WFMT
Last Saturday (April 5) marked the premiere of Introductions, a brand-new weekly program on 98.7 WFMT (Saturdays from 11:00am-12:00pm) which features Chicago-area pre-collegiate musicians doing what they love most; playing classical music.
"It's important to reach out specifically to this younger audience which is enthusiastic about classical music, that we hadn't tried to explicitly attract until now," said David Polk, the show's producer. "I'm excited that I get to expand WFMT's reach and pioneer new ways to connect with audiences via the airwaves and also the internet."
Read more about Introductions and Polk in this article in the recent TimeOut! Magazine.
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A good friend of mine who goes by the alias "
Drex Drexler" sent me this article from today's
New York Times, which provides evidence that
Thomas Edison was by no means the first to lay down a track (a recording recently discovered by researchers looks to have beaten Edison to the punch by 20 years).
Check it out: here's the article with audio of the findings.
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Regarding Jim's blog on Dudamel's appearance on 60 Minutes (which agreed is a good piece), I'd like to link to Andrew Patner's
Critical Thinking interview with Dudamel which took place just days before he flew to California (mid-stint with the CSO!) to make his announcement with the LA Philharmonic. Contrary to the last line of the 60 Minutes piece, we in fact heard all about Dudamel on WFMT first.
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Today is the 10 year anniversary of Sir Georg Solti's death. Yesterday I interviewed CSO president Deborah Card and Martha Gilmer to get their reaction, as well as information on today's tribute to take place at noon.
If you missed the piece on today's morning show, you can
listen here.
(it's about 3-4 items down the list)
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Ever wonder what it would be like to DJ at a classical music station? Just ask me sometime after Tuesday, May 22 when I “sit in” as guest host at 98.7 WFMT from 3-7 p.m. with Kerry Frumkin.
OK, I think that must be the coolest job in the universe: playing all the music you 
love the most for people who want to hear it. Speaking with my colleagues at WFMT, I was advised to pick music about which I was passionate, sticking to the repertory and artists I find exciting and meaningful. Too bad I don’t have a week.
Last weekend I went through stacks from my own personal CD collection, thinking about the wonderful morsels I would offer. I wish I could give you some hints, but I will say that there are some old favorites, novel works with great artists, some of whom you know from the Grant Park Music Festival, and some performances many of you never have heard. Tune in, Tuesday, May 22 from 3-7 p.m. and please let me know how I did. Happy listening.
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Listener Memories, Recordings and Rare Interviews Pre-empt Regular Music Schedule
98.7WFMT, Chicago's Classical Experience, is paying tribute to Russian musician and human rights activist
Mstislav Rostropovich who died this morning in Moscow. Today, Friday April 27, and tomorrow morning, Saturday April 28, the station is airing recordings from its archives of Rostropovich cello performances and conducting various orchestras around the world. In addition, the station is airing voicemails and reading emails from listeners recounting memories of the world-renowned musician, who visited Chicago many times during his lifetime. Rare interviews have also been posted on wfmt.com.
The special tribute pre-empts previously scheduled musical programming. "Today represents a major loss for the classical music world" said WFMT Program Director
Peter Whorf, "and it's only appropriate that we use our archives to pay tribute." On his blog, Whorf posted a rare audio clip of composer
Dmitri Shostakovich speaking of his friend Rostropovich as well as a recent interview producer
Jon Tolansky conducted with him in 2002. One Internet listener remarked via email that "the great significance of Mstislav Rostropovich to the music world and the world in general is tremendous. As you played his recording of what he played at the [collapse of the] Berlin Wall, I was deeply touched. Your efforts all morning to honor this great person is just one more reason what we love your station. "Thanks so much for all you do daily to enrich our lives." More information about 98.7WFMT and 98.7WFMT Streaming is available at www.wfmt.com .
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Submitted by Jim Hirsch on Fri, 09/22/2006 - 11:17am.
