This Week at The Classical Station
by Chrissy Keuper
Saturday and Sunday, 7-8 June 2025
Come join us for great classical music, no matter what you have planned for the weekend.
We’re here for you.
This weekend:
Saturday On Point dives into the lush, romantic world of Reinhold Gliere’s The Red Poppy with a rare and riveting performance by the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra in this sweeping Soviet-era ballet based in 1920s Shanghai and filled with drama, passion, and unforgettable melodies. Join Peggy Powell for the ballet on Saturday at 1pm ET.
Then, Emily Moss will be with you at 6pm ET for the Saturday Evening Request Program.
(Here’s the playlist; make requests for next week’s programs here.
Get your sacred Sunday morning started with James Steelmon and Great Sacred Music, featuring the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Laubin Brass Ensemble, and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, with works by John Tavener, Gustav Mahler, Samuel Barber, and others. Join us at 8am ET following Sing For Joy.
And on Preview!, Tom Hayakawa will compare French and German Baroque styles with Zaïde, Queen of Grenada by Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer and Johann Friedrich Fasch’s Orchestral Suite in D Major. We’ll also hear music from the Japanese anime classic, Kiki’s Delivery Service by Joe Hisaishi. The best in new classical releases, Sundays at 6pm ET.
Thursday, 05 June 2025
Happy Friday Eve to all of you!
Come celebrate with us this evening during Thursday Night Opera House, featuring a 2005 recording of Antonio Pappano conducting the Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and legendary soloists in Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. Join Dr. Jay Pierson at 7pm ET for all the drama, tragedy, and gorgeous music of this medieval love triangle.
On this day in classical music history:
Martha Argerich, c. 2024. (Photo by Marco Borggreve – Courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon)
A very Happy Birthday to Argentine-Swiss pianist Martha Argerich, born in Buenos Aires in 1941. Argerich was considered a prodigy who could play simply anything flawlessly on the piano from the age of three. Her father was given diplomatic status and a post in Vienna in the 1950s so that Argerich could study there. She made her professional debut in 1968 with the Berlin Philharmonic, after having already won the International Chopin Piano Competition. Since then, Argerich has performed countless times and made some of the most iconic recordings for the piano, and she continues to tour and perform all over the world.
Wednesday, 04 June 2025
A very good day to you! Come enjoy the great classical music with us.
And while you’re listening, please consider a gift of support to help ensure the future of classical music on the airwaves and online.
On this date in classical music history:
Cecilia Bartoli, c. 2025. (Photo by Cecilia Bartoli)
A very Happy Birthday to Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli, born in Rome in 1966. Bartoli attended the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome and made her professional debut on an Italian television show called Fantastico. She was 21 when she made her opera debut at the Arena di Verona, followed by the Cologne Opera, the Schwetzingen Festival, and the Zurich Opera. Bartoli has sung in opera houses and concert halls all over the world and made recordings with the world’s premier orchestras and ensembles. She is also a music producer (2012’s Mission, which premiered the works of Baroque composer Agostino Steffani); she has won numerous music awards (including five Grammy Awards and the 2012 Herbert von Karajan Music Prize); and she is the first woman director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo (2023).
Monday, 2 June 2025
It’s a new week and a new month! Let’s get a good start on both with some great classical music.
This evening at 7pm ET, join Vince Tillona for Drop the Needle and the warmth of vinyl recordings. This week’s show features Symphony Fantastique by Hector Berlioz, and a lot more.
And at 8pm ET, Monday Night at the Symphony will feature the Philadelphia Orchestra and include works by Sergei Rachmaninov, Jean Sibelius, and Anton Webern, conducted by Eugene Ormandy, Christoph Eschenbach, and Yannick Nezet-Seguin. See you at the symphony!
Tuesday on Classical Café, join George Leef for this week’s Legendary Performer: Romanian pianist and composer Dinu Lappate.
And on Wednesday, (June 4th between 11am-12pm ET), George will give away tickets to Side by Side, the premiere concert in the Ciompi Quartet’s summertime series. Tune in to win some great summertime tickets!
On this date in classical music history:
Edward Elgar at his desk, c. 1931. (Photo by Herbert Lambert – Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery)
It’s the birthdate of English composer Edward Elgar in Lower Broadheath, Worcestershire, in 1857. Elgar was an early student of piano and violin, and worked as a clerk for a local solicitor while he made his first public appearances as a violinist and organist. He was also conductor and composer for the orchestra at a nearby mental health facility and was a professor of violin at a local college for the Blind. Elgar was a consistent performer and arranger while also composing, and he is ultimately credited for the renaissance of English works in the late 19th-century. He was sometimes said to be the most internationally famous English composer since Henry Purcell.