This Week at The Classical Station
by Chrissy Keuper
Saturday and Sunday, 13-14 December 2025
Finally, the weekend! Your soundtrack is right here.
Join us at 1pm ET for Saturday On Point, our weekly spotlight on classical music for the ballet. This week, Coppelia by Leo Delibes.
Then at 6pm ET, more of your favorites and special dedications on the Saturday Evening Request Program.
Here’s the playlist; make your requests and dedications for next week right here.
Begin your sacred Sunday morning at 8am ET with Great Sacred Music. Your host James Steelmon brings you devotional thoughts accompanied by beautiful sacred works, including Christmas Oratorio, Op. 12, by Camille Saint-Saëns.
And at 6pm ET, Preview! spotlights the latest classical recordings and this week, there will be some holiday favorites in the mix.
On these dates in the history of classical music:
Carlos Montoya, c. 1954. (Courtesy of Library of Congress)
Spanish-American guitarist Carlos Montoya was born December 13, 1903, in Madrid, and had his first guitar lessons from his mother and his uncle, flamenco guitarist Ramón Montoya. By the age of 14, the young Montoya was performing in the Madrid’s cafes cantantes, and went on to tour throughout Europe, the US, and Asia in the 1920s and 1930s; he settled in the US at the outbreak of World War II, giving solo performances at universities and in concert halls, accompanying orchestras, and making recordings. By 1945, Montoya was a US citizen with a repertoire that now included blues, jazz, and folk music, and he was the first flamenco guitarist to tour the world with symphonies and orchestras. He performed on television, recorded over forty albums, and was instrumental in popularizing flamenco guitar music worldwide.
Joaquin Zamacois Soler, c. 1918. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
Chilean-Spanish composer Joaquin Zamacois Soler was born December 14, 1894, in Santiago de Chile, and moved to Barcelona when he was a child. His immediate and extended family were full of artistic types: writers, singers, painters, actors, and his father was a composer who gave the young Soler his first music lessons. Soler studied formally at the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu and at Escuela Municipal de Música, then completely dedicated himself to composition. He was named professor at Liceu in 1914, where he remained until appointed professor (and then director) at Escuela Municipal de Música in 1940.
Friday, 12 December 2025
Happy Friday, Listeners!
It’s All-Request Friday and we’re playing your requests and special dedications (and we’ll do it again on the Saturday Evening Request Program).
The playlists are here and you can make requests/dedications for next week here.
On this date in the history of classical music:
Philip Ledger. (Photo by Clive Barda)
It’s the birthdate of British pianist, harpsichordist, organist, conductor, and composer Philip Ledger, born in 1937 in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex. Ledger attended King’s College, Cambridge, before his appointment as Master of Music at Chelmsford Cathedral in 1961 (as the youngest cathedral organist in the country). He was appointed Director of Music (also serving as Dean of the School of Fine Arts and Music) at the University of East Anglia in 1965, where he established the University’s Music Centre in 1973. During this time, Ledger was also an artistic director of the Aldeburgh Festival and worked with the English Chamber Orchestra. He was named Director of Music at King’s College, Cambridge, and conductor of the Cambridge University Musical Society, where he made many recordings and directed the Choir of King’s College in its first performances in the US, Australia, and Japan. In 1982, Ledger was appointed principal of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and kept the post until he retired in 2001. He was also a noted composer and arranger of choral music, which included Christmas carols, a requiem (A Thanksgiving for Life), and an Easter cantata.
Thursday, 11 December 2025
It’s Friday Eve, All!
We celebrate at 7pm ET with Thursday Night Opera House and the 1972 recording of Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic, the Schöneberg Boys’ Choir, the Chorus of the Deutschen Oper Berlin, and legendary soloists in Giacomo Puccini’s classic tragedy, La Bohème.
