wwuh classical

*Live in Concert!

2008-01-16T15:55:00.001-05:00

March 27, 2008 @ 7:30 pm

Broadcast Live on WWUH 91.3 FM and wwuh.org

The 2008 Miami String Quartet Student Competition Concert

Share in the excitement as Hartt School students experience the unique opportunity
of performing with a professional quartet.

featuring:
The Miami String Quartet
(Artists in Residence at The Hartt School)

with Hartt student performers:
Noriyo Fukui, flutist
Charles Huang, oboist
Soyeon Kim, pianist
Samuel Martin, violinist
Esther Rogers, cellist

For tickets to attend the live performance in Millard Auditorium on the campus of the University of Hartford please contact the University of Hartford Box Office @ 860.768.4228 or 1.800.274.8587 or online at www.hartford.edu/hartt

Composer Capsules TEst

2007-07-01T16:19:00.000-04:00

Thursday Evening Classics
Composer Capsules for
September/October 2007

September 13
Clara Wieck Schumann
Birth: September 13, 1819 in Leipzig, Germany
Death: May 20, 1896 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany
An outstanding pianist and accomplished composer, Clara Wieck Schumann is more often regarded simply as the wife of composer Robert Schumann. More recently, however, her stature as a composer has become more widely recognized. Had she been able to devote more time to composition — she raised eight children — she might have rivaled the artistic stature of her husband. She began studying the piano with her domineering and obstinate father, whom her mother, a talented singer, later divorced. Clara gave her debut concert in Leipzig at age 7 playing Kalkbrenner's duet, Variations on a March from Moses, with the composer. In 1830, Robert Schumann began study with Mr. Wieck, at which time he first met Clara. At 12, Clara toured Europe with her father, achieving great success in Paris and throughout Germany. By 1837 she was recognized as one of the leading virtuosos in Europe, and her career as a composer was developing as well. In 1837, she and Schumann became engaged, amidst vehement objections from her father. Clara seems to have escaped from her father's influence when she toured Paris alone in 1839. The break e following year she married Schumann. They would have eight children, and Clara would slowly witness her sensitive husband lose his sanity. The couple at first lived in Leipzig, where both taught at the University. Clara did not write much in the early years of her marriage. In 1853, the Schumanns moved to Düsseldorf, and Clara had a very productive summer, producing several significant works, including her Op. 20 Variations on a theme of Robert Schumann. In 1854, Robert Schumann suffered a mental collapse and attempted suicide, after which he was committed to an asylum where he lived for the rest of his life. He passed away in 1856. Johannes Brahms, who had been introduced to the Schumanns in 1853, became an increasingly important figure in Clara's life. While the nature of their relationship is unclear, it is possible that they had an affair. Brahms was 14 years younger than Clara, and perhaps felt their age difference too great an impediment to marriage. Clara composed little in the years following Robert's death, even after her children were grown. She lived in Berlin and briefly in Baden-Baden. She later took a teaching post at the Frankfurt Hoch Conservatory and continued to concertize until 1891. She died of a stroke on May 20, 1896.

Arnold Schoenberg
Birth: September 13, 1874 in Vienna, Austria
Death: July 13, 1951 in Los Angeles, CA
Arnold Schoenberg remains one of the most controversial figures in the history of music. For half a century, Schoenberg produced music of great stylistic diversity, inspiring fanatical devotion from students, admiration from peers like Mahler, Strauss, and Busoni, riotous anger from conservative Viennese audiences, and unmitigated hatred from his many detractors. Born into a family that was not particularly musical, Schoenberg was largely self-taught as a musician. An amateur cellist, he demonstrated from an early age a particular aptitude for composition. He received rudimentary instruction in harmony and counterpoint, and studied composition briefly with Alexander Zemlinsky, his eventual brother-in-law. Early in his career, Schoenberg found work orchestrating operettas, but most of his life was spent teaching and composing. His early works bear the unmistakable stamp of high German Romanticism, perhaps nowhere more evident than in his first important composition, Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4. With works like the Five Orchestral Pieces and Pierrot Lunaire, Schoenberg embarked upon one of the most influential phases of his career. Critics reviled this "atonal" (Schoenberg preferred "pantonal") music, whose structure did not follow traditional tonality. However, the high drama and novel expressive means of Schoenberg's music inspired a faithful and active following. Most notable among Schoenberg's disciples were Alban Berg and Anton Webern, both of whom eventually attained stature equal to that of their famous mentor. These three composers — the principal figures of the so-called Second Viennese School — were the central force in the development of atonal and 12-tone music in the first half of the 20th century and beyond. Though the 12-tone technique represents only a single, and by no means predominant, aspect of Schoenberg’s style, it remains the single characteristic mostly closely associated with his music. Schoenberg made repeated, though varied, use of the technique across the spectrum of genres, from chamber to orchestral to choral works. Schoenberg fled the turbulent political atmosphere of Europe in 1933 and spent the remainder of his life primarily in the United States, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1941. During this stage of his career, he occasionally returned to tonality, reaffirming his connection to the great German musical heritage that extended back to Bach. For Schoenberg, the dissolution of tonality was a logical and inevitable step in the evolution of Western music. Despite a steady stream of criticism throughout his entire career, he persisted in his aims, insisting that his music was the result of an overwhelming creative impulse. Though debate over the man and his music rages on, Schoenberg is today acknowledged as one of the most significant figures in music history.

September 27
Cyril Scott
Birth: September 27, 1879 in Oxton, Cheshire, England
Death: December 31, 1970 in Eastbourne, England
Cyril Scott was, at one time, widely credited as the composer who brought British music into the 20th century. Although that distinction merits consideration, his music has long been neglected. Recently, however, it appears that Scott’s work is emerging from the shadows of obscurity. The son of a Greek scholar, Scott was sent at age 12.to Frankfurt to study music with Engelbert Humperdinck His English classmates there, which included Percy Grainger, Roger Quilter, Norman O'Neill, and Balfour Gardiner, are sometimes referred to as "The Frankfurt Group," though throughout his life Scott remained close only to Grainger. Although Scott was a fine pianist, he decided that composition was his true calling. Scott's professional career began in 1901 when his first symphony was premiered in Darmstadt, though Scott later withdrew this work, along with many others dating from his German years, as immature. The manuscripts of these pieces were destroyed during World War II bombing raids. Henry Wood gave the premiere of Scott's Symphony No. 2 in 1903, and its positive reception earned Scott a publishing contract with Schott. However, in 1904 he also struck a deal for lesser works with the publisher Elkin, and the business of keeping to the terms of this agreement Scott later regarded as his own undoing. At this time, Scott also discovered the second great, all-consuming passion of his life, the study of theosophy and occult sciences. In 1905, Scott composed Lotus Land, a mystically atmospheric parlor piece for Elkin that became an enormous commercial success. For the remainder of his contract with Elkin, Scott felt obliged to follow it with something similarly lucrative, a goal that he never managed to attain. The 1914 premiere of Scott's Piano Concerto No. 1 was very well received and the piece itself proved influential among young composers in England. However, starting in the 1920s, British music shifted away from the highly atmospheric, impressionistic, and harmonically voluptuous idiom in which Scott specialized toward a tart, taut, tonally centered language similar to neo-Classicism. His books on mysticism and a trilogy of novels entitled The Initiate proved popular and helped keep Scott solvent during these years. Although he mainly played concerts of his own works, Scott began to perform the music of other composers at about this time, and in 1934 gave the British premiere of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3. The response to his new works, however, went from bad to worse, with his tone poem Disaster at Sea proving a disaster in every other way as well, and his third symphony, titled The Muses, remained unperformed until 2003. During World War II, Scott suffered a health crisis that evolved into a creative one. For several years he was unable to compose, and Percy Grainger offered him a house to move into when Scott was practically destitute. His fortunes improved after the war and Scott began to compose anew. In 1963, a group of friends founded a "Cyril Scott Society" to help him recover some part of his reputation as a musician. Developments were slow in coming, and not long after Scott died, the society ceased to operate. The Society did secure a performance of Scott’s Piano Concerto No. 1 by Moura Lympany in 1969 in honor of Scott's 90th birthday. The reception of the concerto in 1969 was far more favorable than anyone could have predicted, and although it did not lead to the immediate revival of Scott's music, it did ignite a small, slow-burning spark of interest in Scott's output of more than 400 works that would evolve into an explosion after the year 2000.

