May 2007 Specials on Classic 89 and Nature Coast 90

 

1) "Vivaldi for All Seasons" a four part series will air on Wednesday's at 10:00pm in May. Click here for details
   
2) "Yom Hashoah - A Holocaust Remembrance Special" will air on Sunday, May 6th at 12:00noon. Click here for details.
   
3) "Art of the Song - Darfur Special" will air on Sunday, May 13th at 5:00pm. Click here for details.
   
4) "The Brno Chamber Orchestra" in concert will air on Tuesday, May 15th at 8:00pm.
    Part of Silver Anniversary concert series.  Click here for details.

   

5) "Intelligence Squared: A Democratically-elected Hamas is Still a Terrorist Organization" - A Debate
     will air on Wednesday, May 16th at 6:30pm. Click here for details.

 

6) "America Abroad - After Castro" will air on Friday, May 25th at 1:00pm. Click here for details.

 

7) "For the Fallen - Memorial Day will air on Saturday, May 26th at 12:00noon.  Click here for details.

 

8) "Discoveries at Disney with Monica Salmaso" will air on Saturday, May 26th at 8:00pm.  Click here for details.

 

9) "Wynton Marsalis - From the Plantation to the Penitentiary" will air on Saturday, May 26th at 9:00pm.  Click here for details.

     

10) "Discoveries at Disney - World Music Showcase" will air on Saturday, May 26th at 10:00pm.  Click here for details.

 

11) "Waylon Jennings - Nashville Rebel" will air on Sunday, May 27th at 4:00pm. Click here for details.

 

12) "America: Here and Now will air on Sunday, May 27th at 5:00pm.  Click here for details.

 

13) "Cuarteto Latinoamericano In Concert" will air on Thursday, May 31st, 2007 at 8:00pm.
    Part of Silver Anniversary concert series.  Click here for details.

 

14) "Discoveries at Disney - Bach's Brandenberg Concertos" will air on Thursday, May 31st, 2007 at 10:00pm. Click here for details.
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday's at 10:00pm in May
Vivaldi for All Seasons

He wrote concertos to celebrate all 4 seasons. But he wrote some 500 concertos! So what do the rest celebrate? A composer with a gift for melody and with a dramatic flair, an all-time champion among composers and music so enticing!

"        Whether you are an Antonio Vivaldi fan or are only familiar with his well-known the Four Seasons concertos, you’ll enjoy performances of some of the finest Vivaldi performers in the world in a four-part series, Vivaldi for All Seasons.
          Vic Di Geronimo hand-picked selections from among Vivaldi’s some 500 concertos and 90 sonatas to create the series.

     Vivaldi Overload
     “This is not an academic treatment or a documentary,” Vic says. “It’s an excuse to enjoy four hours of Vivaldi’s music. I am sharing stories and tidbits of information, but in a fun way.” He chose from among the cream of the crop in performances and compositions. Vic spent more than three years creating the mix of full-length concertos, sonatas, overtures, and some selected movements. “The first year I spent listening to all the Vivaldi recordings in the Friends of WILL music library. I listened to so much Vivaldi that if one of my neighbors had been playing Vivaldi, I might have called the police!”
       At first, Vic says, he wasn’t going to include the Four Seasons concertos in the series, because he wanted to introduce listeners to Vivaldi’s other music. But when he heard some of the spectacular performances of “the seasons,” he was so impressed that he decided to include them, he says. Each program in the series includes a standout performance of one of the Four Seasons concertos.
       “I didn’t want to organize the series around the seasons because I wanted each program to stand alone,” he says. Instead, he uses other themes to group the music. The first program is a tribute to Vivaldi’s composition of great tunes. Part two focuses on Vivaldi the dramatist. The third program presents Vivaldi’s music as highlights from the career of an all-time “champion” among composers, including a play-by-play of the Autumn Concerto. The final in the series is a feast of Vivaldi concertos, sinfonias and sonatas.
      Performance on Period Instruments
All of the music in the series is performed by early music groups on period instruments, he says. “When you play Vivaldi on original period instruments, the music has a whole new vitality that is very exciting,” Vic says.
      Most of the recordings are from the last 10-15 years. However, one is from 1980: a violin concerto with echo features the ensemble I Solisti Veneti, directed by Claudio Scimone. The echo violins are led by a young Giuliano Carmignola, an internationally acclaimed Vivaldi interpreter of today who performs with the Venice Baroque Orchestra. “I chose that recording because I was so moved by the sweet tone of both of the soloists,” Vic says. “Actually, I’d say the echo is sweeter–that’s no surprise, it’s Carmignola playing!” He is also featured as the soloist in the Autumn and Winter Concertos, as well as another violin concerto in the first program.
     

