington's "In a Mellow Tone."
Saturday, May 17, at 1:30 pm
Vincenzo Bellini: Norma
In the title role of Bellini's most popular opera, the legendary soprano Edita Gruberova proves that the bel canto tradition is well-served by mature artistry, as well as vocal brilliance. The Vienna State Opera is conducted by Friederich Haider.
Edita Gruberova (Norma); Jose Cura (Pollione); Elina Garanca (Adalgisa); Dan Paul Dumitrescu (Oroveso); Marian Talaba (Flavio); Caroline Wenborne (Clotilde)
Saturday, May 17, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, May 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, May 18, at 12:00 noon
Guests Amelia Piano Trio
Franz Schubert: Piano Trio in E-flat No. 2, Op. 100 (D. 929): Scherzo
John Harbison: Short Stories: Rumors and Reports
Felix Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1 in d minor, Op. 49
Sunday, May 18, at 1:00 pm
On this week's From the Top, we take a trip down memory lane as we feature some of the best music and stories from our archives, including the performance of a fine pianist who, at the age of 13, has already started medical school. We'll also hear a teenage cellist from Kentucky deliver a nuanced performance of the music of Gabriel Fauré, and one of the finest teenage trombone quartets in the country performs a contemporary piece by Walter Ross. We'll also meet a young cellist who has a rather screwball-comedy life.
Thursday, May 22, at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, May 25, at 10:00 pm
Corigliano: Elegy for Orchestra
Adams: On the Transmigration of Souls
Barber: Adagio for Strings
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 (Eroica)
(Robert Spano, conductor; ASO Chorus; Gwinnett Young Singers)
Friday, May 23, at 8:00 pm
Guest Laurence Hobgood
Pianist Laurence Hobgood has been a fixture on the Chicago jazz scene for years. He has recently come to prominence as pianist, musical director and co-producer for the much-celebrated jazz singer Kurt Elling. An exceptional soloist and trio leader in his own right, Hobgood performs his own tune "The Smuggler" and joins McPartland on "Things Ain't What They Used to Be."
Saturday, May 24, at 1:30 pm
George Frederick Handel: Ariodante
Handel was nothing if not cosmopolitan -- a German-born composer who became a superstar as the most popular composer of Italian operas in 18th-century London. Completed in 1734, Ariodante premiered at what was then a brand new opera house in a place now synonymous with opera in England, Covent Garden. We'll hear a production from the Grand Theatre of Geneva, conducted by Kenneth Montgomery.
Joyce DiDonata (Ariodante); Patricia Petibon (Ginevra); Sandrine Piau (Dalinda); Antonio Abete (King of Scotland); Charles Workman (Lurcanio); Marie-Nicole Lemieux (Polinesso)
Saturday, May 24, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, May 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, May 25, at 12:00 noon
Guests Osvaldo Golijov; Todd Palmer, clarinet; Saint Lawrence String Quartet
Osvaldo Golijov: Yiddishbbuk
Osvaldo Golijov: The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind: movements 1 & 2
Osvaldo Golijov: excerpt from Tenebrae
Sunday, May 25, at 1:00 pm
From the Top presents the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra with music director JoAnn Falletta, from their summer home, Artpark, on the banks of the Niagara River in Lewiston, New York, for a show featuring teenage soloists playing concerti with the orchestra. Host Christopher O'Riley joins 18-year-old pianist Stephanie Chen and the orchestra for a movement of the famous Poulenc Double Concerto. Also violinist Alexander Boissonnault, 18, from Williamsville, New York, plays Wieniawski; cellist Sarina Zhang, 11, from San Diego, performs Haydn; and bassoonist Noah Brown, 16, from Iowa City, Iowa, plays Mozart.
Thursday, May 29, at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, June 1, at 10:00 pm
Ravel: Mother Goose
Knussen: Where the Wild Things Are
(Oliver Knussen, conductor; Barbara Hannigan, Lucy Shelton, soloists; Hudson Shad Quartet)
Friday, May 30, at 8:00 pm
Guest Frank Morgan
Saxophonist Frank Morgan led a life compelling enough for the big screen. A protégé of Charlie Parker, Morgan's budding career as a jazz musician took a dark turn that led to drugs, prison, and, ultimately, redemption through music. In this memorial broadcast of his 2004 Piano Jazz appearance, Morgan talks about the ups and downs of his life and performs "Sophisticated Lady" and "Billie's Bounce."
Saturday, May 31, at 1:30 pm
Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda
In operas from Elizabeth at Kenilworth to Anna Bolena, Donizetti seemed fascinated by the intrigues and rivalries of British royalty. This opera, Maria Stuarda, deals with the complex relationship between Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart, also known as Mary, Queen of Scots. Luciano Acocella conducts the Royal Opera of Wallonie in Liège, Belgium.
Patrizia Ciofi (Maria Stuarda); Marianna Pizzolato (Elizabeth); Diana Axentii (Anna); Danilo Formaggia (Leicester); Federico Sacchi (Talbot); Mario Cassi (Cecil)
Saturday, May 31, at 8:00 pm
Dick Wallace hosts this locally produced folk music show. Playlists are available at the Music Americana archive page.
Saturday, May 31, 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 5/14/08