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.
-
Classical 101Justin Swain is a young man I’ve gotten to know over the years. He’s a fine baritone and a well-rounded, locally trained musician. Recently Justin has… -
Classical 101A new recording for the Columbus-based cello quartet UCelli spotlights the accomplishments of four historic women. UCelli's new album Four Women is Mark… -
Classical 101During the decade I lived in New York, the 1980s with spare change on both sides, I’d often walk to classes at NYU – when I went to class – across… -
Classical 101Promoting Replay!, Classical 101's annual, magnificent instrument donation drive, my colleagues and I ask you to look under the bed, in the attic or in… -
Classical 101Don’t get me started on a lot of opera productions today.If you are of a certain age, then maybe you’re tired of seeing Carmen or Othello dressed in…
-
Classical 101I first heard Verdi’s opera Rigoletto on a record I got from the library in my hometown, over fifty years ago.The first performance of Rigoletto I… -
Classical 101The death of a 98-year-old widow in Germany last April attracted worldwide headlines. At that age, her passing was hardly unexpected. Yet the death of… -
Classical 101Some operas inspire reverence beyond who gets kissed and who gets killed. Francis Poulenc’s The Dialogues of the Carmelites is chief among them.This is… -
Classical 101“Too much of a good thing is wonderful,” Mae West said.Even I wasn’t around when West immortalized that line in 1932. Even so, it’s a motto of mine, for… -
Classical 101I had seen news reports over the years of a young opera soprano who had undergone a double-lung transplant, shook off her troubles and continued her…