October 18
Baldassare Galuppi
Birth: October 18, 1706 in Burano Island, Italy
Death: January 3, 1785 in Venice, Italy
Baldassare Galuppi was a key figure in the history of Italian comic opera. Galuppi's father was a barber and violinist who gave his son elementary music lessons. By the age of 16 he had already composed an opera, La fede nell'incostanza ossia Gli amici rivali. It was a spectacular failure, so bad that the curtain had to be brought down before the audience rioted. The puzzled young man went to the composer Benedetto Marcello to understand why. Marcello took him to task for daring to write an opera before he was ready, and made him promise not to compose anything for three years and to undertake study with Antonio Lotti. Galuppi went to Florence to work as a harpsichord player in the orchestra of Teatro della Pergola in 1726. He returned to Venice and formed a partnership with a writer friend from school, G.B. Peschetti. His second attempt at opera, Dorinda, was a major success. For the rest of his life he averaged about two operas per year, and they were staged in Italy's major theaters. In 1740 the Ospedale dei Mendicanti hired him as music director, where he established a superb orchestra and composed church music for the institution. Galuppi went on to accept an offer in 1741 from the Earl of Middlesex to write opera seria for his theater in the Haymarket, London. His first effort was modestly well received, and each successive opera was more popular than the last. On returning to Italy in 1743 he took note of the emerging Neapolitan innovation, opera buffa, and tried his hand at it. After some initial failures, these comic operas, too, started to find favor. In 1748, he was appointed maestro of the cappella ducale at St. Mark's cathedral, and later was promoted to maestro di cappella, considered the foremost musical job in Venice. In 1751, the pressure of these positions led him to relinquish the position at the Mendicanti. His first comic success was L'Arcadia in Brenta, to a libretto by Carlo Goldoni, with whom Galuppi forged a partnership. Galuppi's best operas were played widely in Europe, and he was hired to go to Russia as music director of Catherine the Great's chapel. There he inaugurated an Italian dominance of Russian operatic life that lasted until Glinka's time. In addition, he introduced Western counterpoint into the music of the Russian Orthodox Church. Galuppi returned to Venice in 1768, resumed his duties at St. Mark's, and became chorus master at the Ospedale degli Incurabili. Later, he reduced his theatrical output, writing more keyboard music, sacred works, and oratorios. His comic operas are built of short, varied vocal phrases, with a strong melodic line and lively rhythms. He was adept at musical characterization and situational thinking. His orchestration was notable – woodwinds mark important moments, and in finales he allowed the flow of string writing to carry the main melodic material while the voices exchange dialogue realistically. Galuppi's keyboard music, including over 130 sonatas, shows a bright, idiomatic, and lively style of writing, and establishes him as a major Italian composer for harpsichord and piano after Domenico Scarlatti.

October 25
Johann Strauss II
Birth: October 25, 1825 in Vienna, Austria
Death: June 3, 1899 in Vienna, Austria
Johann Strauss, Jr. is the first truly well-known composer of music particular to his hometown, the Viennese waltz and Viennese operetta. The Blue Danube Waltz is not only the most popular of his works, but is among the most widely played and arranged pieces, known to the most casual listener today from many radio, film and television uses of it. He showed remarkable skills early in his childhood, despite his father's opposition to a career in music for any of his three sons. Johann, Sr. wanted him to become a banker, but the younger Strauss had his own ideas, taking violin lessons in secret from a player in his father's band. When Strauss was 17, his father left the family, thus allowing him to begin serious study unimpeded. His mother, an amateur violinist who had always encouraged him, remained supportive. Strauss studied theory and continued violin lessons. In 1844 young Johann led his first concert and a year later formed his own band, and in so doing competed with his father's own orchestra. He was also writing his own quadrilles, mazurkas, polkas, and waltzes for performance by his ensemble, even conducting works by his father, and receiving praise from the press. His real success began in 1849 after Johann Strauss, Sr. died. Johann, Jr. merged his father's orchestra with his own and assumed his father's contracts. His career moved along smoothly for the next several years, eventually gaining the respect of as Brahms, Wagner, and Verdi for his seemingly unlimited imagination for melody. Strauss married singer Henriette "Jetty" Treffz in August 1862, and they settled in Hietzing. Thereafter, she became his business manager and apparently a great inspiration, drawing him toward operetta, just as Viennese theater operators were becoming weary of the works of Offenbach. Strauss’ most famous, Die Fledermaus was staged in 1874 with great success. Eine Nacht in Venedig and Der Zigeunerbaron were his only other international operetta hits. In 1872, he traveled to the United States and led highly successful concerts in Boston and New York. For all the success that came in the 1870s for Strauss, there was also tragedy. His mother and brother Josef died in 1870, and his wife died suddenly of a heart attack in 1878. Her death devastated him, and the suddenly helpless composer unwisely married the much-younger actress Angelika Dittrich, just 6 weeks later. The marriage lasted only 4 years, though it may have saved the composer from personal disaster in the months following his wife's death. Strauss, a Roman Catholic, left the church and had to give up his Austrian citizenship to marry Adele Deutsch in 1887, owing to the Church's refusal to recognize his divorce. His new wife, with whom he had lived for a long period before their marriage, seemed to inspire him much like his first wife. In his last years, Strauss remained quite productive and active. He was working on a ballet, Cinderella, when he died on June 3, 1899.

Sunday Opera Test

2007-07-01T16:16:00.000-04:00

Sunday Afternoon at the Opera
Your Lyric Theater Program with Keith Brown
Programming Selections for the Months of September and October

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2ND: There could not be a more appropriate opera to air on the Sunday before Labor Day than Daron Aric Hagen's Bandanna (2000). That's because the underlying issue in this work forces us to consider the plight of those who physically labor in the United States of America. It's amazing how topical the story of this opera is! In a tiny town on the Texas/Mexico border, a double-dealing local cop enforces the law by day, but at night conducts illegal Mexican workers across the line. Officer Jake arouses the jealousy of his boss, the police chief, by convincing him that a rival officer, Cassidy, is having an affair with his wife. The misplaced placed bandanna Mona wears is taken as a sign of her infidelity. Sound like Shakespeare's Othello? The composer (b. 1961) intended it that way. Musically, Bandanna is entirely accessible and eminently singable. Hagen admits his style is derived in part from the lyricism of Leonard Bernstein. For local color he added a mariachi band to the sound of the University of Las Vegas Wind Orchestra. Hagen himself conducted that ensemble and the university's Opera Theatre Chorus for the Albany Records world premiere recording of Bandanna.

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 9TH: You're wrong if you think all of Giocamo Puccini's operas are in the international standard operatic repertoire. Even after Puccini made major revisions in the score over a period of fifteen years, Edgar (1889) his second operatic essay, never made it into the canon of his works. Its premiere at La Scala was a failure, due no doubt to a preposterous libretto. Yet the music audibly displays the melodic genius of this composer in its earliest flowering. In radio broadcast you can forget about the romantic absurdities of the plot and concentrate on some glorious singing. Edgar has had its supporters, one of whom is a discerning music critic, Raymond Tuttle. Four commercial recordings of the opera have been made over the past three decades or so. One rare revival of Edgar took place in a concert performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City. This was the world premiere of the complete opera on LP discs, made in 1977 for Columbia Masterworks. Comparing the singing casts of the three live-in-performance recordings and the single studio taping, Raymond Tuttle concludes that the oldest one from Carnegie Hall is the best. Operatic superstars tenor Carlo Bergonzi and soprano Renato Scotto, "... squeeze the last drops of juice out of the score...", (Fanfare, Jan/Feb, 2007). Eve Queler directed the Opera Orchestra of New York. I last broadcast the Columbia Masterworks Edgar on Sunday, May 22, 1988. On the second occasion my substitute Bob Walsh will spin those same two vinyl platters.

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 16TH: Under terms of the contract he accepted from the town fathers of Leipzig, Johann Sebastian Bach was forbidden to write operas. His youngest son, Johann Christian Bach (1735 - 82), wrote eleven of them, as well as fifty symphonies and many other instrumental works. The theme music for this show is the rondo, the third movement from his Symphony in D major, Op. 18, No. 4 (1781), which is in the form of a three movement Italian opera overture. The music of "The London Bach" could easily be mistaken for early Mozart. J. C. Bach befriended the child prodigy when he visited London in 1764 - 5. Recordings of Bach's operas are few and far between. Amadis des Gaules (1779), was his last and the only one with a libretto in French rather than Italian. Bach crafted it with Gluck's reformed French lyric tragedies in mind. The plot is trite and the characterization pretty shallow by the standards of the mature Mozart. Forgetting that, Amadis is musically more solidly composed, more suave, melodic, and Italian than any of Gluck's operas. Too bad that Parisian opera politics ruined its premiere. In the Jan/Feb, 1991 issue of Fanfare, that bible of classical music record review, David Mason Greene wrote very favorably of Hannssler Classic's world premiere release of this opera on two CDs. Helmut Rilling, who has in his long career revived many neglected works of the baroque and early classical periods conducts the instrumentalists of the Bach Collegium Stuttgart and the choral group he founded, the Gachinger Kantorei. American tenor James Wagner sings in the title rôle. The original French libretto of Amadis has been rendered into German. Surprisingly, in that language, the overall recorded musical effect approaches Mozart's "Magic Flute" or perhaps even a proto-Romantic Carl Maria von Weber in his most classical and heroic mode. I last broadcast this recording on Sunday, October 13, 1991.

