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Classical 101

Weekly Highlights May 22-28

Music notes illustration with WOSU Classical 101 logo
WOSU Public Media

Every week is concert week on Classical 101. Tune in to hear everything from Ravel to Bach with witty insight and conversation from hosts in-the-know. Here's a sneak peek of what's on the menu for next week, May 22-28.

Sunday, May 22

1:00 PM, Columbus Symphony Orchestra Broadcast

Mendelsohn's Elijah was a great success for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Thankfully, it was also recorded and Christopher Purdy will present it on-air this Sunday. This is something not to miss. 

8:00 PM, Musica Sacra

Dvorak's Stabat Mater

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJr5Gzaa2ig

Monday, May 23rd:

7:00 PM, Essential Classics with Christopher Purdy

Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme is a quintessential cello piece not only because it was composed by Tchaikovsky with the ethos of Mozart, but also because it was written with the help of a fabulous cellist and friend of Tchaikovsky; Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, a fellow professor at the Moscow Conservatory. It always helps to have artistic insight from an expert player and music pedagogue! 

Tuesday, May 24th:

7:00 PM, The American Sound

Mark O'Connor's Americana Symphony

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKwDlUSvDZ8

Wednesday, May 25th:

7:00 PM, Fretworks

The Amadeus Guitar Duo plays Bach’s Italian Concerto in F

Thursday, May 26th:

7:00 PM, Symphony@7

Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben ("A Hero's Life") may or may not be a biographical, retrospective picture of the composer's life; he claimed it was on some occasions, and also fervently dismissed the ideas at other points in his life. He did firmly state that the piece to be: "not a single poetical or historical figure, but rather a more general and free ideal of great and manly heroism,"  even though the work contains at least 30 musical quotes from his other works. It's a mystery wrapped in a symphony. Judge for yourself this week as we listen to it live, on-air.

Friday, May 27th:

7:00 PM, The San Francisco Symphony

Haydn's Symphony No. 44 in E minor 

Saturday, May 28th:

Opera and More with Christopher Purdy

Puccini's Tosca 

If you want great insight and humorous commentary on this landmark opera, check out an older "Opera Abreviated" by Classical 101 host Christopher Purdy here.

6:00 PM, The American Sound

David Amram’s American Dance Suite

On his composition, American Dance Suite, Amram said in his program notes: "The work is in three movements. I decided to make a dance suite as a result of working with Jacques d'Ambroise, the dancer, choreographer and founder of the National Dance Institute in New York.

Mr. d'Amboise wanted some of my music for a dance he was to create. After watching the excitement of seeing my composition choreographed (Mary Tyler Moore tap-danced in one section!), I decided I would write a piece celebrating American dance forms, as a concert piece, that could create a ballet in the listener's mind, and perhaps someday be danced to.

The first movement, Cheyenne, uses some traditional melodies of the Cheyenne people. An introductory fanfare is followed by a traditional Cheyenne melody taught to me by Hyemeyonsts Storm, the author of Seven Arrows."

7:00 PM, Fretworks

Bernstein's West Side Story

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