This Week at The Classical Station
by Chrissy Keuper & Mark Schreiner
Saturday and Sunday, 7 & 8 February, 2026
Welcome to the weekend, Listeners!
Today at 1pmET on Saturday On Point:
Here’s a howdy-do: can two super-fans of Gilbert & Sullivan make up a ballet from the ballads, songs and snatches of the legitimate monarchs of Topsy-turvydom? Of course, the answer is: Indubitably!
This week, we’ll enjoy Pineapple Poll, a riotous comic romp through the romantic and absurd world of G&S.
Choreographer John Cranko and arranger Sir Charles Mackerras took W.S. Gilbert’s “The Bumboat Woman’s Story” (one of his 1870 Bab Ballads — the one upon which H.M.S. Pinafore is based) and, in reverent irreverence, set it to the music of Arthur Sullivan. In keeping with their inspirations, the pair also tacked on a happy ending of their own design!
Then join us at 6pmET as Haydn Jones spins your requests and special dedications on the Saturday Evening Request Program.
(Make requests for next week here.)
On Sunday morning at 8amET, Great Sacred Music features a major work by British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams – a meditation on peace in a time of war.
Commissioned to write a large-scale piece for the centennial of a singing society, Vaughan Williams devoted himself to the task. What he produced is an exploration of Christian love’s longing for a just peace for all humanity. The composer had known war. He served in France during World War I as an ambulance driver and later as an artillery officer (the booming shells permanently damaged his hearing). As Europe and the world moved closer to another war in the 1930s, he completed Dona Nobis Pacem (Grant Us Peace).
You’ll also hear J.S. Bach’s Cantata BWV 1083, Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden (Cancel, Highest, my sins). The composition, a 1740s arrangement by Bach of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater (some might even call it a ‘musical parody’), was instantly popular and has been widely published and performed ever since.
And on Preview! at 6pmET, we’ll have the best new and recent releases from the world of classical music, including Nicolas Ellis directing Les Violons du Roy Chamber Orchestra and cellist Cameron Crozman in Josef Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1, an early example of the modern three-movement concerto form.
Friday, 6 February 2026
Friday. Yes.
It’s All-Request Friday and we’re playing your requests and special dedications.
Want to make one for next week? Do that here.
On This Day in Classical Music History:
A very Happy Birthday to Greek countertenor and musicologist Aris Christofellis, born in Athens in 1960.
Christofellis is a male soprano. This rare voice type can sing in the high register and is well-suited to 18th-century Italian baroque opera. Christofellis’s voice has an unusually wide range, from bass to high soprano.
In this recording, Christofellis sings the male soprano role Megacle in selections from Vivaldi’s 1734 opera L’Olimpiade.
In recent years, Christofellis reportedly has reduced his performance schedule to focus on teaching.
Thursday, 5 February 2026
Happy Friday Eve, Listeners!
Tonight on Thursday Night Opera House:
Suspicion, jealousy and evil intent combine in a powerhouse operatic setting of Otello by Giuseppe Verdi.
At 7pmET, we’ll hear an unmatched 1978 performance of Britain’s National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Ambrosian Opera Chorus, starring:
Renata Scotto, soprano, as Desdemona
Placido Domingo, tenor, as Otello
Sherrill Milnes, baritone, as Iago
Frank Little, tenor, as Cassio
Paul Crook, tenor, as Roderigo
Tuesday, 3 February 2026
On this date in Classical Music History:
Today is the birthdate of Mexican composer Blas Galindo, born in San Gabriel, Jalisco, in 1910. Galindo studied piano and composition at the National Conservatory in Mexico City, then was invited to the Berkshire Music Festival in Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony’s summer home in western Massachusetts.
While there in the early 1940s, he was an assistant to Aaron Copland (whose own El Salón México was inspired by his friendships and travels in Mexico). Galindo’s orchestral suite Arroyos was performed at Tanglewood in 1942.
In 1947, he was named director of Mexico’s National Conservatory of Music, where he taught counterpoint, conducted the student orchestra, and expanded the institution.
Over a long professional life, Galindo composed over 150 works, including music for orchestra, voice, solo piano, cello and guitar. He contributed the score to the 1955 film Raíces, a classic film much admired at Cannes, which tells the story of the struggles of indigenous people.
After retiring in 1965, Galindo devoted himself to composing. He was committed to promoting indigenous and traditional music and is probably best known for his Sones de mariachi, a work that debuted at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1941 in conjunction with an exhibition of Mexican art.
Galindo died in 1993 at the age of 83.
Monday, 2 February 2026
A new week and excellent music. Join us.
Tonight, explore a vast archive of vinyl with Vince Tillona on Drop the Needle, this week featuring recordings of works by Felix Mendelssohn and Benjamin Britten as well as an unusual Beethoven Symphony. The needle drops at 7pmET.
Then at 8pmET on Monday Night at the Symphony:
On the evening of November 13, 1937, something profound in the world of classical music crackled to life: the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Under the direction of Arturo Toscanini and over the networked airwaves of the National Broadcasting Company, the ensemble brought orchestral music into millions of homes until 1954. During that time, the orchestra made indelible recordings of Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, and more on the RCA label.
Join us for digitally-remastered favorites from the early days of radio broadcasting and LP recording.
Tomorrow, George Leef honors Classical Café’s Legendary Performer:
British conductor Anatole Fistoulari.
And on Wednesday (11amET), George will give away two tickets to Burning Coal Theatre’s production of Red Pitch, a coming-of-age story of futbol and friendship. Tune in to win… and good luck!