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23RD: The operas of Leŏs Janáčk (1854 - 1928) are better known now than they ever were in his lifetime, even in his own country. Best known today and most frequently produced is the "The Cunning Little Vixen" (1924), which established an international reputation for itself only much later on in the twentieth century. It was heard on this program this past summer. Janáčk had to struggle terribly hard for recognition outside of his native land. He came from provincial Moravia. Performance in the national capital was necessary to insure success. Unfortunately, the musical genius from Brno was unwelcome at the Prague National Theatre, so his third opera "Jenufa" (1904) had to wait twelve years for the attention it deserved. This one also continues to cling to the fringe of the international operatic repertoire. In 1970 EMI cooperated with the Czechoslovak state record label Supraphon in producing what remains the definitive recording of the work. Bohumil Gregor conducted the chorus and orchestra of the National Theatre at Prague. Originally titled in Czech Jeji Pastorkine or "Her Foster Daughter.""Jenufa" is the story of a family tragedy among the Moravian peasant folk. Janáčk's theatrical genius lay in his ability to latch onto universal human emotions and situations, in the case of this story, jealousy in love and guilt over the covering-up of a heinous crime. I last broadcast "Jenufa" on Sunday, September 8, 1985. You hear it again today working from the same boxed set of Angel stereo vinyl discs

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 30TH: Nancy Van de Vate (b. 1930) is an American composer by birth who has long lived and worked in Vienna, Austria. She has written operas in both German and English language. You've heard two of her operas with English librettos in recent times on this program, most recently Where The Cross Is Made (2005) in July of this year. That one was her operatic treatment of a play by Eugene O'Neil. Thinking of Armistice Day, on Sunday, November 7, 2004 I programmed All Quiet on the Western Front (2003), her adaptation for the lyric stage of the famous anti-war novel set during World War One. Now you get to listen to her German language opera Nemo:Jenseits von Vulkania ("Nemo: Beyond Volcania." 1994). Nemo's libretto takes its inspiration from Jules Verne's science-fiction novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea. The hero of the opera is the son of Captain Nemo, the builder of the submarine Nautilus. As a stage work Nemo combines elements of adventure, romance, and fantasy. For the world premiere recording of Nemo, Toshiyuki Shimada conducted the Moravain Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus Ars Brunensis, based in the Moravian capital Brno. A 2001 release on two CDs through Vienna Modern Masters, a record label founded by the composer's late husband Clyde Smith in 1990.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 7TH: Falstaff (1893) is a marvelous finale to Giuseppe Verdi's career as an opera composer. He regarded it fondly as a labor of love. With an excellent libretto by Arrigo Boito to work from, Verdi handled the dramatic aspects of Shakespeare's comedy with a mastery unparalleled in anything he had previously written. I have broadcast two CD releases of Falstaff: the 1994 Sony Classical starring baritone Juan Pons (Sunday, April 30, 1995) and the one from LSO Live with Italian baritone Michele Pertusi in the title rôle (Sunday, February 6, 2005). Today we dig deep into the musty, dusty vaults of our WWUH classical collection to exhume a historically significant recording of Falstaff on three Angel monaural LPs. Herbert von Karajan was on the podium directing the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus, plus the singers of what Angel billed in 1956 (?) as the Philharmonia Opera Company. The legendary baritone Tito Gobbi is our Falstaff, with baritone Rolando Panerai as Mister Ford. Tenor Luigi Alva participates as the young suitor Fenton. The list of operatic luminaries who took part in tapings carries on with the female voices: soprano Elizabeth Schwarzkopf as Mistress Ford and Anno Moffo as Nanetta. That latter name is the Italian language diminutive form of Anna that Boito assigned to the character. She's known as Mistress Anne Page in Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 14TH: Over the past decade or two, at long last all of the Italian opere serie of George Frideric Handel have been recorded in state-of-the-art sound and in historically informed interpretations. Many of these operas have been issued for the first time under the French Harmonia Mundi label. Perhaps the most novel and sprightly of them is Giustino (1737). The story of the Emperor Giustino is a species of rags to riches parable, rather like the English tale about Dick Whittington. It was a staple of baroque opera. Esteemed composers Legrenzi, Scarlotti, and Albinoni had written scores for successful productions of it. Handel breathed the best of his musical high spirits into the cartoonish characters. How can a theatrical production on so grand a scale fail, when as part of the spectacle the hero gets to fight with a bear and a sea monster! Nevertheless, Handel's London opera season of 1736 - 37 was pretty much a disaster. The English public was growing tired of the imported musical entertainment, sung in a language they didn't understand. Nicholas McGegan seems to have captured those Handelian high spirits well in his interpretation of Giustino for Harmonia Mundi. He directs the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra (a period instrument ensemble) with countertenor Michael Chance in the title rôle. Giustino was taped in its 1994 Göttingen Festival revival. The painting reproduced on the cover of the HM two CD set resides in Hartford's own Wadsworth Athanaeum. I last broadcast Giustino on Sunday, April 14, 1996.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 21ST: The teenage Mozart had already written two operas for appreciative audiences in Milan, when in 1772 he was invited to return there to the Theatro Regio Ducale (the predecessor of La Scala) to write a new opera seria. He was commissioned to compose music for Lucio Silla - a common subject for baroque lyric theater, drawn from Roman history and dealing with the conflict between love and duty. Strangely, this was Mozart's last operatic excursion into Italy. While Lucio Silla was favorably received and ran for 26 performances, it disappeared from the stage immediately thereafter and was never revived. This was because the entire genre of Italian opera seria was passing away. The mock heroics, the male soprano castrati singers, the dull secco recitative passages and the rigid formula of the da capo arias -- all that the mature Gluck was already in the process of reforming. The young Mozart took the most progressive approach you could under the circumstances in writing a new work in an old art form. His music for Lucio Silla is, as you would expect, utterly beautiful and surprisingly dramatic. Lucio Silla was resuscitated in concert performance in the Vienna Koncerthaus in 1989 in historically-informed eighteenth-century musical style. Nikolaus Harnoncourt directed his own period instrument ensemble, the Concentus Musicus. Teldec release the recording on two compact discs, which I last broadcast on this program on Sunday, October 17, 1993.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 28TH: Halloweentide programming calls for something magical, even if it might be out of its proper season. I have broadcast Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1596) at the appropriate time of year, i.e. at the summer solstice, on Sunday, June 23, 1985. On that occasion I presented the entire spoken-word comedy as recorded in 1960 for Decca/Argo in their stereo LP series of the complete plays of the Bard. One year previous to that, however, I broadcast Benjamin Britten's opera of the same name, which premiered at the 1960 Aldeburgh Festival in England. For that Decca/London recording Britten himself conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, with a singing cast that included the pioneering countertenor Alfred Deller in the rôle of Oberon, King of the Fairies, and Britten's lover tenor Peter Pears as Lysander. Britten and Pears prepared the libretto themselves, using about one half of Shakespeare's original verse. They added virtually nothing. In 2004 Decca reissued all their classic recordings of Britten's operas in a ten-CD box. In most of them the composer is conducting. The first two CDs in the package are devoted to A Midsummer Night's Dream, the same recording heard in LP format on this program twenty three years ago.

The first person I must thank as I look back to my programming for the Fall of 2007 is my WWUH radio colleague Bob Walsh. Earlier this year he substituted for me on certain Sundays, often on relatively short notice. He will be doing so again on the second Sunday in September. I'm sure to call on him for Sundays to come. As always, I thank Rob Meehan, who was a classical music deejay on this station three decades ago, for loaning me for broadcast various items from his extensive private record collection. He's a specialist in the "alternative musics" of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This time around he loaned me his Albany Records copy of Daron Aric Hagen's Bandanna and the boxed Decca CD set that includes Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. From my own holdings of opera on silver disc come J. C. Bach's Amadis des Gaules and Mozart's Lucio Silla. All the other featured recordings new or old, on LP or CD come from our WWUH classical music record library - an enormous collection, to be sure, which keeps on growing.

Scheduled Music Test

2007-07-01T16:11:00.000-04:00

WWUH Classical Programming – September/October 2007
Sunday Afternoon at the Opera… Sundays 1:00 – 4:30 pm
Evening Classics… Weekdays 4:00 to 7:00/ 8:00 pm
Drake’s Village Brass Band… Mondays 7:00-8:00 pm

