This Week at The Classical Station
by Chrissy Keuper
Saturday and Sunday, 24-25 May 2025
Come spend the weekend with great classical music on The Classical Station!
This weekend:
Saturday at 1pm, Saturday On Point features La Jolie Fille de Gand (The Pretty Girl from Ghent), by Adolphe Adam, a ballet telling the story of love, deception, and reconciliation.
Then, join Haydn Jones at 6pm ET for the Saturday Evening Request Program. (Here’s the playlist; make requests for next week’s programs here.
On Sunday, Great Sacred Music features stunning performances by the Huddersfield Choral Society, the Cambridge Singers, and the Odessa Seminary Choir, with works by John Rutter, Hildegard von Bingen, and Dan Locklair, among others.
Get your sacred Sunday morning started at 8am ET.
Then at 6pmET, Preview! features Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra’s performance of Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 43, (“Mercury”); cellist Raphaela Gromes with a Fantasy after Bizet’s Carmen, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, Op. 45, performed as a piano duo by Daniil Trifonov and Sergei Babayan. Join Tom Hayakawa for the best in new classical releases.
On these dates in the history of classical music:
Paul Paray (Photo by Bob Martin – Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
French organist, conductor, and composer Paul Paray was born in Le Tréport, Normandy, on May 24, 1886. Paray’s father was a church organist and leader of the town’s orchestra and band, so he had early training in music and conducting. He entered studies at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1904 and was known from the outset as an impeccable organist; he won the Prix de Rome in 1911 with his cantata Yanitza. Paray was conscripted into the army during World War One and was taken prisoner in Germany. After the war ended and he was released, Paray began his career as a conductor in France, Austria, and Israel; after World War Two, he moved to the U.S. and became a longtime conductor for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and conducted orchestras all over the world into his 90s.
Beverly Sills in Manon, c. 1969. (Photo by Bernard Gotfryd – Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
American soprano Beverly Sills was born Belle Miriam Silverman on May 25, 1929, in Brooklyn, New York. Sills took voice lessons in childhood and was quickly performing professionally; she adopted her stage name before she was 10 years old. Sills made her operetta debut in a touring company in 1945, then her opera debut in 1951 with the Philadelphia Civic Grand Opera Company. She was dubbed “America’s Queen of Opera” by Time Magazine in 1971 and made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1975. Sills was beloved as a performer and a colleague, singing in opera houses all over the world and recording with most of the world’s major orchestras. Following her retirement from singing, Sills held director’s posts with the New York City Opera; Lincoln Center; and the Metropolitan Opera.
Thursday, 22 May 2025
A very Happy Friday Eve to you all!
We’ll celebrate this evening with Thursday Night Opera House and a 1997 recording of Michel Plasson conducting the Choeur & Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse and incredible soloists in Lakmé by Léo Delibes, the tragic story of a young Hindu woman who falls in love with a British officer during the British Raj. Join Dr. Jay Pierson at 7pm ET for drama and gorgeous music.
On this day in classical music history:
Julio Fonseca, date unknown (Universidad de Costa Rica)
It’s the birthdate of Costa Rican composer Julio Fonseca, born in 1885 in the Costa Rican capital city of San José. Fonseca was a young student in the National School of Music, and later at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and was already composing works for solo piano and for orchestra at the age of 11. He received a scholarship in 1902 to study in Europe, first at the Royal Bavarian Music School, Milan Conservatory, and then the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. In 1906, Fonseca’s studies were interrupted by a diagnosis of pulmonary disease and he was forced to return to Costa Rica, where he taught music. In addition to composing and teaching, Fonseca was a founder of the Conservatório Nacional de Música (now the School of Music Arts of the University of Costa Rica), a choir director, the leader of a number of musical ensembles, an official instrumentalist of the Military Band of San Jose, and a music critic and journalist.
Wednesday, 21 May 2025
A very good day to you, Listeners!
We are enjoying the wonderful music with you.
On this date in classical music history:
Rosalind Plowright. (Press photo by Quintana Artist Management)
A very Happy Birthday to British mezzo-soprano Rosalind Plowright, born in 1949 in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. Plowright studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and at the London Opera Centre. She made her professional debut with Glyndebourne Touring Opera in 1975, then the Welsh National Opera, Kent Opera, and English National Opera. She has performed in the major opera houses of Europe, the U.S., and South America, and has made many recordings and festival appearances. Plowright was awarded an OBE in 2007 for services to music and a Grammy the same year for the Chandos recording of Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel.
Monday, 19 May 2025
Great classical music has been scientifically proven** to make Mondays better.
**(in the laboratory that is The Classical Station)
This evening at 7pm ET, join Vince Tillona for Drop the Needle and the warmth of vinyl recordings. This week, a mix of Mozart, Rodrigo, Holborne, and more.
And at 8pm ET, Monday Night at the Symphony will feature the Buffalo Philharmonic with works by Andre Mathieu, Astor Piazzolla, and Ernst von Dohnanyi, featuring pianist Alain Lefevre and conducted by JoAnn Faletta. See you at the symphony!
Tuesday on Classical Café, join George Leef for his Legendary Performer; this week it’s horn virtuoso Hermann Baumann.
And on Wednesday, (May 21st, between 11am-12pm ET), George will give away a copy of Allegro, a historical mystery novel by Ariel Dorfman (published by Other Press) that stars Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Tune in to win a copy!