This Week at The Classical Station
by Chrissy Keuper
Saturday and Sunday, 2-3 August 2025
Welcome to the Weekend, All. Here’s some great classical music to relax with.
This weekend:
Saturday On Point features three captivating works inspired by classic opera, reimagined for the dance stage. Rodion Shchedrin’s bold Carmen Suite, a fiery reinterpretation of Bizet’s score; Vittorio Rieti’s La Sonnambula brings Bellini’s bel canto elegance into a neoclassical dreamscape; and Constant Lambert’s The Skaters, inspired by Giacomo Meyerbeer, conjures a bustling Victorian ice rink.
Join Peggy Powell at 1pm ET for a rich journey through operatic ballet.
At 6pm ET, Haydn Jones has more of your requests and special dedications on the Saturday Evening Request Program. (You can see the playlist here and make requests and dedications for next week’s programs right here.)
Start your sacred Sunday morning at 8am ET with Great Sacred Music, featuring works by William Byrd, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and many other composers performed by the Monteverdi Choir, Anonymous 4, and the English Chamber Orchestra.
And at 6pm ET, Tom Hayakawa is your host for the best in new and recent classical releases on Preview!, featuring Trevor Pinnock and Alison Balsom performing George Frideric Handel’s Concerto in G Minor, Op. 4, and cellist Haruma Sato with Felix Mendelssohn’s Cello Sonata No. 1, Op. 45.
On these dates in the history of classical music:
Catharina van Rennes, c. 1900. (Photographer unknown – Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
Dutch soprano and composer Catharina van Rennes was born August 2, 1858, in Amsterdam, and made a career as both a singer in oratorios and interpretations of Robert Schumann’s lieder. Van Rennes’ vocal compositions were also highly regarded, including a cantata for the 1909 International Alliance meeting of the women’s suffrage movement in Amsterdam, and songs for children that remain popular in her homeland. Van Rennes also opened her own singing school.
Mary Thomas, mezzo-soprano
And Welsh mezzo-soprano Mary Thomas was born August 3, 1932. Thomas studied voice at the Royal Academy of Music and established a solid career as a performer of early and Baroque music and as a member of the Deller Consort. She was also one of the primary singers to perform the music of Peter Maxwell Davies, who wrote some works specifically for her to perform and record. Thomas also recorded with the rock group ELO in the 1970s.
Friday, 1 August 2025
It’s All-Request Friday, Listeners!
We’re playing your special requests and dedications all day and we’ll do it again tomorrow on the Saturday Evening Request Program.
I want to see what’s on the list!
I want to make requests and dedications for next week!
On this date in classical music history:
Caroline Shaw with Attacca Quartet and So Percussion at Miller Theater, c. 2020. (Photo by Steven Pisano – Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
A very Happy Birthday to American violinist, singer, and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw in 1982 in Greenville, North Carolina. Shaw started violin lessons when was two years old and was composing by the age of ten. She studied violin at Rice University and Yale University; composition at Princeton University; received the 2004/2005 Thomas J. Watson Fellowship; and was the youngest person to ever receive the Pulitzer Prize for Music for her a cappella work, Partita for 8 Voices. Shaw has also won multiple Grammy Awards for her orchestral and chamber compositions, and performs as a violinist, singer, and conductor with various groups, including the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) and Roomful of Teeth.
Thursday, 31 July 2025
Happy Friday Eve, All!
Come celebrate with us this evening with Thursday Night Opera House, featuring a 1983 recording of Michel Plasson conducting the Chorus and Orchestra du Capitole de Toulouse and unbelievable soloists in Jules Massenet’s Manon. Join Dr. Jay Pierson at 7pm ET for the story of Manon (Ileana Cotrubas), who must choose between her love for Chevalier Des Grieux (Alfredo Kraus) and her desire for wealth and luxury.
On this day in classical music history:
Amélie-Julie Candeille in a portrait by A. Labille-Guiard, 1791.