September
Sun 2 Sunday Afternoon at the Opera…Hagan: Bandanna
Mon 3 Sowerby: All on a Summer’s Day; Converse: Flivver
10 Million; Bax: On the Sea Shore; Macdowell: Woodland Sketches; Buck: Variations on the Last Rose of Summer
Drake’s Village Brass Band…Summer Time Band
Concert #7 – Drake’s Grand Finale
Tue 4 Host’s Choice
Wed 5 Host’s Choice
Thu 6 Steve’s Favorites. An annual indulgence in which
your host plays some of his favorite recordings…
Mozart: Magic Flute Overture; Monteverdi: Vespro
Dello Beate Virgine; Beethoven: Piano Sonata #14
“Moonlight”; Rachmaninov: Symphony #2
Fri 7 On the 20th Century Limited…Music to Celebrate the
Labor Day Holiday
Sun 9 Sunday Afternoon at the Opera…Puccini: Edgar
Mon 10 Hindemith: Ludus Tonalis; Foulds: Mirage;
Persichetti: Symphony #7 “Liturgical”; Grosz: Afrika-Songs; Hindemith: Suite 1922
Drake’s Village Brass Band…Malcolm Arnold for
Band
Tue 11 Barber: Piano Sonata, Op. 26; Richter: Sinfonia #53
Borodin: String Quartet #1; Berlioz: Requiem
Wed 12 Host’s Choice
Thu 13 Lombardini Sirman: Violin Concerto Op. 3 #1;
Beethoven: Piano Sonata #15; C. Schumann: Piano
Sonata in G Minor; Palestrina: Lamentations of
Jeremiah – 3rd Book; Foote: Chamber Music;
Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire, Piano Concerto;
Jarre: Film Music
Fri 14 On the 20th Century Limited…The White-haired
Girl – Music of the Chinese Ballet
Sun 16 Sunday Afternoon at the Opera…J. C. Bach:
Amadis des Gaules
Mon 17 Chadwick: Piano Pieces; Hovhaness: Concerto #10
For Piano, Trumpet and Strings; Persichetti:
Symphony #8, Symphony #9 “Janiculum”
Drake’s Village Brass Band…U. S. Air Force Band –
Songs of the Earth
Tue 18 Host’s Choice
Wed 19 Host’s Choice
Thu 20 Host’s Choice, including new releases and new
additions to the WWUH library
Fri 21 On the 20th Century Limited…Bruch: Kol Neidre and
Other Music for the Jewish High Holidays
Sun 23 Sunday Afternoon at the Opera…Janacek: Jenufa
Mon 24 Copland: Music for a Great City; Herrmann: The
Devil and Daniel Webster Suite; Weill: Little Three
Penny Music; Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasilieras #2;
North: 2001 A Space Odyssey
Drake’s Village Brass Band…Philip Jones Brass
Ensemble – The Battle
Tue 25 Continuation of several ongoing series:
Shostakovich: Preludes and Fugues, J. S. Bach:
Well Tempered Klavier Book 2; Rubbra: Symphonies;
Milhaud: Symphonies; Arnold: Works
Wed 26 Host’s Choice
Thu 27 Roman: Golovin Music; Arcadelt: Missa Noe Noe;
Beethoven: Piano Sonata #16; Faure: Violin Sonata
#1; Scott: Festival Overture, Violin Concerto
Fri 28 On the 20th Century Limited… “What You Will” –
Host’s Choice as Will Mackey fills in for the
Vacationing Larry
Sun 30 Sunday Afternoon at the Opera…Van de Vae:
Nemo: Janseits von Vulkania
October
Mon 1 Guarnieri: Symphonies #2 & 3; Hovhaness:
Armenian Rhapsodies; Elgar: The Starlight Express
Drake’s Village Brass Band…Washington Symphonic
Brass – Nielsen on Brass
Tue 2 Host’s Choice
Wed 3 Host’s Choice
Thu 4 Tempestuous Tunes…Purcell: The Tempest Overture;
Vivaldi: Concerto “Tempesta di Mare”; Salieri: Sinfonia “ Tempesta di Mare”; Beethoven: Piano
Sonata #17; Liley: The Tempset; Chausson: The
Tempest, Op. 18 – Dances; Tchaikovsky: The Tempest, Op. 18; Sibelius: The Tempest, Op. 109
Fri 5 On the 20th Century Limited… The Kronos Plays…!
Sun 7 Sunday Afternoon at the Opera… Verdi: Falstaff
Mon 8 Color Symphonies…Various: Tone Poems of Color;
Torke: Ecstatic Orange; Bliss: A Colour Symphony;
Corigliano: The Red Violin – Chaconne for Violin and
Orchestra; Ellington: Black, Brown and Beige;
Russo: Street Music – A Blues Concerto
Drake’s Village Brass Band…Washington Symphonic
Brass- Ancient Airs for Brass and Organ
Tue 9 Sibelius: Piano Quintet in G Minor; Lieberson:
Neruda Songs; Gorecki: Symphony #2; Schubert:
Mass #1 in F Major
Wed 10 Host’s Choice
Thu 11 Fischer: Le Journal des Printemps – Suite 1;
Beethoven: Piano Sonata #18; Josquin: Songs and
Motets; Herschel: Symphonies 12 -14; Shostakovich:
October, Op. 131; Dett: Magnolia Suite; Morricone:
Film Music; Wolf-Ferrari: Suite Concertino;
Prokofiev: String Quartet #1
Fri 12 On the 20th Century Limited…The Juliet Letters:
A Song Sequence for String Quartet and voice –
played in its entirety in response to listener
feedback to excerpts
Sun 14 Sunday Afternoon at the Opera…Handel: Giustino
Mon 15 Prokofiev: Waltz Suite; Britten: Death in Venice
Suite; Korngold: Deception; Rozsa: Spellbound
Drake’s Village Brass Band…Triton Trombone
Quartet – Triton’s Journey
Tue 16 Host’s Choice
Wed 17 Host’s Choice
Thu 18 Lawes: Consort Music; Beethoven: Piano Sonatas
#19 & #20; Galuppi: Concerto in C; Schutz:
Deutches Magnificat; Foerster: Symphony #4;
Biggs: Triple Concerto; Faure: Violin Sonata #2
Fri 19 On the 20th Century Limited…Native American
Music of R. Carlo Nakai
Sun 21 Sunday Afternoon at the Opera…Mozart: Lucio Silla
Mon 22 Monday Night at the Movies… Herrmann: Torn
Curtain; Rozsa: Madame Bouvery; North: Viva
Zapata, Death of a Salesman
Drake’s Village Brass Band…Persichetti- Band Works
Tue 23 Stamitz: Clarinet Concerto #11; Myaskovsky:
Symphony #25; Borodin: String Quartet #2;
Bruckner: Te Deum
Wed 24 Host’s Choice
Thu 25 Bizet: L’Arlesienne – Complete; J. Strauss II: Waltzes
and Polkas; Grechaninov: Symphony #2; G. A.
Schumann: Sacred Songs; Rogister: String Quartet
#2; Burrell: Resurrection; Lieberson: Neruda Songs
Fri 26 On the 20th Century Limited…Pre-Halloween music –
Glass: Dracula; Strauss: Death and Transfiguration
Sun 28 Sunday Afternoon at the Opera…Britten: A
Midsummer Night’s Dream
Mon 29 Collins: Masque of the Red Death; Sowerby: Theme
in Yellow; Elfman: Mummy, Daddy; Gould: Jekyll
and Hyde Variations; Kaper: Them!
Drake’s Village Brass Band…French Trumpet
Concertos, John Holt Trumpet
Tue 30 Continuation of several ongoing series:
Shostakovich: Preludes and Fugues, J. S. Bach:
Well Tempered Klavier Book 2; Rubbra: Symphonies;
Milhaud: Symphonies; Arnold: Works
Wed 31 Host’s Choice

William Mackey

2007-06-06T16:29:00.000-04:00

William Mackey is the former host of Friday Evening Classics "What You Will" and is currently a guest host at WWUH.

Click here to view a video of Will's May 18, 2007 program.

Bob Walsh

2007-04-06T16:33:00.000-04:00

Bob Walsh is a guest host at WWUH.

Bob Walsh began broadcasting with WJHD in Portsmouth, RI from 1978-1982. He continued on WSND in South Bend, IN from 1982-1986,
where he eventually became operations director. Can you guess that they were volunteer staffed stations, based in educational institutions, like WWUH? As a host of the "Daybreak" classical show on WSND, one of his chief duties was turning on the 10,000 watt transmitter on dark and icy midwestern mornings. While on summer vacation in 1985, Bob passed an audition at WWUH and received an ID card, but had to return to school before anything came of it. Bob joined the WWUH staff "for real" in 2002.

Bob is a guest host on Evening Classics and Sunday Afternoon at the Opera. He is also an enthusiast of music and alternative radio in general. He has guest hosted on Hawks Basketball games, Culture Cafe, and the All Night Show.

Off air, Bob has cataloged CD's, taken pledges, stuffed envelopes, made a Public Service Announcement recording, and secretly dusted and vacuumed.

Walter Mayo

2007-04-06T16:31:00.000-04:00

Walter Mayo is a guest host at WWUH.

I was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, and came to Hartford in 1968. I practiced law here and am now retired. My father and mother were both musical, and I remember listening to the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts and the Bell Telephone Hour on the radio. I played drums and trumpet in high school, and picked up bass (upright) for band gigs in college. I got into radio with WPRB at Princeton, where I had a jazz show. I’ve been singing madrigals in a group with Dave Buddington at the Hartford Conservatory for many years, and in 2003 he asked me if I would share a Wednesday Evening Classics slot at WWUH. We did so for three years. He’s still a regular, and I’m an occasional pinch-hitter for the Bach jocks. WWUH is unique. I have great admiration for the technical knowledge of the staff, the musical depth of the program hosts, and the enthusiasm of everyone connected with the station. It does what it does so well! I’m proud to be a part of it.

Tuesday Evening Classics3

2007-04-06T16:24:00.000-04:00

David Buddington is alternate host of Tuesday Evening Classics.

My musical life began as a soprano in a men and boys choir. After a hiatus of several years, I resumed singing (no longer a soprano) with my college glee club, and have been singing pretty much continuously ever since. My primary affiliations have been with the Hartford Symphony Chorale/Hartford Chorale, the Connecticut Opera Association Chorus, and with a non-performing a capella madrigal group at the Hartford Conservatory.

As a listener, my favorite types of music, in no particular order, are chamber music, opera, choral music, brass, cello, oldies (1950s and early 1960s rock & roll, R&B, etc.), Dixieland, ragtime, folk, bluegrass. As a broadcaster, I try to present a good cross-section of music from various periods, including orchestral, chamber, and choral works, and music featuring various individual instruments. In the process of trying to prepare diversified programs, I have discovered composers and works previously unfamiliar to me, which have enriched my musical experience. I hope that sharing these with our listeners will enrich their lives as well.

I am continually amazed by the wealth of musical opportunities in Connecticut for listeners and performers. For example, on one recent weekend, I attended an orchestral concert in Torrington on Friday night, a quintet performance in Hartford on Saturday night, and a choral concert in West Hartford on Sunday afternoon. I encourage music lovers to attend local performances, both because of the rewards of experiencing the music in person, and to support our local arts organizations.

