Classical Connections

Michael Gandolfi

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:28:29 -0400

Boston area composer Michael Gandolfi's ever growing Garden of Cosmic Speculation. It's a piece of music, and a garden.

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The Boston Early Music Festival Exhibition

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:05:34 -0400

Interesting and ancient instruments abound at the Boston Early Music Festival’s Exhibition.

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Opera

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:26:13 -0400

Think a night at the opera's not for you? The Directors of Boston Lyric Opera and Opera Boston share some of the reasons so many people are so passionate about opera.

Music excerpts heard in today's Classical Connection are from the following operas: 1) Puccini's La Boheme 2) Bizet's Carmen 3) Puccini's Madame Butterfly 4) Adams's Nixon in China 5) Gluck's Iphigenia in Tauris 6) Lully's Psyche 7) Mozart's Don Giovanni 8) Verdi's Ernani

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Timothy Swan

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:50:34 -0400

Nym Cooke, expert on the early sacred music of New England, talks about one of his favorite composers-Timothy Swan.

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William Billings

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:49:02 -0400

Friend of Paul Revere and Sam Adams, William Billings was a colonial era composer who wrote some of the earliest American music.

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Gunther Schuller's Guide to Contemporary Music Listening

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:20:47 -0400

Many classical music fans are still put-off by music written within the last century. Composer and conductor Gunther Schuller has some suggestions for listening to contemporary classical music.

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Orpheus Performing Arts Treasures

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:53:39 -0500

The small independent music store isn't totally extinct. Classical Connections pays a visit to one of the remaining classical music specialty shops, located in Boston's Back Bay.

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Roland Hayes

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:49:33 -0500

Tenor Roland Hayes paved the way for African American performers into the concert hall. Meet this great artist who made history breaking the "color barrier" in Boston, Massachusetts.

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Third Stream

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:46:04 -0500

Composer Gunther Schuller has been bringing people and ideas together for over 50 years. He first did it with classical and jazz when he created a new genre of music called Third Stream.

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BMOP Sound

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:22:19 -0500

Boston Modern Orchestra Project Artistic Director Gil Rose talks about the orchestra's remarkable first year of their new indepentdent record label, BMOP Sound.

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El Sistema USA

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 10:29:53 -0500

New England Conservatory has been a partner with Venezuela's mammoth music program, El Sistema for over a dozen years now. Hear about how they are now trying to transfer that success to a program here in the US.

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WGBH's Richard Knisely interviews José Antonio Abreu

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 10:21:11 -0500

Hear Richard Knisely's discussion with El Sistema founder, José Antonio Abreu, from November 2007, after the Simón Bolívar Youth Symphony Orchestra performance at Boston's Symphony Hall.

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Mozart in Massachusetts

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:05:37 -0500

Roger Hall, curator of the website AmericanMusicPreservation.com, shares six pieces by Wolfgang Amadues Mozart that had their US premiere performances in Massachusetts.

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Nicolas Slonimsky

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:42:51 -0500

There's a little known conductor who made a big breakthrough in the world of contemporary music with a now defunct Boston Orchestra-discover the achievements of Nicolas Slonimsky.

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Classroom Cantatas

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:09:20 -0500

The Cantata Singers mark 15 years of helping kids compose music through their program called Classroom Cantatas.

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Elliott Carter

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:41:10 -0500

Composer Elliott Carter turns 100. His friend and fellow composer Yehudi Wyner talks with Classical Connections about Carter's music.

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Mind/Body at Longy

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:22:01 -0500

The Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Mass., is one of the few music schools in the country with a mind/body program, which aims to teach students how to develop good performance practice techniques and avoid injuries.

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Frederick Historic Piano Collection

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:40:20 -0500

The Frederick Historic Piano Collection is not a museum. The 23 pianos that reside in Ashburnham, Massachusetts can all be played. And hearing the distinct voices of these instruments ranging from roughly 1795 to 1907 is a way to hear to the sounds composers from Beethvoven to Debussy were using when they composed.

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Classical Rock Band

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:59:09 -0500

Meet Eran Egozy-co-creator of the hugely popular video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band-who makes gamers rock stars for his day job, while also playing classical clarinet with Radius Ensemble.

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Balint Karosi

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:11:27 -0500

Meet the first U.S. based musician to win the International J.S. Bach Competition, in the category of Organ performance. His name is Balint Karosi-and he's Minister of Music at First Lutheran Church in Boston's Back Bay.

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Boston Ballet

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:39:24 -0400

With dancers on the stage, and musicians under the stage, how do they all keep in step? We take a look at the trio of partners that bring dance to life at the Boston Ballet.

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Ives: "The Housatonic at Stockbridge"

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:16:49 -0400

Professor and composer John Heiss talks about "The Housatonic at Stockbridge," the third movement from Charles Ives's orchestral composition Three Places in New England.