It’s the birthdate of French singer, musician, composer, and playwright Amélie-Julie Candeille in Saint-Sulpice in 1767. Her father was a composer and singer and was Candeille’s first and primary music teacher; she began performing in her young childhood, mostly with chamber ensembles, and also performed for the royal court and in a concert with a teenage Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Candeille was 14 when she was initiated into the “La Candeur” masonic lodge, where she met many illustrious and influential members of France’s artistic society. As an adult, she supported herself and her family by writing works for the stage and performing both as an actress and a musician. Only a few of Candeille’s musical compositions survive and are mostly works for keyboard.
Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Are you having a good week? Make it even better with some wonderful music.
On this date in classical music history:
Portrait of the Mozart Family by Johann Nepomuk della Croce, c. 1781.
It’s the birthdate of the eldest child prodigy, harpsichordist, and composer in the Mozart family, Maria Anna Mozart (nicknamed Nannerl), in Salzburg, Austria, in 1751. Her father Leopold provided her early training and Maria Anna was highly celebrated as a performer, with critics lauding her genius, mastery, and style. She and her younger brother Wolfgang made several performance tours through Europe before her performance career effectively ended at the age of 17, due to societal conventions of the time. Maria Anna was forced to remain at home rather than performing and she became a music teacher. She did perform intermittently and also composed, but there are no surviving manuscripts of her work; indeed, biographical information about her brother is most of what remains of Maria Anna’s legacy.
Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Thank you, Listeners!
You’ve supported great classical music on The Classical Station for more than 47 years.
When you donate, you help us keep our music library fresh and diverse and update and maintain our technology. Everybody wins!
On this date in the history of classical music:
Peter Schreier (front and center) with the Peter Schreier Choir, c. 1995. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
It’s the birthdate of German tenor and conductor Peter Schreier in 1935 in Meissen, Saxony. Schreier was almost 10 years old when he entered boarding school and began singing in the Dresdner Kreuzchor boys’ choir; he quickly became a soloist. When his voice broke at age 16, Schreier decided he wanted to be a professional singer and he began private voice lessons. He also studied voice and conducting at the Musikhochschule Dresden and made his professional debut at the Dresdner Staatsoper in 1957. Those performances launched Schreier’s international career in opera (he was one of only a few singers from the German Democratic Republic to perform internationally) and he sang with many companies, including the Berlin State Opera; the Vienna State Opera; the annual Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals; the Metropolitan Opera; and the Thomanerchor and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, with whom he regularly recorded the cantatas of J.S. Bach. He also conducted a number of orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic. Schreier made many, many recordings over his career, from his days in the boys’ choir until late in his life, and he remains one of the most respected and engaging tenors of his time.
Monday, 28 July 2025
Welcome to your new week, All! Let’s fill it with 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 highlights recordings of works by J.S. Bach, Felix Mendelssohn, and Thomas Moore.
Then at 8pm ET, Monday Night at the Symphony features the La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra and recordings of works by Nina Rota, Giacomo Puccini, and Giuseppe Martucci, conducted by the legendary Riccardo Muti (whose birthday is today). See you at the Symphony!
Join George Leef on Tuesday during Classical Café for this week’s Legendary Performer: British conductor Jeffrey Tate.
On this date in classical music history:
Riccardo Muti conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra, c. 2025. (Photo by Mark Allan)
A very Happy Birthday to Italian conductor Riccardo Muti in Naples in 1941. Muti graduated with distinction in piano studies at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella, then studied composition and conducting at Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan. He won the Guido Cantelli Conducting Competition in 1967 and was appointed principal conductor of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino the next year (he held the post until 1980). Muti was chief conductor of the London Philharmonia Orchestra (1972-1982); Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra (1980-1992); Music Director of the Teatro alla Scala (1986-2005); Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (2010-2023, now Music Director Emeritus for Life); and has also conducted the Berlin Philharmonic; the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; the New York Philharmonic; l’Orchestre National de France; the Vienna Philharmonic, and others. Muti founded the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra in 2004; was named Musical America’s Musician of the Year in 2011; has won multiple Grammy Awards; is a recipient of the Birgit Nilsson Prize; and holds a number of other esteemed titles and honoraria.