Tuesday Evening Classics2

2007-04-06T16:21:00.000-04:00

David Schonfeld is alternate host of Tuesday Evening Classics.

What do you like about working at WWUH?
I admire the inclusive mission of the station and its commitment to
consistently high standards. This translates to dedicated volunteers and wise management. I appreciate the freedom that broadcasters are given to fashion their own programs and explore their own interests. There's a nice camaraderie among the classical broadcasters even though we have different tastes and styles. WWUH has a world-class library of classical recordings. I'm like a kid in a candy store when I'm browsing the CD stacks. Although I enjoy the music programs, I particularly depend on WWUH's Public Affairs programming to learn what my country is really up to. I listen without fail, weekdays 12-1.

Favorite Classical Composers / Works
All the usual suspects, of course, from the Renaissance to our times. I have a particular interest in Twentieth Century British composers and in the non-dodecaphonic giants of the Twentieth Century: Hindemith, Bartok, Nielsen, Janacek, Shostakovich, Martinu. I revel in the wonderful early-music recordings now available and continue to be amazed at the quantity and quality of great compositions from all eras being rediscovered in our time.

Activities / Interests
I enjoy several kinds of folkdancing and spend a lot of time in Balkan
folkdance music transcription, practice, and performance (clarinet,
oboe, bass, guitar, vocal). For many years I studied and played South
Indian Classical music. I also love walking, swimming, birdwatching,
gardening, yoga. And yes, I follow the Red Sox.

When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?
One of my life problems is that I've never been able to decide what I
wanted to be when I grew up! I'm over 60 now, and I still can't decide.
There are too many possibilities and not enough time. While attempting
to decide, I've worked as a music teacher, yoga teacher, elementary
school teacher, and computer programmer.

How were you introduced to Classical Music?
My mother was a good pianist and choral singer and my father loved to sing folk songs. My parents took me to classical concerts when they were free and nearby, but I mostly slept through them. It was a favorite uncle and aunt and their son who really kindled my love of classical music when I was around eleven years old. My uncle bought me a clarinet
and my cousin gave me my first lessons.

