It's been an interesting week and I thought I'd use this diary posting to catch up on a little bit of what's been going on.
PLEDGE
WFMT's pledge drive ended on June 21st with wonderful results. We raised $401,000 from 2800 callers and this set a record for an eight-day drive in June. We couldn't be more pleased. I said several times on-air that "we just got a call from Bill Gates offering to pledge $200 million with the proviso that we don't do any more pledge drives, and I turned him down because we enjoy doing them too much to give them up." Hahaha. Actually, we do enjoy doing them because it's a great opportunity to speak to our listeners and hear what they have to say about the station. This type of interaction is unique to a listener-supported station and is very important to us. Another point all of us make on-the-air is that a pledge to WFMT is really a way of supporting virtually every classical music ensemble in town because WFMT is devoted to so many organizations. The list is very long but just a few of the groups we work with include the Lyric Opera, Music in the Loft, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Musicians, Elgin Symphony, University of Chicago, City of Chicago, Music Institute of Chicago, Chicago Sinfonietta, Harris Theater, Merit School of Music, Ars Viva, Ravinia and too many more to list here. So to have such a record-breaking June drive makes everyone at WFMT feel terrific. If you pledged, thanks very much!
TRIP TO ISRAEL
The WFMT Radio Network has been talking with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) for over two years about producing a 13-part series of broadcast concerts. Happily, a few weeks ago, the IPO called to say they were able to raise the funds necessary to pull it off and they would like the series to begin in October. Itzhak Perlman will host the series... October 2006! Yikes. This means moving into high gear as fast as possible, and we've done just that. WFMT's Jan Weller is going to produce and he'll join me in Tel Aviv next week to conduct a few dozen interviews with musicians in the orchestra, orchestra management, patrons, critics, historians, Zubin Mehta, and others we encounter during the week that we'll be there. It's going to be a whirlwind trip. I'll still be there when my next blog posting is due, so I'll write from Tel Aviv next week.
THE SILK ROAD to HIGHLAND PARK
On Monday, June 26th, WFMT broadcast Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble concert live from the Pritzker Pavilion. It was a spectacular event. Yo-Yo and his ensemble offered a marvelous evening of music notable for its richness and variety. Yo-Yo was the perfect MC for the concert. Every seat at the Pritzker was filled and the lawn was jammed. I was told something like 25,000 people heard the concert. Thousands more heard it on WFMT and on the WFMT Radio Network, where it was broadcast live. The host was WFMT's Lisa Flynn with engineering by the amazing Eric Arunas, who offered listeners a sound mix that left nothing out and was superbly balanced and focused throughout. The broadcast was underwritten by Sony Classical and I was delighted that Michelle Errante, my contact at Sony, came in from New York for the event.
From there I zipped up to Ravinia to catch the end of Jonathan Biss' recital at the Martin, where I met with Suzanne Ponsot from the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Suzanne and I met earlier in the day with the major donor to the IPO broadcast. After Jonathan's recital, we repaired to a nearby restaurant to meet and discuss the impending series. A few minutes into our discussion, in-walked pianist Jeffrey Siegel, just in from a performance at the Music Institute of Chicago. It turns out that Jeffrey and Suzanne are old friends, so the evening ended on a most convivial note.
Back to the Silk Road for a minute: last year, WFMT and the WFMT Radio Network produced a live broadcast of Yo-Yo's Orchestra Hall Silk Road performance. I was poking around his site the other day (www.yo-yoma.com) and discovered that the entire broadcast, hosted by Jan Weller and engineered by Eric, is available on-demand on the site! The fidelity is amazing and shows, among other things, how far audio has progressed on the Web. Does anyone remember realaudio 1.0? It sounded like short wave radio! (To find the broadcast, scroll all the way down the home page and you'll find it near the bottom.)
JEFFREY SIEGEL
On Wednesday, Jeffrey gave one of his patented Keyboard Conversation concerts at the Martin Theater. Jeffrey has been touring his “Keyboard Conversations” to over a dozen cities in the U.S. for over 25 years, including a series at Northwestern—this was his first “Keyboard Conversation” at Ravinia. His subject was the music of Robert Schumann and he gave his usual insightful lecture/performance, focusing mainly in Schumann's earlier works for the keyboard. Jeffrey is a fine pianist but I thought he outdid himself last Wednesday with a truly stellar performance.
CENTER ON HALSTED
Over the past few years, it's been my pleasure to host one-hour programs on behalf of Chicago area organizations that are engaged in capital campaigns. I've done them with the Music Institute of Chicago, Harris Theater and Merit School of Music. Several months ago I was introduced to people involved with a capital campaign for the Center on Halsted.
To quote from the Center's website (www.centeronhalsted.org): "To achieve this vision and create a place where people can come together to play, learn, and talk to one another, the Center’s mission is as follows:
In a safe and nurturing environment, the Center on Halsted serves as a catalyst for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender) community that links and provides community resources, and enriches life experiences."
Three aspects of the Center's campaign intrigued me. First, the new building they are constructing on Halsted is extraordinary for its openness, creative use of space and architectural beauty. Second, the building will contain a theater that the Center intends on utilizing for music and other performances on a constant basis. In fact, they've already formed a strong link with the Chicago Chamber Musicians. Third, unlike the three capital campaigns mentioned above, the Center was at the end of their campaign and was entering what they call their "public phase." I therefore thought it was a great opportunity for a radio program.
The program was produced by WFMT's program director, Peter Whorf, and aired on Saturday morning. My guests were Robbin Burr, executive director, and Robert Kohl, chair of the board. The program discussed the new building, the capital campaign and the cultural activities planned for the theater. Shortly after the program ended, I received two voicemails from listeners. Here are word for word transcripts:
"I've been going to the Center on Halsted since January and I must admit I'm a whole better, nicer, more wonderful person since I've been going there and I'm really pleased and surprised they are getting some mentions so thank you for taking the time. Even though I miss the music, I do think it's very, very important for the gay, lesbian, transgender community to get this kind of information out. So thank you very much for your time and consideration and your help...Lord knows we do need it."
Second call.
"I am a Fine Arts Circle member and I'm absolutely discouraged and disappointed at this program about the gay and lesbian center. We do not want to have our money on the Fine Arts membership funding this type of thing. You are offensive and disgraceful. You ought to stop this type of thing or we're going to withdraw financial support in a large way if you don't stop. That is an offensive program."
And so it goes...
Posted in
