Christopher Purdy
Classical HostChristopher Purdy is Classical 101's early morning host, 7-10 a.m. weekdays. He is host and producer of Front Row Center – Classical 101’s weekly celebration of Opera and more – as well as Music in Mid-Ohio, Concerts at Ohio State, and the Columbus Symphony broadcast series. He is the regular pre-concert speaker for Columbus Symphony performances in the Ohio Theater.
Christopher remains a New Englander at heart, with strong ties to Manhattan where he lived for many years. But he has strong Columbus ties: his late father-in-law, Wayne Rittenhouse, was the football coach of Central and Northland High Schools in Columbus. Christopher met his wife, Linda Rittenhouse, while they were both working at a food kitchen in New York City. They married in 1989; their daughter Kerry Megan was born in 1990. The family moved to Columbus in 1991. They are still adjusting to the Midwestern lifestyle. A city boy, Purdy maintains that he would be happy to cement over his entire yard spare me the lawn mower and the weeds!”
His favorite composers are Monteverdi and Bruckner. An accidental encounter with a beat-up recording of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” at the age of eight changed Purdy’s direction from law school or the priesthood to one of classical music and public broadcasting. He was so captivated by the cover art, that he took the recording home, popped it on his battery-operated kiddy record player and his life changed forever. He still has the recording.
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Classical 101Soprano Maria Callas—controversial, temperamental, with a voice described alternately as "dazzling" and "catastrophic"—remains an enigma whose recordings… -
Classical 101Sept. 16 is the 40th anniversary of the death of Maria Callas. Born in 1923, Callas was 53 years old when she died.She had not sung a fully staged opera… -
Classical 101Opera Project Columbus, conducted by Alessandro Siciliani, presents Giacomo Puccini's one-act opera Suor Angelica in the Lincoln Theatre, Friday, Sept. 8… -
Classical 101Flutist Nancy Hadden has lived in the U.K. since the late 1970s. Born in Oxford, Ohio, Hadden grew up in the Columbus area.She comes home Sunday, Sept. 10… -
Classical 101One of the many joys of this job is seeing locally based talent grow to become a thriving entity. Such is the case with Antoine Clark, a young clarinetist… -
Classical 101Not long ago, a young man from Mansfield, Ohio, came to see me. Joel Vega is a tenor, husband, father and entrepreneur. He had heard that I've been around… -
Classical 101Harvey Sachs wrote his first biography of Arturo Toscanini in 1978. Nearly 40 years later, he's published a completely new book about the conductor,… -
Classical 101The indefatigable Orlay Alonso, everyone's favorite Columbus-based pianist, makes his long-awaited debut with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, 8 p.m.… -
Classical 101Mary Hoffman was program director of WOSU Radio in the days when WOSU-FM meant classical music at 89.7 on the dial.During my time here, I've inherited… -
Classical 101Classical 101 is collecting new and gently used musical instruments to put into the hands of local kids. Learn how you can help at wosu.org/replay.I still…