Place of Birth:
Bronx, NY

Started at WWUH:
2002

I want to encourage listeners to write to me with suggestions on format and content.
Please email me at dschonfeld@fastmail.fm

~~~WWUH Classical Department~

2007-04-04T17:57:00.017-04:00

Classical Music Programming
on
Public Alternative Radio
WWUH
91.3 fm / wwuh.org
UNIVERSITY OF HARTFORD

Scheduled Music / Area Concerts / Classical Links

EVENING CLASSICS
Monday through Wednesday from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Thursday from 4:00 to 7:30 p.m.
Friday from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Classical music by composers from Albinoni to Zelenka,
styles ranging from Gregorian Chant to the modern Twenty-first century.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT THE OPERA
Sunday from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m.
Selections from the operatic repertory and vocal recordings
ranging from Baroque to the Twenty-first century

Monday - "Musical Odyssey" hosted by Keith Barrett

Tuesday - "Heroic Overtures" hosted by Scott Deshefy or David Schonfeld or David Buddington

Wednesday - Wednesday Evening Classics hosted by Michael Dolan

Thursday - Thursday Evening Classics hosted by Steve Petke
Thursday Evening Classics - Composer Capsules

Friday - Friday Evening Classics hosted by Larry Bilansky

Sunday - Sunday Afternoon at the Opera hosted by Keith Brown
Sunday Afternoon at the Opera Program Selections

Guest Hosts: Walter Mayo, Bob Walsh, William Mackey

Classical Conversation

2007-04-04T17:50:00.000-04:00

Post some semi-provocative statement on a every other week basis.

Classical Calendar

2007-03-28T16:31:00.229-04:00

Hartford Area Classical Calendar

Link directly to the current calendar for the following. Please see below for other individual local area performances.

Summer Classical Music Series

Amherst Early Music Festival

Aston Magna Festival

Berkshire Choral Festival

Connecticut Early Music Festival

First Church of Christ's Carillon Series

Hartford Symphony's Talcott Mountain Music Festival

International Festival Of Arts & Ideas

Mohawk Trail Concerts

Music Mountain

Norfolk Chamber Music Festival

Riverfront Recapture

Tanglewood

Other Classical Music Series

Ayslum Hill Congregational Church

Greater Bridgeport Symphony

Center Church Meeting House

CitySingers of Hartford

CONCORA

Connecticut Guitar Society

Connecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra

Connecticut Opera

Connecticut Valley Chamber Orchestra

Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra

Eastern Connecticut Symphony

Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra

Farmington Valley Chorale

First Church of Christ

Garde Arts Center

Greenwich Symphony

Hartford Chorale

Hartford Symphony

Hartt School at the University of Hartford

Manchester Symphony Orchestra & Chorale

Musical Club of Hartford

Musical Masterworks (Old Lyme)

Music Mountain

Music Series at South Church, New Britain

Musical Masterworks

New Britain Symphony

New England Chamber Choir

New Haven Oratorio Choir

New Haven Symphony Orchestra

Newtown Friends of Music

Norfolk Chamber Music Festival - Yale Summer School of Music

Treetops Chamber Music Society

Trinity College Austin Arts Center

Trinity on Main, New Britain

University of Connecticut School of Fine Arts

University of Connecticut Jorgensen Auditorium

U.S. Coast Guard Band

Wallingford Symphony Orchestra

Waterbury Symphony Orchestra

Wesleyan University Center for the Arts

West Hartford Symphony Orchestra

Willimantic Orchestra

Woodland Concert Series

Wood Memorial Library, South Windsor

Yale School of Music

Thursday July 9

Tanglewood - Christian Tetzlaff, Violin & Alexander Lonquich, Piano - 8 p.m.
Please see the Tanglewood link above

American Opera Idol - Featuring the Sopranos
7:30 p.m. $25, picnic supper $12.50
Pond House Cafe
Elizabeth Park, West Hartford
860.722.2300 or www.connconcertopera.org

Summer Carillon Concert: Gordon Slater
7 p.m. Free Bring blanket or chair and listen from the lawn
First Church of Christ Congregational
12 S. Main St., West Hartford
860.233.9605 or www.whfirstchurch.org

Friday July 10

Tanglewood - Boston Symphony Orchestra - 8:30 p.m.
Please see the Tanglewood link above

Brentano Sring Quartet: Summer Portal Chamber Music Series
7:30 p.m. Free
Katherine M. Elfers Hall, Esther Eastman Music Center
Hotchkiss School, 11 Interlaken Road, Salisbury
860.435.3317

Mendelssohn Octet: Tokyo Quartet & Jasper Quartet - 8 p.m.
Please see the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival link above

Sergio Pallottelli, Libby Van Cleve & Britt Wheeler: 18th Century Music
7:30 p.m. $10 donation
St Francis Church
397 Ferry St., New Haven

Saturday July 11

Tanglewood - Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra - 8:30 p.m.
Please see the Tanglewood link above

Haydn & Mendelssohn - 8 p.m.
Please see the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival link above

Faculty Artists with Brentano Sring Quartet
7:30 p.m. Free
Katherine M. Elfers Hall, Esther Eastman Music Center
Hotchkiss School, 11 Interlaken Road, Salisbury
860.435.3173 or www.hotchkiss.org/summer

Summer Pops 2009: Waterbury Symphony Orchestra - 6 p.m.
Please see the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra link above

Sunday July 12

Amernet String Quartet - 3 p.m.
Please see the Music Mountain link above

Vocal Concert with Conductor Simon Carrington
4:30 p.m. Free
Katherine M. Elfers Hall, Esther Eastman Music Center
Hotchkiss School, 11 Interlaken Road, Salisbury
860.435.3173 or www.hotchkiss.org/summer

Tuesday July 14

Carillon Concert: Vera Wunsche & Katherine Zhou
7 p.m. Free Bring blanket or chair. Complimentary ice cream & water
First Church of Christ Congregational
830 Corbin Ave, New Britain
860.229.3705 or www.firstnewbritain.org

Wednesday July 15

Cantus Concert
7:30 p.m. Free
Katherine M. Elfers Hall, Esther Eastman Music Center
Hotchkiss School, 11 Interlaken Road, Salisbury
860.435.3173 or www.hotchkiss.org/summer

2009 Trinity College Summer Music Series - Free
300 Summit Street, Hartford
Chamber Music Series in Trinity College Chapel - 6 p.m.
Carillon Music Series on the quad abutting the Chapel - 7 p.m.
Parking on Summit & Vernon Streets

Chamber Music ~ 6 p.m.
André Tarantiles, harp
Mark Snyder, English horn

Carillon Concert ~ 7 p.m.
Ana and Sara Elias, Carillonneurs
Alverca, Portugal

Wednesday July 22

Chamber Music ~ 6 p.m.
Curt Blood
Ronald Krentzman
Thomas Labadorf
(clarinets)

Carillon Concert ~ 7 p.m.
Helen Hawley, Carillonneur
Hudsonville, Michigan

Wednesday July 29

Chamber Music ~ 6 p.m.
Lisa Saffer, soprano
Judith Gordon, piano
Robert Edward Smith, harpsichord

Carillon Concert ~ 7 p.m.
Elena Sadina and Sergei Gratchev, Carillonneurs
Mechelen, Belgium

Wednesday Auguest 5

Chamber Music ~ 6 p.m.
Sylvia Berry, forte piano
Abigail Karr, vioin

Carillon Concert ~ 7 p.m.
Steven Ball, Carillonneur
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Wednesday August 12

Chamber Music ~ 6 p.m.
Anton Miller, violin
David Westfall, piano

Carillon Concert ~ 7 p.m.
George Matthew Jr., Carillonneur
Middlebury College
Middlebury, VT

If you would like your organization's information included in the WWUH Classical Concert Listings please email your information to sdpetke@comcast.net. The WWUH Classical Department reserves the right to determine whether the information is appropriate for our website.

Classical Playlist

2007-03-28T16:31:00.005-04:00

Classical Music Programming
for March/ April 2007

Thu 1 Tuma: Sinfonias; Boccherini: Symphony in A, Op. 12 #6; Peerson: Motets; Chopin: Mazurkas; Brouwer: El Decam- eron Negro; Mielck: Symphony in F; Hubay: Violin Concerto #1

Fri 2 What You Will.... Bloch: String Quartet #1; Hindemith: Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 11 #4; Dohnanyi: Serenade in C Major for String Trio

Sun 4 Sunday Afternoon at the Opera…Sullivan: The Grand Duke

Mon 5 Stokes: Susquehannas, The Pickpocket is Lyrical Too; Ives: String Quartet #1; Bloch: Concerto Grosso #1; Gould: Showpiece for Orchestra; Bax: Symphony #1 Drake's Village Brass Band…Williams Fairey Band- Spanish Impressions

Tue 6 Heroic Overtures… Bridge: String Quartets #2 & #4, Fantasy for Piano, Violin and Cello

Wed 7 Host's Choice

Thu 8 Hellendaal: Concerti Grossi #1-2; Boccherini: Symphony In B Flat, Op. 21 #1; C.P.E. Bach: Cello Concerto Wq 171, Symphony in D Wq 181 #1; Cozzolani: Motets; Leoncavallo: Songs; Alfano: Symphony #1; Hovhaness: Celestial Fantasy, Symphony #6; Lalo: Violin Concerto

Fri 9 What You Will....Bloch: String Quartet #2; Dohnanyi: Sextet in C major, Op. 37; Schoenberg: String Quartet #1, in D Minor, Op. 7

Sun 11 Sunday Afternoon at the Opera…Dvorak: Saint Ludmila

Mon 12 Schwantner: Distant Runes and Incantations; Ives: String Quartet #2; Bloch: Concerto Grosso #2; Britten: Nocturne for Tenor; Lutoslawski: Chantefleurs et Chantefables; Bax: Symphony #2 Drake's Village Brass Band…Grimethorpe Band-French Bon Bons

Tue 13 Heroic Overtures… Balakirev: Symphony #1, Overture to King Lear, In Bohemia

Wed 14 Prokofiev: War and Peace: Symphonic Suite; Vierne: Messe Solennelle; Music Mountain Concert

Thu 15 Ides of March…Handel: Giulio Cesare-Arias; Schumann: Julius Cesear Overture; Rott: Prelude to Julius Caeser; Palestrina: Missa Lauda Sion; Bliss: Ceasar and Cleopatra; Part: Tribute to Caesar: Kurka: Julius Caesar; Boccherini: Symphony in E Flat, Op. 21 #2; Halvorsen: Norwegian Festival Overture, Suite Ancienne; Flagello: Concerto Sinfonico

Fri 16 What You Will....Bloch: String Quartet #3; Schoenberg: String Quartet #2, Op. 10; David: Trio #1

Sun 18 Sunday Afternoon at the Opera…MacMillan: Seven Last Words from the Cross; Lasso: Missa pro Defunctus Propheteiae Sibyllarum

Mon 19 Hindemith: Der Schwanendreher; Britten: Les Illuminations; Paine: Symphony #2 "In Springtime"; Bax: Symphony #3 Drake's Village Brass Band…Russian Wind Band Music

Tue 20 Heroic Overtures…Parry: Symphony #3 "The English", Symphony #4

Wed 21 Host's Choice

Thu 22 Into the Hills…Boccherini: Symphony in C, Op. 21 #3; MacCunn: Land of the Mountain and the Flood; Berwald: Reminiscences from the Norwegian Mountains; De Monte: Motets; D'Indy: Jour D'Ete a la Montagne: Bax: In the Faery Hills; Moeran: In the Mountain Country; Novak: In the Tatra Mountains; Liszt: Ce Qu'on Entend Sur La Montagne; Alfven: The Mountain King

Fri 23 What You Will....Bloch: String Quartet #3; Schoenberg: String Quartet #3, Op. 30; David: Trio #3

Sun 25 Sunday Afternoon at the Opera…Handel: The Triumph of Time and Truth

Mon 26 Koehne: Inflight Entertainment; Piston: Viola Concerto; Harrison: Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Javanese Gamelan; Bax: Symphony #4 Drake's Village Brass Band…Jackson: Music for Trumpet and Organ

Tue 27 Heroic Overtures… Novak: Lady Godiva, Toman and the Wood Nymph, De Profundis,
Op. 67

Wed 28 Dyson: Symphony in G; Couperin: Premiere Lecon de Tenebres; Music Mountain Concert

Thu 29 Estimable English Exemplars…Arne: Overtures; Boccherini: Symphony in D, Op. 21 #4; Byrd: Motets; Dyson: Symphony in G; Alwyn: Lyra Angelica; Elgar/Walker: Piano Concerto; R.R. Bennett: Saxophone Concerto; Elgar: Sea Pictures

Fri 30 What You Will....Bloch: String Quartet #5; Schoenberg: String Quartet #4, Op. 37; David: Trio #3

April
Sun 1 Sunday Afternoon at the Opera…Tavener: Lament for Jerusalem; Sermisy: Lessons for Tenebrae, etc.

Mon 2 Antheil: String Quartet #1; Schwantner: Sparrows for Soprano and Orchestra; Adams: My Father Knew Charles Ives; Bryars: Adnan Songbook; Bax: Symphony #5 Drake's Village Brass Band…U. S. Marine Band - Monumental Music for Band

Tue 3 Heroic Overtures…Gade: Concerto Overture #3, Op. 14, Symphony #7, Op. 45, Symphony #4, Op. 20

Wed 4 Host's Choice

Thu 5 Boccherini: Symphony in B Flat, Op. 21 #5; Spohr: Clarinet Concerto, Violin Concerto in A; Crecquillon: Lamentations; Schumann: Pieces, Op. 42; Roussel: Bacchus ett Ariane, Piano Concerto; Rabaud: Marouf Savetier de Caire - Dances

Fri 6 What You Will.... Bloch: Suite for Viola and Piano; Sibelius: String Quartet in E Flat Major; Schoenberg: Quintet for Winds, Op. 26; Zemlinsky: String Quartet #1, Op. 4