     Program #1:  Airs May 2nd at 10:00pm.      Here, the theme is Vivaldi the composer of great tunes. Vivaldi was born in Venice where, in his time, people sang everywhere. Vivaldi’s music, even his instrumental music, was just one vehicle for Venetian song. It travelled throughout Europe, ending up in places that included the hands of  Johann Sebastian Bach . The program sings with Vivaldi tunes, culminating in the Spring Concerto.  ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

     Program #2:  Airs May 9th at 10:00pm.       In this program, it’s Vivaldi on center stage as we focus on Vivaldi the dramatist. Vivaldi’s concertos can be heard as groupings of dramatic scenes. The circumstances surrounding the composer’s birth may have provided a foreshadowing, and the Summer Concerto from the 4 Seasons may well be the culmination of Vivaldi the dramatist. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

     Program #3:  Airs May 16th at 10:00pm.      This program begins at the Olympics (Vivaldi’s) and the focus stays along the tracks of spectacle and competition surrounding Vivaldi and his music. The complete “play by play” of one of Vivaldi’s finest seasons (Autumn ) is included.

     Program #4:  Airs May 23rd at 10:00pm.      In this program, we turn Vivaldi into a world class chef, and serve up an unforgettable feast of Vivaldi delicacies, topped off with the Winter Concerto from the Four Seasons. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Play List for Each Show - Click here

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, May 6th at 12:00noon
Yom Hashoah - A Holocaust Remembrance Special
The Holocaust and God: A Survivor Reflects

With

Dr. Walter Ziffer
     A Program Commemorating Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Recorded, Sunday, (April 15th, 2007) - (27 Nissan 5767), at Congregation B'nai Israel in Gainesville. This Program was sponsored by the Jewsih Council of North Central Florida, with many thanks to Congregation B'nai Israel Men's Club, B'nai Israel Sisterhood, Temple Shir Shalom, and Philip Schwartz

Listen On Line Here    Part 1     Part 2

The Program
Hatikvah Kol Chadash
Greetings David Greenberg (B'nai)
Greetings Abe Goldman (JCNCF)
Introduction Jordan Dern
Proclamation Paula M. DeLaney
Ani Ma'Amin Kol Chadash
Candle Lighting Estelle Shir Shalom

   Chant for all People

 of the Earth
El Malay Rachamim Rabbi Sam Berman
Mourner's Kaddish Rabbi Shaya Isenberg
Eili, Eili Kol Chadash
Speaker Dr. Walter Ziffer
Concluding Remarks Jordan Dern
God Bless America All Sing
Walter grew up the son of an attorney in a '' not very religious'' German speaking Jewish family. One of Walter's earliest memories of anti-Semitism involves walking with a group of elementary school friends, one of whom was an Orthodox Jew. Several non-Jewish children passed by and began to throw stones at them. As Walter describes it, the so-called ''town idiot'' came by in a cart, picked up the young Orthodox boy and rescued him.

In 1938, Hitler took over the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia, and the Pole's took over Ziffer's part of Czechoslovakia, Czech Silesia. When Walter's father was no longer permitted to practice law, it seemed that life could hardly be worse. Then came Sept. 1, 1939 when WWII broke out. On that day Walter recalls watching from the first floor of their home as the German soldiers marched through the town streets. And then the Gestapo appropriated the first floor of the Ziffer's home as their headquarters. After two weeks, the family was evicted and forced to leave behind all of their silver, rugs, furniture etc.