On this day in classical music history:
Elliott Carter, c. 1960. (Photo by John Lent for the AP)
It’s the birthdate of Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Elliott Carter, born in New York City in 1908. Carter had an early interest in art and music; his parents encouraged him only so far as allowing him to have piano lessons. It was composer Charles Ives (his family’s insurance agent) who urged Carter to pursue music. Carter attended Harvard University and studied under Gustav Holst and Walter Piston (and sang in the Harvard Glee Club), then moved to Paris in the 1930s to continue studying under Nadia Boulanger. After returning to the US, Carter focused on composition and teaching. He worked for the Office of War Information during World War Two while teaching at St. John’s College, then taught at Peabody Conservatory; Columbia University; Queens College, New York; Yale University; Cornell University; and the Juilliard School. Carter was very well known for writing music every single morning up until his death at age 103 and his compositions include orchestral and chamber music (including two Pulitzer-winning quartets), works for solo instruments, and vocal works. He published more than 60 compositions after the age of 90, 20 of those after the age of 100.
Wednesday, 10 December 2025
As we near the end of 2025 and you plan your year-end giving, please consider a donation to The Classical Station to help keep wonderful classical music available to listeners around the world.
We have been listener-supported since 1978 and we appreciate your support!
On this date in the history of classical music:
César Franck, c. 1887. (Photo by Pierre Petit – Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
It’s the birthdate of Belgian pianist, organist, and composer César Franck in Liège in 1822. Franck began his studies at the Royal Conservatory of Liège and gave his first concerts in 1834, including a performance for the king of the newly-formed Kingdom of Belgium, Leopold I. In 1835, his father took him to Paris to study music at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he took first prize in piano in 1838. It was also the site of Franck’s first mature compositions, a set of trios for piano, violin, and cello (which were highly regarded and performed by pianist Franz Liszt). Despite Liszt’s moral support, Franck was snubbed in large part by the musical community and mainly worked as a teacher and accompanist. But commissions for compositions began to roll in and he was appointed assistant organist at Notre-Dame-de-Lorette in 1847 in the first of important and influential appointments (along with a growing number of organ students) that would continue until his death. In 1872, Franck was appointed organ professor at the Paris Conservatoire, a move that required his French citizenship; the Conservatoire did not yet permit faculty or students that were not French citizens and although Franck was naturalized as a child, it was reversed when he became an adult, requiring him to undergo the process again. It was undoubtedly worth it for Franck, who was a beloved professor (his students called him “Père Franck” (Father Franck) at the Conservatoire until his death in 1890.
Tuesday, 9 December 2025
A good day to you, Listeners! Get your great classical music right here.
On this date in classical music history:
Joaquin Turina, c. 1914. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
It’s the birthdate of Spanish pianist and composer Joaquín Turina in 1882 in Seville. Turina was a piano student in Seville and Madrid before moving to Paris in 1905 to study under Vincent d’Indy at the Schola Cantorum de Paris and found himself profoundly influenced by composers Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy. Turina moved back to Spain in 1914 and worked as a composer, teacher, and music critic until he joined the Madrid Symphony Orchestra in 1916. He joined the faculty of Madrid Royal Conservatory in 1931 as professor of composition, where he remained for the rest of his life.
Monday, 8 December 2025
Listeners, it’s a new week and we’ll fill it with great classical music (plus some holiday favorites).
Wrap yourself in the warmth of vinyl at 7pm ET with Vince Tillona on Drop the Needle. This week, the final installment in a series focused on the historic recordings of Arturo Toscanini.
At 8pm ET, Monday Night at the Symphony is our spotlight on the recordings of the world’s great orchestras. This week features the Minnesota Orchestra and works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Claude Debussy, Johannes Brahms, and Jean Sibelius. See you at the symphony!
Tomorrow, tune into Classical Café with George Leef for this week’s Legendary Performer, violinist Alfredo Campoli.
And on Wednesday (between 11am and noon ET), George will give away two tickets to see Carolina Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker. Tune in and win!
James Galway with his flute. (Press photo – Courtesy of jamesgalway.com)
On this date in classical music history:
A very Happy Birthday to Irish flutist James Galway, born in Belfast in 1939, nicknamed “The Man with the Golden Flute.” Galway was raised among the Irish tradition of flute bands and many friends and family members who were flutists; his uncle taught him to play and Galway joined his uncle’s fife and drum corps. When he was 11, Galway won the junior, senior, and open Belfast flute Championships in a single day. He studied flute at the Royal College of Music and at the Guildhall School of Music and his first orchestral performances were with Sadler’s Wells Opera in London, Covent Garden Opera, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He was also principal flutist with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Herbert von Karajan from 1969 to 1975 before leaving orchestras behind in order to pursue a solo career. Galway still performs regularly as one of the world’s best-known flutists.