Sun 8 Sunday Afternoon at the Opera…Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius

Mon 9 Antheil: String Quartet #2; Gould: String Music; Lieberson: Neruda Songs; Adams: Dharma at Big Sur; Bax: Symphony #6 Drake's Village Brass Band…Maslanka: A Child's Garden of Dreams, Symphony #4

Tue 10 Heroic Overtures… Gade: Symphony #1, Op. 5, Symphony #5, Op. 25

Wed 11 Czerny: Piano Concerto in A; Elgar: Sea Pictures; Music Mountain Concert

Thu 12 Boccherini: Symphony in A, OP. 21 #6; Lanner: Dances; Bassani: Missa Encarnacion; Bizet: Les Chants du Rhin; Lazarof: Symphony #2; Wolf-Ferrari: English Horn Concertino; Prokofiev: War and Peace - Suite

Fri 13 What You Will.... Ives: Violin Sonata #1; Sibelius: String Quartet in A Minor; Schoenberg: Quintet for Winds, Op. 26; Zemlinsky: String Quartet #2, Op. 15

Sun 15 Sunday Afternoon at the Opera…Leclair: Scylla et Glaucus

Mon 16 Antheil: String Quartet #3; Talma: The Ambient Air; Tavener: My Gaze is Ever Upon You; Hovhaness: Guitar Concerto; Chavez; Trombone Concerto Bax: Symphony #7 Drake's Village Brass Band…Illinois State University Wind Ensemble Commisions: Maslanka: Symphony #7

Tue 17 Heroic Overtures… Gade: Echoes of Ossian, Op. 1; Symphony #3, Op. 15; Symphony #6, Op. 32

Wed 18 Host's Choice

Thu 19 Avison: Concertos, Op. 4 #3 & 4; Boccherini: Symphony in D, Op. 35 #1; Music from the Habsburg Court; Shillings: Kassandra; Taileferre: Harp Concertino, Pastorale; Dyson: Violin Concerto; Fanshawe: Fantasy On Dover Castle; Pierne: Paysages Franciscains, Op. 43

Fri 20 What You Will.... Ives: Violin Sonata #2; Sibelius: String Quartet in B Flat Major, op. 4; Schoenberg: Little Pieces for Piano, Op. 19; Zemlinsky: String Quartet #3, Op. 19

Sun 22 Sunday Afternoon at the Opera…Truax: Powers of Two

Mon 23 Earth Day Special…Collins: Hymn to the Earth; Beach: Canticle to the Sun; Hovhaness: Symphony #60 "To the Appalachian Mountains"; Marx: Nature Trilogy Drake's Village Brass Band…Ramso: Brass Quartets

Tue 24 Heroic Overtures…Gade: Symphony #2, Op. 10, Symphony #8, Op. 47, In The Highlands, Op. 7

Wed 25 Handel: Organ Concerto #9; Dvorak: Symphony #7; Music Mountain Concert

Thu 26 Into the Woods…Boccherini: Symphony in E Flat, Op. 35 #1; Holzbaur: Symphony in D, Op. 3 #4; D'Indy: La Foret Enchantee; Raitio: Forest Idylls: Glazunov: The Forest; Sibelius: Tapiola; Dvorak: Silent Woods; Bax: November Woods, The Happy Forest; Raff: Symphony #3; Schumann: Walszenen

Fri 27 What You Will....Ives: Violin Sonata #3; Sibelius: String Quartet in D minor, Op. 56; Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21; Zemlinsky: String Quartet #4 (Suite) Op. 25

Sun 29 Sunday Afternoon at the Opera…Wagner: Das Rheingold

Mon 30 Monday Night at the Movies…Elmer Bernstein Film Music Collection-Rosza: Young Bess; Herrmann: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir; Williams: Memoirs of a Geisha; Glass: The Illusionist Drake's Village Brass Band…Ralph Sauer-Trombone Plays Telemann, Sulek and Others

WWUH TO BROADCAST MUSIC MOUNTAIN CONCERTS

We are pleased to announce that we have arranged once again to broadcast recordings of live chamber music performances from the 2006 summer season at Music Mountain. These will be presented on Wednesday evenings, beginning March 7, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.

Music Mountain, located in the scenic hills of northwest Connecticut (Falls Village), is the oldest continuing summer chamber music festival in the United States. It was founded in 1930 by Jacques Gordon as the permanent home of the Gordon String Quartet, a base from which it could tour and then return to teach, study, and perform in Gordon Hall. Each year, concerts present the great quartet and quintet masterpieces by leading performers before a public audience. Music Mountain's 2007 season will begin on Sunday, June 17, and chamber music concerts will continue on Sunday afternoons and occasional Saturday evenings through Sunday, September 9. The season also includes Saturday evening jazz concerts.
For more information, visit musicmountain.org. These broadcasts are made possible by the cooperation of Music Mountain and the WFMT Radio Network, and are underwritten by Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller, Falls Village, CT.

March 7 Eugenia Zukerman, flute; The Jacques Thibaud Trio Mozart: Flute Quartet in A Major, K. 298 Mozart: Divertimento for String Trio in E-Flat Major, K. 563 Beethoven: Trio for Strings in G Major, Op. 9, No. 1 Tan Mi Zi: Flute and Drum Under the Setting Sun for Solo Flute; Mozart: Flute Quartet in D Major, K. 285

March 14 Amernet String Quartet; Toby Appel, viola Beethoven: String Quartet in C Minor, Op. 18, No. 4 Mozart: Viola Quintet in C Major, K. 515 Brahms: Viola Quintet in G Major, Op. 111

March 21 Amernet String Quartet; Humbert Lucarelli, oboe Beethoven: String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132 Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 3 in F Major, Op. 73 Mozart: Oboe Quartet in F Major, K. 370

March 28 Avalon String Quartet; Pamela Mia Paul, piano Mozart: String Quartet in D Major, K. 499, Hoffmeister Debussy: String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10 Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-Flat Major, Op. 44

April 4 Chiara String Quartet; Daniel Epstein, piano Mozart: String Quartet in C Major, K. 465, Dissonance Beethoven: String Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1 Dohnanyi: Piano Quintet in C Minor, Op. 1

April 11 Daedalus String Quartet; Melvin Chen, piano Mozart: String Quartet in G Major, K. 387 Bart�k: String Quartet No. 3; Dvorak: Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81 April 18 St. Petersburg String Quartet; Alexander Mekinulov, piano Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 9 in E-Flat Major, Op. 117 Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 8, Op. 110; Shostakovich: Piano Quintet, Op. 57

April 25 Zemlinsky String Quartet; Simone Dinnerstein, piano Suk: Meditations on an Old Bohemian Chorale (St. Vaclav), Op. 35; Piazzolla: Four for Tango; Haydn: String Quartet in D Major, Op 76, No. 5; Dvorak: String Quartet in A-Flat Major, Op. 105; Mozart: Piano Quartet in G Minor, K. 478

Classical Links

2007-03-28T16:31:00.001-04:00

CONCORA (Ct Choral Artists)

Connecticut’s Premier Professional Choir
Our mission is to perpetuate and perform with excellence choral music of the highest quality for the broadest possible audience. We bring that mission to life through a commitment to artistic excellence, masterful performances, and educational enrichment in the community, enhancing the lives of generations.

Connecticut Opera

Connecticut Opera produces quality opera featuring well-known and emerging artists, stage directors and conductors, offers opera education and outreach programs that engage diverse communities, and introduces and encourages further appreciation of opera, while exercising fiscal responsibility.

Connecticut Classical Guitar Society

From Bach to Blues, Flamenco to Folk, the Society provides guitar enthusiasts with unique opportunites to hear and play the guitar in intimate settings throughout Connecticut.

The Connecticut Classical Guitar Society is a non-profit presenting arts organization. It is the largest organization of its kind serving the general public and classical guitarists by providing a forum for listening, learning, performing and teaching.

Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra

The Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra is a professional orchestra providing classical music concerts and musical services for residents of Greater Bristol, the Farmington Valley and Northwestern Connecticut. The musicians are an integral part of the fabric of music making in Connecticut, playing in many Connecticut orchestras and chamber music groups. Many have private teaching studios. They are among the finest orchestra players in the state.

West Hartford Symphony

This community orchestra is dedicated to improving the quality of life in our charming town of West Hartford, and presenting the highest quality of orchestral concerts for people of all ages.

Hartt School of Music

The Hartt School is recognized for the quality of its educational programs in music, dance, and theatre. Founded in 1920 by Julius Hartt, Moshe Paranov, and associated teachers, Hartt became one of three founding institutions of the University of Hartford in 1957.

The Hartford Chorale

The Hartford Chorale, founded in 1972, is a chorus of more than 140 men and women who are selected annually through competitive auditions. Singers come from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island, and represent diverse occupations in business and the professions. The Chorale provides experienced, talented singers with the opportunity to study and perform at an exceptional level of musicianship. Through its concerts and collaborations with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and other organizations, the Chorale seeks to reach and inspire the widest possible audiences with exceptional performances of a broad range of choral literature, including renowned choral masterpieces.

Manchester Symphony Orchestra

The mission of the Manchester Symphony and Chorale (MSOC) is to: 1) promote the performance of quality orchestral and choral music on a non-profit basis; 2) enhance the enjoyment and enrichment of its members; 3) contribute to the furtherance of the performing arts in the community; and 4) serve as an educational force in the Town of Manchester and surrounding areas, especially for young instrumentalists and singers.

Musical Club of Hartford

The Musical Club of Hartford, Inc., is a non-profit Connecticut organization celebrating its 114th anniversary this year. It was founded by a small group of music lovers who met frequently to perform for each other. Over the past century its membership has grown to almost 300 music lovers, who meet to perform or listen to performances of classical music. Membership is open to performers or to those who simply enjoy classical music, providing a network for musicians from the Greater Hartford area.

Simsbury Light Opera Company

The Simsbury Light Opera Company (SLOCO) has been in continuous operation since 1946 making it one of the longest surviving non-profit light opera companies in the nation. SLOCO presents its major production each spring at Simsbury High School. These productions feature principal performers from throughout Connecticut and western Massachusetts, plus a 40 to 50-plus member chorus of experienced amateur singers, with the support and direction of SLOCO leaders.

City Singers

Vocal music of the Baroque, Renaissance and other Musical Periods.

Hartford Conservatory

Our goal is to help you to pursue your dreams in the performing arts, whether your dream is to become a professional performer or to simply be a participant in an artistic experience.

Waterbury Symphony

The Waterbury Symphony Orchestra is located in Waterbury, Connecticut. The symphony performs classical and popular music throughout the year. Whether you are an avid symphony goer, a musician, or just someone that likes to listen to great music, be sure to check us out! We have great ticket prices for all ages and often have group discounts available.

Association of Connecticut Choruses

Do you want to join a chorus? The Association of Connecticut Choruses (ACC) is a non-profit organization of community, festival, college/university, and church choirs, and individual singers that was established in 1981 to promote and encourage choral music in Connecticut.

Chamber Music Plus

Chamber Music PLUS is a national organization that creates and presents original works that meld multiple art forms (theater, classical music and visuals). An artist managed organization, Chamber Music PLUS produces programs of the highest artistic quality, that educate and entertain, while providing a deeper experience in art.

Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra

The Framington Valley Symphony Orchestra is a non-profit community orchestra. We perform five or more times during each concert season in several differrent locations in and around Farmington, Connecticut.