First, they moved in with an uncle, followed by a series of four or five evictions, until they ended up with only a small suitcase of belongings. Lastly, in 1941, the family and all other Jews were forced into a ghetto which in this case was a huge farm with various out-buildings, one of which - a dance hall - was divided into compartments. Deportations were a constant threat. All Jews were required to wear a Star of David displayed on the front and back of their clothing. For a time, his mother was still allowed to shop outside of the ghetto.

Walter's Family in the late 1930's.  Right to left-Emil Borger* (maternal uncle), Oscar Borger* (maternal Uncle), Jacob Borger (grandfather), Lydia Borger* (Emil's daughter) [behind wheelchair], Hermine Borger (grandmother), Edith Ziffer (Walter's sister) [above left of grandmother], Else Borger* (Oscar's Wife) [wearing hat], Arnold Weinberger* (Grandmother's Brother), Ilse Borger (Oscar and Elsie's daughter), Otto Borger (Emil's son), Walter Ziffer [wearing knees socks], Anny Borger Ziffer (Walter's mother), Bruno Berger (Anny's Brother) [moved to Asheville], Hermine Borger*( Emil's wife)    *Died in Nazi concentration camp

 
 

For More of Walter's History  Click here

Jewish Council of North Central Florida

Congregation B’nai Israel

Temple Shir Shalom

Temple Beth Shalom, Ocala

Pnai Or

Choosing to Remember: From the Shoah to the Mountains

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, May 13th at 5:00pm
Art of the Song - Darfur Special
 

     The Art of the Song Darfur Special is based on an interview with Linda Mason, chairman of Bright Horizons Family Solutions and wife of Berklee College of Music president Roger Brown.  Mason traveled to Darfur with Liz Walker, news anchor for WBZ-TV; and activist Rev. Dr. Gloria White Hammond on a research trip.  As a customary gift to her hosts, she brought two songs written by Berklee students for the women and children in the refugee camps. When the music was played for the refugees, they joyously explained that the gift of song makes them know we understand. The refugees returned the gift with their own song and

dance. Their recorded voices were taken back to Berklee, and a song competition launched within the entire Berklee community. The result was "We Are All Connected," a CD of music written and performed by students, faculty and alumni of the renowned college, creatively intertwining the voices of the Sudanese women into the songs.

Listen to this special on line here

Proceeds from the sale of the CD will benefit the Mercy Corps Darfur Fund.

       The Art of the Song Darfur Special will feature music from the CD as well as interviews with Linda Mason and others involved in the project. Art of the Song, hosted by the performing/songwriting duo, John and Viv, is a one-hour weekly program with music and interviews exploring inspiration and creativity through songwriting and other art forms.  The program is heard on over 100 public radio broadcast outlets across the country, and the special will air on many additional stations.  Listeners should check with their local public radio stations for day and time. Funding for the Art of the Song Darfur Special is provided in part by Jim and Jane Levitt and MercyCorps. 

www.artofthesong.org 

For the "We Are All Connected" project, visit the Berlkee College of Music Darfur Website or contact Creative PR: 888-233-5650

 

 Purchase We Are all Connected CD at iTunes
  Berlkee College of Music Darfur Website  
  Boston Globe article

 

 

 

Tuesday, May 15th at 8:00pm
The Brno Chamber Orchestra
A Silver Anniversary Concert
  The Brno Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Jirl Mottl with Pianist Michiko Otaki. Recorded by Classic 89 and Nature Coast 90 on February 26th, 1996 at Forest High School in Ocala.
The Program
  Myslivecek
  Mozart
  Mozart
  Handel
  Martinu
  Britten		 Sinfonia in A
Adagio and Fugue in c, K. 546
Piano Concerto in Eb, K. 449 - Michiko Otaki Pianist
Concerto Gross in G, Op. 6, No. 1
Serenade No. 2
Simple Symphony, Op. 4
    The Brno Chamber Orchestra is an ensemble emanating from the Brno State Philharmonic in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1977 the ensemble soon developed its own individual performance style and particular repertoire and found its place in the concert life of Brno, the cultural center of the Czech Moravian region, and also abroad, including Norway, Austria, Switzerland,
   
