News & Reviews

This Sunday on Preview, The Classical Station’s Dan McHugh speaks with Suzanne Rousso, Artistic Director of Mallarmé Music, and Stephanie Vial, Artistic Director of Baroque and Beyond and The Vivaldi Project about the upcoming North Carolina Historically Informed Performance (HIP) Music Festival.

Dmitry Sitkovetsky is this week’s guest for Preview! For the last 20 years of his prolific career, Dmitry Sitkovetsky has been the Music Director of the Greensboro Symphony in North Carolina. As a violinist and conductor, Sitkovetsky has released over 40 recordings, and has performed with the likes of the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the LA Philharmonic, and the Berlin Philharmonic.

The Associated Press reports on conductor Daniel Barenboim's stepping down in Berlin. Photo: Ivan Maly

Laura Tunbridge’s Beethoven: A Life In Nine Pieces, is a well-regarded biography of Ludwig van Beethoven–and for good reason. Each of the nine chapters explores a particular piece composed by Beethoven, from less popular compositions like the Septet, Op. 20 to long-lasting masterpieces such as the Ninth Symphony. Tunbridge explores the idea that Beethoven’s life can be analyzed through the study of his compositions.

Amanda Lee Falkenberg, the award winning Australian composer, will be our guest on “Preview!”. Over the past 20 years she’s won multiple awards, achieving the rank of finalist for her soundtracks in the Cannes Film Festival and the Marvin Hamlisch International Music Awards. The moons of our solar system inspired Falkenberg’s newest release, THE MOONS SYMPHONY, which will be played in its entirety. She spoke with The Classical Station’s Music Director Caleb Gardner...

Simon Wynberg is this week’s guest for Preview! The Artistic Director at ARC Ensemble, Wynberg has been dedicated to the preservation and spread of traditional Jewish music for decades. ARC Ensemble’s newest release, The Music of Alberto Hemsi, is an album devoted to composer Alberto Hemsi’s Sephardic chamber pieces. It is part of their Music in Exile series, which highlights music by composers forced to flee Nazi-occupied territory.

Meet the Kennedy Center Honorees. Photo of Kennedy Center by Tom, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Carlos Miguel Prieto, the Music Director Designate of the North Carolina Symphony, will be The Classical Station's guest for Preview!, airing on Sunday, December 4th. Born in Mexico City, Maestro Prieto has served as the Music Director of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2019, he was named Conductor of the Year by Musical America. The Classical Station's Music Director Caleb Gardner spoke with Mr. Prieto about his life in music.

The Classical Station presents the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra on ‘Monday Night at the Symphony’ tonight, November 28. Eva Kozma, Assistant Principal Second Violin, has performed with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for 18 years, making her the perfect person to talk about what has set this orchestra apart for over a century. Ms. Kozma received a Tanglewood Music Center Fellowship in 2003 and, more recently, performed with the Missouri Chamber Music Festival in 2019. She answered a few of our questions about performing with the St. Louis Symphony.

At only 19 years old, Sheku Kanneh-Mason performed pieces by Fauré, Maria Theresia von Paradis, and Schubert at the wedding of Prince Harry and Megan Markle; by this time, the cellist was well-known in England, but this opportunity put him in the eyes of the world. Recently, he spoke with Music Director Caleb Gardner about his background in music and what he enjoys about the cello as a solo instrument.

Classical guitarist and multi- GRAMMY Award-winner Sharon Isbin will be featured today in our ‘Para la Guitar’ program! ‘Para la Guitar’ will celebrate the last few centuries’ best classical guitar pieces with recordings by Sharon Isbin and Jason Vieaux. Isbin participated in a short Q&A session and talked about her experiences as a long-time guitarist who dabbles in many genres.

Hilary Hahn is an internationally recognized violin virtuoso, and she’s well-known for both her evocative performances and her dedication to classical music education. She has taken to social media to spread classical music to new audiences in engaging ways, such as starting popular challenges on Instagram to make practicing a collaborative event. On her new album, ‘Eclipse’, Hahn features violin concertos by Dvořák, Ginastera, and Sarasate. She shared a little about the experience of choosing each piece in her interview with Naomi Lambert.

The Associated Press reports on the death of American composer Ned Rorem. Photo: Singers.com

On tonight’s ‘Monday Night at the Symphony’ we will feature the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, an orchestra based in Symphony Hall in Birmingham, England. The orchestra was founded in 1920, and since then has been dedicated to performing the best music for Birmingham residents. From among its 75 members, Principal Second Clarinet Joanna Patton spoke about her 16 years in the orchestra, and what sets the CBSO apart from other orchestras in England.

Guitarist Sean Shibe recently released his new album, ‘Lost and Found’, an experimental ambient album with electric guitar arrangements spanning across centuries. With performances at Wigmore Hall and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, as well as an upcoming performance with Hallé Orchestra, Sean Shibe is a guitarist to watch. To start off Sean Shibe’s interview with The Classical Station, Music Director Caleb Gardner broke the ice with a discussion of the truly important things in life: the upcoming season of the television show Rick and Morty. Afterward, they launched into a discussion of the difference between performing and recording.