If you would like your organization's information included in the WWUH Classical Links section please email your information to sdpetke@comcast.net. The WWUH Classical Department reserves the right to determine whether the information is appropriate for our website.

Monday Evening Classics

2007-03-28T16:30:00.003-04:00

Keith Barrett is host of Monday Evening Classics "Musical Odyssey" featuring "Drake's Village Brass Band"

Being asked to provide some notes for the "Classics" issue of the WWUH program guide [and the WWUH Classical music website] I wondered how to approach this assignment. Having recently celebrated my 20th year anniversary as a volunteer here at WWUH I well remember submitting an article for the May/June 1992 issue which also featured the Classical Staff. Some things change and some things stay the same. Incredibly, that guide featured articles by among others, myself, Steve Petke, Keith Brown and Dwight Thurston, all of whom have been with the station and on the air continuously since that time. I joined the staff towards the end of 1987 and assumed the duties of host of Monday Classics, now called A Musical Odyssey, sometime between March and May of 1988. I can’t seem to locate the records of my very first program although I’m sure they are around somewhere.

Some random musical notes on my Musical Odyssey.

Back in fourth grade some musicians came in to our class to demonstrate their instruments so we could pick what we might like to play in band. The trombonist played "Lassus Trombone" by Henry Fillmore and I was hooked. I took up the trombone and stuck with it. It opened up the world of Duke Ellington, Maynard Ferguson and Stan Kenton. I remember hearing the brassy rock band Blood Sweat and Tears perform "Lucretia McEvil" during the Grammy Awards back in the sixties and I was hooked on them as well. I had the great experience of performing with my high school jazz band for real live gigs. We played for dances in church basements around the area, playing music of Tommy Dorsey and the big bands. We even got paid a small amount, even though we weren’t in the union!

Somehow in my high school days I began to be drawn toward Classical music. I once loved Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and played it over and over again! I clearly remember the first time I heard Ravel's Bolero. My best friend at the time and I were in the back seat of a car returning from some Drum and Bugle Corps event. Even though it was played over a small car radio it captured our attention like nothing we’d ever heard before and drove us wild with its continuous build up. We practically jumped out of the car when the famous modulation hits towards the end, which is exactly how the piece is constructed to affect one. I still love the Ravel, but as for the other... Well if I never hear it again it will be too soon! And why is this celebration of a Russian Military victory still played so religiously at the celebration of our nation’s birth. It's time for a new piece.

So with my trombone, I was able to go off to college to study music. I ended up in St. Louis, Mo, which seemed almost like a foreign country to a dyed-in-the-wool easterner like myself. One day in the school library I found an old Columbia LP with a picture of the seated Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial. It had a recording of Copland’s "Lincoln Portrait", but most importantly for me, a recording of the "Three Places in New England" of Charles Ives. To a homesick boy this title was too much to resist. It started a long journey of discovery of the music and writings of Ives. Reading Ives "Memos" as published by John Kirkpatrick was like water to a thirsty traveler. His writings and music touch something deep inside.

Through the study of Ives I came upon so many other names. I came upon the name of Bernard Herrmann, which led me on a path of exploration of Film Music. Finding an album of Herrmann film music was a revelation with its exploration of the dark side of life. There was the name Henry Bellamann, a writer and performer and early champion of Ives's music. He went on to write the novel "King’s Row" which was made into a movie, which had music by Erich Korngold.

Of course being a trombonist lead me to play in bands - in band concerts - in fact - in outdoor Summer Time Band Concerts. Actually playing in band in High School made several marks on my musical consciousness. I would rail at my teacher for playing the same arrangements of popular tunes and show medleys. "Don’t people want to hear something different?" I would say. Of course they didn't. The some old was good enough. Something I still fight today in my Musical Odyssey.

Secondly, although playing the "Theme from Rocky" was a lot of fun, there was a different kind of music we played in band once in a while, which really excited my curiosity. For instance, Vaughan Williams "English Folksong Suite" or arrangements of Bach organ toccatas and fugues. This was musical food feeding the beginnings of a musical odyssey which is still in progress.

Well I don't make my living in music today. However, I don't regret my musical travels either. It was my move to St. Louis which put me into the path of Jane Seiferth, my beautiful wife of 25 years. My musical curiosity remains stronger than ever. It causes me to continually add to my overgrown CD collection and helps to set up the programming on A Musical Odyssey, Classical Music for Monday Evening on WWUH Radio.

Thanks for listening all these years and please keep the dial tuned to 91.3 F.M. WWUH

Keith Barrett a.k.a. Drake the Bandmaster

Tuesday Evening Classics

2007-03-28T16:30:00.001-04:00

Scott Deshefy is alternate host of Tuesday Evening Classics "Heroic Overtures"

Place of Birth:
Fortress Monroe, Hampton Roads, VA

Started at WWUH:
1997

Favorite Classical Composers / Works
Beethoven, Dvorak, Smetana and several of the Russian composers.

Activities / Interests
My hobbies, and avocations, include writing, all true sports (especially, baseball, football (I was a flanker in college) golf, track and field (primarily pole vaulting, triple jump in HS and college), repairing old cars, carpentry, the cinema, history, and rooting for the Cubs, Lakers, Rams, Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer, whom I met while seeking shelter under the same oak tree during a thunderstorm at the Hartford Open in 1972. I'm an activist for human and nonhuman animal rights and welfare. I've taught various courses in the biological and physical sciences and philosophy, including (at Middlesex Community State College and Clemson University), general biology, environmental science, astronomy, geology, animal rights and environmental ethics, vertebrate zoology and comparative anatomy and physiology.

When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I grew up in Uncasville, CT. I have a BS (major-biology, minor-literature) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, MS (zoology) and doctoral study and doctoral research in behavioral-ecology/ethology at Clemson University. I've written two books of poetry (Houynhmns All, 1999 and Shadow Stones and Other Poems, 2005 - both Ahimsa Press) and have co-edited and contributed to a third book of nature poems to celebrate Earth Day in 1995, entitled Touch the Earth. I have 26 years of employment with and service to the State of CT as a scientist and environmentalist.

How were you introduced to Classical Music?
I first started to appreciate classical music while listening to my mother's record collection as a youngster, which also included the crooners of the 50s. Thus, the voices of Eddie Fisher, Perry Como, and Nat King Cole bring back fond memories of early youth.

Wednesday Evening Classics

2007-03-28T16:29:00.005-04:00

Michael Dolan is host of of Wednesday Evening Classics.

Michael Dolan, the host of Wednesday Evening Classics, is the newest Classical Music announcer for WWUH, starting on the air in August, 2007. His connection with the station started three years ago, when he moved to Hartford. At first, he was just a listener, but when WWUH asked for volunteers, he decided to help out. He did not expect to become an announcer, but the training included studio work. Michael made his demo tape and when an opening came up, he was on the air.

Michael was born and raised in Philadelphia. He grew up singing in the church choir. His first real exposure to Classical music came in high school. A girl he was dating persuaded him to go to the opera. He saw Carmen and La Boheme with singers like Mirella Freni. It was a great introduction to classical music.

It was in college that he first seriously studied Classical Music, first with a two semester History of Music course. He later studied Medieval and Renaissance music, leading him to long term interest in early music, influencing his programming of Wednesday Evening Classics. While in college, he also began to attend Philadelphia Orchestra concerts. He got last minute student tickets, which were in the last two rows of the highest balcony of the Academy of Music. The orchestra was far away, but the sound was great. Later, after Michael started his actuarial career, he bought a Thursday evening subscription to the Orchestra in a much closer location. Later on, his career took him to Florida, where he was a subscriber to the now defunct Florida Philharmonic. He continued to sing with his church choir.

Michael's musical tastes cover a variety of styles and periods. His favorite composers are Mozart and Schumann.

Thursday Evening Classics

2007-03-28T16:29:00.003-04:00

Steve Petke is host of Thursday Evening Classics and Classical Music Director @ WWUH

Place of Birth:
Hartford, CT

Started at WWUH:
1991

What do you like about working at WWUH?
The flexibility in programming at WWUH is astounding. There is no mandatory playlist and since WWUH is 100% non-commercial, it allows me to select entire works by any number of composers. The station’s library is immense, so there is a nearly inexhaustible source of material. The passion and loyalty of the staff really comes through over the air, too. I have rarely heard such knowledge and professionalism for a “college” station.

Favorite Classical Composers / Works
I generally respond to this question by saying “whatever I’m listening to now.” While there are simply too many to name – Bach, Schubert, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Brahms, Vivaldi, Haydn and Sibelius would be on my short list of favorite composers. Favorite works? Too many to name.

Activities / Interests
Bicycling, Soccer, Hiking, Snowshoeing, Colonial History, Animals, Dark Chocolate.

When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Apart from a brief aspiration to become a lawyer, I always wanted to excel in sports. But, I lacked the size and quickness for basketball or football and I couldn’t hit a curve ball. Growing up, the inevitable thinning of the ranks ensued – superstar Little League player to average Jr High School player to Varsity bench-sitter. I did have a successful High School and College soccer career, but for a full-time vocation, it was not to be in sports.

How were you introduced to Classical Music?
I come from a very musical family. WTIC-FM was always on in our house, back when WTIC had a Classical music format. My father had a good voice. My mother played and taught piano for over 30 years – and still practices in her 90s! My sister played the clarinet and my older brother played the trombone. I played shortstop.

Any fun anecdotes / experiences at WWUH?
I did inadvertently play the beginning of a 33 1/3 LP record at 45 RPM. While this may be a clever technique to see if anyone is listening, it’s generally not recommended for broadcast.

Friday Evening Classics

2007-03-28T16:29:00.001-04:00

Larry Bilansky is host of Friday Evening Classics

Joined the staff of WWUH in 1993.

Being an accountant by trade, I'm expected to be a conservative traditionalist. That's why I play primarily contemporary classical music and unusual interpretations of more traditional works.

Sunday Afternoon at the Opera

2007-03-28T16:28:00.001-04:00

Keith Brown is host of Sunday Afternoon at the Opera