Bulgaria, Sweden, Spain and Germany, where it has toured extensively. Its highly acclaimed American debut took place in February, 1996, when the Star-Ledger called it "one of the finest...the ensemble showed great expressively while maintaining razor precision." The Atlanta Journal raved that "the group's playing proved disciplined and attractively full-bodied."
     The Orchestra has visited the festivals in Stockholm, Munich, Seville, Vienna, Constance and Schleissheim, and has collaborated with many renowned musicians, such as violinists Melkus and Lessing, French hornist Damm, trumpeter Boisson, Singer Richard Novak and pianist Michiko Otaki, with whom the first two compact disc recordings of the Brno Chamber Orchestra were made. Those recordings include works of Biber, Wassenaer, Stamic, Mozart (K. 415 and K. 449), Myslivecek, Martinu, and Janacek.
     The ensemble's repertoire, much of which has been featured on recordings and television, is remarkable for the careful attention to the period styles and wide range in the contemporary sphere. A large part of the repertoire is made up of first performances of archive discoveries of music of Czech origin. This past holiday season the Orchestra performed newly-discovered vocal Christmas works by the Czech composer Jiri Linek (1725-1792), using parts reconstructed from manuscripts found in the Rajhrad cloister archives in southern Moravia by the Orchestra's leader, Jiri Mottl.
     Artistic director Jiri Mottl (b. 1950) became the concertmaster of the Moravian Chamber Orchestra and a winner of the international violin competition in Lausanne (1971) while still a student at the Brno Conservatory. He studied violin at the Janacek Academy of Performing Arts, graduating in 1975; he returned later to the same institution to undertake serious intense study in conducting and received a second diploma in 1993. As a result of his research on and performance of historic music, he founded the Brno Chamber Orchestra in 1977 and became its principal violinist and artistic director, which he still is today. He was chosen to be Chief Editor of the New Janacek Critical Edition published by Baerenreiter-Supraphon, including the 1877 Suite for Strings featured on the recording and during the Brno Chamber Orchestra's American tour, as well as the 1878 Idyll, as work which was influenced by Dvorak's famous Serenade even more so than the earlier Suite.
 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, May 16th at 6:30pm
Intelligence Squared

A Debate the Resolution "A Democratically-elected Hamas is Still a Terrorist Organization."

Host Robert Siegel
       Arguing for the motion are Israel's Ambassador to the US Daniel Ayalon, Arab politics and U.S. Middle East policy expert Steven A. Cook, and Washington Bureau Chief of Al-Hayat, International Arab Daily Salameh Nematt. Arguing against the motion are controversial attorney Stanley L. Cohen, author and human rights and conflict expert Mahmoud Mohamedou, and author and co-director of the Conflicts Forum Mark Perry. The moderator for the evening is veteran broadcast anchor and journalist Judy Woodruff.
       Recently in the U.S., it seems as if partisan rancor has replaced reasoned debate; mainstream media has become contentious and ideological; and discussions of important issues are being dominated by emotion than by facts and analysis. The Intelligence Squared debates attempts to change this trend and raise the level of public discourse on the key issues of our day.
        Modeled on the British program Intelligence Squared, this is an Oxford-style debate that is provocative, intellectually rich, humorous, and dramatic. For each debate a motion is proposed. Then, three panelists argue for the motion and three argue against it, with a moderator controlling the proceedings.
After the formal arguments, the debate is thrown open to the floor for questions, triggering a lively interchange among the speakers and audience members. Each side attempts to persuade the audience to vote their way. This adversarial context is electric, adding drama and excitement to the proceedings. The live audience will vote on the motion both before and after hearing the arguments, so there is a clear measure of how far people have actually been swayed. Those votes are tallied during the evening and announced at the end with a clear side winning.

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, May 25th at 1:00pm   
America Abroad - After Castro    
 

 
 

 

 

 

 

Ray Suarez    

Only 90 miles off the coast of the United States lies the island of Cuba, once a playground for American tourists. Cuba's relationship to the U.S. was forever changed in 1959 when Fidel Castro's revolutionary army marched on Havana. Since then, Cuba and the United States have existed as uneasy neighbors. Now, with the iconic Cuban leader on his death bed, a new era of Cuban-American relations may be dawning.
 