There are a lot of reasons why I really love what I do. To start with,
getting to work in the arts for my entire career has been a blessing. Being a part of an organization that brings beautiful music and much needed educational programming to our community is a privilege. Working with the musicians, staff and board members, and volunteers has allowed me to get to know some of the best people you can ever hope to meet. And every now and then I get to go on live radio and talk about the orchestra I love.
Last weekend was such an occasion. On Saturday, September 16th, Maestro Paul Freeman, WFMT on-air host, Jan Weller, and yours truly played music, interviewed guest artists, and talked about the Sinfonietta's upcoming 20th anniversary season for three hours on 98.7 WFMT 98.7 - all live - except, of course, for the music.
What is interesting about live radio is how quickly you use up the time that is allotted. We created a "script" well in advance of the show that was to be our guide for playing all of the recordings, interviewing all of the guests, and talking about all of the concerts. The script had a minute-by-minute timeline so we always knew exactly how much time we had for each segment.
The show began last Saturday at 9:05 a.m. and by 9:13 a.m. we were already three minutes behind. A slight bead of perspiration broke out on my upper lip. By 9:26 a.m. we were even further behind and began searching the script for segments to cut. I suggested we cut some of the commercials but the folks at WFMT politely disagreed.
By 9:47 a.m. I began to feel like (and look) like Albert Brooks in the movie, Broadcast News. I kept thinking that we were never going to catch up, and the season preview, not to mention my broadcast career, was going down in flames. And then it happened.
Jan Weller, a cool character if there ever was one, suggested that we play a few different tracks that saved us some time, we tightened up a few subscription pitch segments, and voila, we were clo
se to being back on schedule! Best of all, people were calling and buying subscriptions!
We hit our going-off-the-air time of 11:55 a.m. in what seemed like a matter of moments. I left the studio and drove to the Whole Foods Market in River Forest - one of our season sponsors -- for another Sinfonietta preview event. As I drove to River Forest and began to finally dry off, I just kept thinking, live radio is fun... live radio is fun... live radio is fun. I can't wait until next year.
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Submitted by Jim Hirsch on Tue, 09/12/2006 - 2:42pm.
I like to collect amusing or odd stories about classical music so that I can blog about them. Today's entry will be devoted to a few of these stories, plus a blatant commercial for the Chicago Sinfonietta's upcoming Season Preview -- a 3-hour radio extravaganza on September 16th beginning at 9 AM on WFMT 98.7 FM.
In the June 11th issue of the New York Times, Dan Wakin wrote about the types of music surgeons use in the operating room.
Wakin wrote, "Music can become a subtle bone of contention among the members of the surgical team or a practical aid. Loud rock 'n' roll is good for routine operations, they say, Mozart for trickier ones. There is even a genre called 'closing music': raucous sounds to suture by. Music that requires concentration, like Mahler, is rare."
As always, I like to open these discussions to you. Today's question: What music would you want to be played while being operated on?
In a similar story, Pierre Ruhe, of the the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, noted on August 15th about how music is used in some other interesting ways. He wrote, "When peddling Provençal sea salt -- or deterring crime, or boosting efficiency in a hospital's operating room -- classical music seems to be played as much for its psychological properties as for the art-for-art's-sake aesthetic of the concert hall," citing a prepared-food market and bakery where "from opening to close, the soundtrack is opera."
Ruhe also noted classical music's "apparent crime-fighting abilities," citing its use in London Underground stations: "In six months, they cut robbery by 33 percent, staff assaults by 25 percent and vandalism by 37 percent."
Okay, now on to the important stuff. Tune in WFMT 98.7 FM this Saturday, September 16th from 9 a.m. - noon for three hours of entertaining and compelling radio. The Sinfonietta season preview show will feature live interviews with artists and composers, musical selections from our upcoming season, subscriber testimonials, and best of all, contests and free stuff!
Join yours truly, Maestro Paul Freeman, and WFMT host, Jan Weller for this glimpse of the Sinfonietta's 20th Anniversary Season! Did I mention contests and free stuff? Please join us!