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Peterhouse part-books

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:07:10 -0400

Scott Mecalfe, music director of the Blue Heron Renaissance Choir, and musicologist Nick Sandon talk about Sandon's recomposition work on the Peterhouse part-books, a collection of 16th-century English repertoire that is being performed in North America only by Blue Heron.

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Extended interview about the Peterhouse part-books

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:04:16 -0400

Producer Michelle Sweet's complete interview with Blue Heron Renaissance Choir music director Scott Metcalf and musicologist Nick Sandon

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Yoga for Musicians

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:41:03 -0400

Students at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute practice more than just their instruments. Some of them participated in an ongoing study with Kripalu's Institute for Extraordinary Living to measure the impact of a yoga practice on their musical performance.

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Ives: "The Saint-Gaudens in Boston Common"

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:30:24 -0400

Professor and composer John Heiss talks about the inspiration behind "The Saint-Gaudens in Boston Common," the first movement of Charles Ives's orchestral composition Three Places in New England.

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BUTI World Premiere

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:08:07 -0400

How does a piece of music come into existence? The Boston University Tanglewood Institute's Wind Ensemble let's us listen in on the very first rehearsal of a world premiere.

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Greenwood Music Camp

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:07:43 -0400

Campers learn about life by playing chamber music together at the Greenwood Music Camp in Cummington, Mass.

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More from Chiara String Quartet members Jonah Sirota and Rebecca Fischer

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:01:58 -0400

Hear more from Chiara String Quartet members Jonah Sirota and Rebecca Fischer, who attended Greenwood Music Camp

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Berkshire Choral Festival

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:10:40 -0400

Amateur singers come together from around the country and around the world to sing in Great Barrington, Mass.

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More with Berkshire Choral Festival conductor Tom Hall

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:50:44 -0400

Conductor Tom Hall talks about leading enthusiastic singers in a program of Orff and Beethoven.

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Boston Landmarks Orchestra

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:36:34 -0400

The Boston Landmarks Orchestra blossoms during the summertime, expanding the repertoire of classical music for young people.

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More on the Boston Landmarks Orchestra

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:31:42 -0400

Conductor Charles Ansbacher and composer Anthony DiLorenzo talk with producer Michelle Sweet about the mission and music of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra.

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More from cellist Rhonda Rider

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:06:14 -0400

Producer Michelle Sweet talks with cellist Rhonda Rider about other nuances and details of her 18th-century cello from Milan, Italy.

Rhonda Rider's cello

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:00:43 -0400

Rhonda Rider of the Triple Helix trio shares her theories about the mysterious markings on her cello, built in Milan in the 18th century.

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WGBH classical host Brian McCreath interviews MFA curator Darcy Kuronen

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:31:23 -0400

WGBH classical host Brian McCreath talks with Darcy Kuronen, curator of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, about the history and development of keyed bugles and their manufacture in Massachusetts.

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MFA Instruments

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:38:59 -0400

The musical voices of history come to life in this visit to the musical instruments gallery at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Mass.

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Worcester Music Festival History

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:06:52 -0400

Musicologist Steven Ledbetter and Stasia Hovenesian, executive director of Music Worcester, discuss the history of the country's oldest ongoing music festival.

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Extended interview with Steven Ledbetter

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:56:09 -0400

Extended interview with Steven Ledbetter.

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North Bennet Street Violin

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:13:13 -0400

Learn about the violin-making program at Boston's North Bennet Street School.

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North Bennet Street Piano

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:45:06 -0400

Come visit the Piano Technology Program at North Bennet Street School in Boston.

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Extended Interviews with NBSS students Emily Townsend and Kevin Luke

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:09:07 -0400

Two pianos students discuss their love of music and pianos in the piano shop at North Bennet Street School.

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Extended interview with Shawn Hansen

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:45:43 -0400

Classical music host Cathy Fuller plays two recent rebuilt pianos with NBSS student Shawn Hansen.

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The Community Music School of Springfield

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:49:07 -0400

The Presto program at the Community Music School of Springfield provides financial assistance for children to learn a string instrument, but it's more than just music lessons.

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Extended interviews with Presto program students Imani Bourdeau, Isshiah Baret-Stone, John Charbonneau, and their mothers

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:56:43 -0400

Extended interviews with students Imani Bourdeau, Isshiah Baret-Stone, John Charbonneau, and their mothers.

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Handel & Haydn Society Origins

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:33:20 -0400

Discover the origins of Boston's Handel & Haydn Society.

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Extended Interview with Roger Norrington

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:26:25 -0400

Extended interview with H&H artistic adviser Roger Norrington

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Methuen Memorial Music Hall

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:25:31 -0400

30 miles north of Boston is a hall that was built solely for the purpose of housing one of the countries largest pipe organs. Come tour the Methuen Memorial Music Hall.

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Music in the Mornings

Thu, 29 May 2008 12:31:38 -0400

The New Bedford Symphony Orchestra's Music in the Mornings program brings classical music every morning to elementary school students on the Massachusetts south coast.
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