 

 

 

 

   Margaret Warner
     "After Castro: America and Cuba" examines the possibility of change in the U.S.-Cuban dynamic and the role of the "Cuban Lobby" in that controversial relationship. It looks back at the decisions made during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and revisits U.S.-Cuban relations before and after Castro's takeover. Guests include Mark Falcoff, scholar emeritus at the American Enterprise Institute; Dagoberto Rodriguez, the head of the Cuban Interests Section; Theodore Sorensen, special counsel and advisor toPresident Kennedy; Richard Nuccio, former Secretary of State for Cuba and advisor to President Clinton; Roger Noriega, senior staff member for Senator Jesse Helms and a key author of the Helms-Burton Act.
       Hosted by a team of prominent news broadcasters — including Ray Suarez, Marvin Kalb, Steve Roberts, Garrick Utley, and Margaret Warner — "America Abroad" humanizes foreign policy, providing personal insights and perspectives on how it is made and on those who make it. The program includes a history segment that features rare, archival audio, and that provides crucial historical context for the topic under discussion. This program also presents an "eyewitness" segment that includes stories from senior policymakers, national leaders or others involved in the major events surrounding Cuba over the last century.
      "America Abroad" is produced by America Abroad Media and is distributed nationally by Public Radio International. Support for this program is provided by The Starr Foundation, "The Economist" magazine, the Draper Richards Foundation and the Ford Foundation. 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, May 26th at 12:00noon
For the Fallen - Memorial Day
     From the independent producer collective Hearing Voices, comes "For  the Fallen" a public radio special for Memorial Day. The host is Green Beret and poet Major Robert Schaefer, U.S. Army Special Forces. The hour features voices of veterans  remembering their comrades. We hear troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, reading their emails, poems, and journals, as part of the NEA project: Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience. We hear interviews from StoryCorps, essays from This I  Believe, and the history and sounds of a Military Honor Guard. And we attend the daily ceremony by Belgian veterans honoring the WWI  British soldiers who died defending a small town in western Belgium.

Memorial Day ceremony at the American Cemetery in Suresnes, France, Mar 30 1920
 

Click here to go to the Hearing Voices Interactive Web Site "For The Fallen"
 
             For the Fallen 1  -  Listen Here

Host Major Robert Schaefer, U.S. Army Special Forces, a Green Beret and poet, reveals his love-hate relationship with the bugle call "Taps." We join a "Military Honor Guard" in Long Island, recorded by Charles Lane. We hear interviews with World War Two and Vietnam vets from the public radio's StoryCorps and This I Believe series. Composer Phil Kline sets to music the slogans Vietnam soldiers etched into their lighters, in Zippo Songs. And we attend the daily ceremony by Belgian veterans honoring the WWI British soldiers who died defending a small town in western Belgium.
                        For the Fallen 2  -  Listen Here

We hear troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, reading their emails, poems, and journals, as part of the NEA project: "Operation Homecoming, and selections from the NEA CD Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience with well-known authors reading their poems, prose, and essays about their timer in the military.

Executive Producer is Barrett Golding. Technical Director is Robin Wise of Sound Imagery. Story Editors are Scott Carrier and Larry Massett.  .................

 
 

 

WW II Memorial   

  "Patrol Coming In" By: Dennis (Frenchy) Proulx   

        Iwo Jima
 

 
 

The Vietnam Memroial Wall

  

 

 

 

 

Saturday, May 26th at 8:00pm
Discoveries at Disney with Mônica Salmaso
 
       Mônica Salmaso has surfaced as one of the best young voices in Brazil. At Disney Hall, she gives a dazzling performance of sensual, rhythmically-inflected Brazilian popular songs, including a Beatles favorite and an "Ave Maria" with a Brazilian twist!
        "Discoveries at Disney Hall" is an eclectic mix of concert specials recorded live at Disney Hall in Los Angeles. From singer-songwriters to classical, world music and Broadway stars, it's a celebration of the diversity of our thriving musical culture. In addition to the dynamic live performances, these programs feature the artists introducing their music from stage and weaves in brief interview clips. Hosted by Renee Montagne.