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[Note to reader: I'm pleased to join WFMT family of bloggers, as we share some of what goes on at Chicago's classical radio station.]
As a producer at WFMT I am privileged to create single programs and 13-part series for local broadcast and for airing over the WFMT Radio Network. My current project is the Network series On Wings of Song, recitals by young vocal artists from the Marilyn Horne Foundation in New York. When Marilyn Horne - one of the world's greatest singers - turned 60, she decided, with a few friends, to start a foundation, and she kept coming back to what needed help the most: the Vocal Recital. While opera seems to flourish these days, and symphony concerts usually have good audiences, the vocal recital has languished a bit. But not any more!
Thanks to Marilyn Horne's generosity and very hard work, a whole generation of young singers has received training, encouragement, support, and performance opportunities in New York, California, and throughout the country. For eleven years the Marilyn Horne Foundation has worked with the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, where Ms. Horne teaches each summer, to train young singers and young pianists in the art of the song recital. And the Foundation supports a series of recitals in New York City, presenting singers from the Foundation's roster in public solo recitals during the concert season (roughly September through May). These are terrific singers - and many of them have found their way to the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists in Chicago. Current or former Lyric Center singers that work with the Horne Foundation include soprano Erin Wall, mezzo soprano Guang Yang; baritone Quinn Kelsey, soprano Nicolle Cabel (the 2005 winner of the BBC's Singer of the World competition in Cardiff Wales), and soprano Susanna Phillips.
The 13-part series On Wings of Song, which you can hear on Thursday nights at 10 on 98.7 WFMT, is chock full of great singing, wonderful pianists, and terrific repertoire. These are vocal recitals by the best young voices in America, all of whom are great performers as well. I hope you'll be listening. And you can find out more about the Marilyn Horne Foundation by going to their website:Marilynhornefdn.org.
Carolyn Paulin
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(Note: Blogging for Steve Robinson this week, please welcome WFMT Program Director, Peter Whorf--)
I'm very excited about what we've put together to celebrate the 100th birthday of Shostakovich in September. The entire schedule throughout the month features the complete symphonies, operas and concerti of Shostakovich, as well as commentary from the composer taken from the Friday, September 29th special, Shostakovich Speaks. More on that later...
The birthday week itself is loaded with special programming every evening. Our festival begins on Monday, September 25 at 8pm with producer and host Jon Tolansky's I Recall Shostakovich. Jon Tolansky has worked on this special documentary for over a year, chronicling the life and art of Dmitri Shostakovich. The program features commentary from many of the artists who knew and worked with him, including Rostropovich, Sanderling and many others. It's an incredible piece of work, rich in detail and sound.
Tuesday brings Peter VDG's LaSalle Tuesday Night Opera and DSCH's Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk - the work that brought DSCH considerable initial praise. Just two years later (after Stalin attended a performance) it was denounced in Pravda.
On Wednesday at 8pm, we'll re-broadcast Shostakovich:The Seventh and Beyond, which is basically a collage of symphony movements and readings from DSCH letters. Kerry Frumkin is featured throughout the 90-minute special as he reads excerpts of DSCH letters to Leningrad critic and friend Isaac Glickman.
Thursday, Kerry takes our show on the road as WFMT broadcasts live from Avery Fisher Hall. We'll feature the New York Philharmonic with DSCH's Symphony #5 and the first cello concerto with Lynn Harrell. Maazel conducts.
Some of the best is saved for last. Months ago, a listener sent us a recording that he had made off the radio of WFMT's 1973 roundtable with Dmitri Shostakovich - discussing contemporary music and his own compositions. Norman Pellegrini hosted the program, which was made upon the occasion of DSCH receiving an honorary doctorate at Northwestern. It's an absolutely amazing document, and we'll hear it in its entirety. It's very "raw" audio in some ways, but it will be like opening a time capsule.
Also, here are a few DSCH images from childhood through his later years.
Hope you enjoy.
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