 

     Born in São Paulo in 1971, Mônica Salmaso has surfaced as one of the best young voices among the new talents of Brasil. She started her musical career singing in a "comedy" directed by the award winning Gabriel Villela.  Besides her music studies in São Paulo, Mônica has recorded and performed with important Brazilian artists like Edu Lobo, Eduardo Gudin, José Miguel Wisnik, Marlui Miranda, Guinga, Nelson Ayres and the Jazz Symphonic Orchestra of São Paulo.  She was one of the soloists on the album CANÇÕES DE NINAR by Paulo Tatit and Sandra Peres. The CD won Brasil's "Prêmio Sharp - 95" as Best Recording for Children.
     In 1995 she recorded AFRO SAMBAS, a voice and guitar album, arranged and produced by Brazilian guitarist Paulo Bellinati. The CD premiered the complete Afro-Sambas by Baden Powell and Vinícius de Moraes, including the famous Berimbau and Consolação; released in US and Europe by GSP (Guitar Solo Publication) Records.  In the same year, recorded with Paulo Bellinati the song "A Felicidade" by Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes for one Brazilian Jobim's song book by Lumiar Records.  In 1997, she was nominated for Prêmio Sharp - 97 as Best New Singer on Brazilian Popular Music with the Cd AFRO SAMBAS.
     In 1998 she recorded her first solo Cd TRAMPOLIM - Pau Brasil Music (in Brazil) and Bluejackel Records (in USA) produced by Rodolfo Stroeter. The cd features some of the most creative musicians in Brazilian contemporary music such as Nana Vasconcelos, Teco Cardoso, Paulo Bellinati, among others.  In May of 1999, Monica Salmaso won the Visa-Mastercard-Eldorado Prize for best singer in Brazil among 1.200 contestants, all over the country. The prize has earned attention over Monica's talent and career, and during august/september 99 she recorded for Eldorado records, her third album. VOADEIRA is also produced by Rodolfo Stroeter. The album has been qualified by the press, as one of the best releases of 99 in Brazilian Popular Music. "Voadeira" features Marcos Suzano, Benjamim Taubkin, Naylor "Proveta", Toninho Ferragutti and Paulo Bellinati, among others.  Also in 1999 Mônica was awarded as the “best singer” from Brazil. The prize was conceded by APCA – (Associação Paulista dos Críticos de Arte), and it is particularly important as it is given by a poll of the most important Brazilian press community.
     Since 1998, Monica also sings with the Orquestra Popular de Câmara - a 12 piece band - that blends the Brazilian musical heritage along with the personal contribution of each one of the renowned soloist of the group. In 2004, she has released her fourth cd IAIÁ by the label Biscoito Fino (in Brazil), released in USA and Europe by Harmonia Mundi.  Took an important part as a singer in the movie “Vinicius” about the life and work of Vinicius de Morais, directed by Miguel Faria Jr.  Took part in the most recent cd recorded by Chico Buarque, "Carioca", singing the song “Imagina” composed by Chico Buarque and Tom Jobim.  Is rehearsing to record her 5th cd that is to be launched in April 2007.

 

 

 

Saturday, May 26th at 9:00pm
Wynton Marsalis - From the Plantation to the Penitentiary
     A Documentary about the latest project of Wynton Marsalis, one of the worlds most respected musicians who has championed and mastered both Classical and Jazz, and is recognised world wide for his creative genius. Every ten years or so he strives to create a recording that is also a statement about the state of "Black American" and America as a whole. His latest effort is "From the Plantation to the Penitentiary," which he released in March 2007. Seven works which pose a world view and act as a mirror that "interperts memory, ... the dream of our people, yet also exposes the image for what it is,.... the beauty and the blemishes." This special takes a look at that "ugly beauty that is America."
     A fixture on the American cultural scene, Wynton Marsalis has brought jazz back to centre stage in the U.S.A. through his relentless work ethic and drive. He is also a distinguished classical performer whose many recordings for Sony Classical have been an important aspect of his career since it began. In 1997 he became the first jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize in music, for his epic oratorio on the subject of slavery, Blood on the Fields. As a composer and performer, Marsalis is also represented on a quartet of Sony Classical releases, At the Octoroon Balls: String Quartet No. 1, A Fiddler's Tale, Reel Time and Sweet Release and Ghost Story: Two More Ballets by Wynton Marsalis. All are volumes of an eight-CD series, titled "Swinging Into The 21st", that is an unprecedented set of albums released in the past year featuring a remarkable scope of original compositions and standards, from jazz to classical to ballet, by composers from Jelly Roll Morton to Stravinsky to Monk, in addition to Marsalis.

       Winner of eight Grammy awards for his jazz and classical recordings, Marsalis has also been creatively involved in musical education. His four-part, Peabody Award-winning TV series Marsalis on Music, released on home video by Sony Classical, introduces young viewers to the adventure of making music. USA Today hailed Marsalis on Music as "a thrilling four-part seminar of music appreciation written and literally conducted by the affable Wynton Marsalis. Comparisons to Leonard Bernstein's famed "Young People's Concerts" are appropriate."
        Born October 18, 1961, in New Orleans, the second of six sons of Dolores and Ellis Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis began studying trumpet seriously at age twelve. During high school he performed in local marching bands, jazz bands, funk bands, and classical orchestras, and at age eighteen he moved to New York to attend the Juilliard School of Music. In the summer of 1980, he became a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and that same year signed with Columbia Records. Since his self-titled debut was released in 1982, Marsalis' numerous jazz and classical recordings for Columbia and Sony Classical have sold nearly five million copies world wide. He has taken his jazz groups to thirty countries on six continents, averaging more than 120 concerts per year for many of the past sixteen years.
         Marsalis serves as artistic director for the internationally recognised Jazz at Lincoln Center program, which he co-founded in 1987. Under his leadership, the jazz department earned the distinction of being named Lincoln Center's first new constituent organisation since 1969. Several commissioned works for the program are among his most recent successes as a composer. The oratorio Blood on the Fields, written in 1994, was named one of the top ten music highlights of the year by Time magazine. The New York Times Magazine said the work "marked the symbolic moment when the full heritage of the line, Ellington through Mingus, was extended into the present. It also reflects a full awareness of Copland and Stravinsky."

 

 

 

Saturday, May 26th at 10:00pm
Discoveries at Disney - World Music Showcase
  T   Three continents find voice in this showcase of sounds from Disney Hall. From Europe comes Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares, a women's group of Bulgarian folk singers whose eerie harmonies, whoops, hollers, and rhythmic complexity meld into an unforgettable performance; from Asia, Balinese master I Nyoman Wenten leads Gamelan Burat Wangi, a group of pitched and unpitched percussion instruments, flutes, and vocalists; and from Africa, Les Ballets Africains, a troupe of drummers, singers, and dancers from Guinea raising the roof off Disney Hall with intensity and joy.
   
   
   
   
     < Les Ballets Africains
     "Discoveries at Disney Hall" is an eclectic mix of concert specials recorded live at Disney Hall in Los Angeles. From singer-songwriters to classical, world music and Broadway stars, it's a celebration of the diversity of our thriving musical culture. In addition to the dynamic live performances, these programs feature the artists introducing their music from stage and weaves in brief interview clips. Hosted by Renee Montagne.  
   
   
   
   

Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares >  

 

 

 

 

Sunday, May 27th at 4:00pm
Waylon Jennings - Nashville Rebel
 

 
     Waylon Jennings became a country star doing it Nashville’s way. But he became a legend doing things his way. In the early 1970s, his and fellow Texan Willie Nelson’s successful fight for creative control of their records launched country’s Outlaw movement. From a career that began in 1958 with a single produced by rock icon Buddy Holly until his death in 2002, Waylon created edgy, timeless, straight-talking music like “This Time,” “Luckenbach, Texas (Back To The Basics Of Love)” and “Good Hearted Woman” (with Willie).
     “Waylon Jennings: Nashville Rebel” looks back on Waylon’s whole career - from the first Holly-produced single (“Jole Blon”), a tune from his early ’60s days in Phoenix (“Stop the World”), his early RCA hits, all the Outlaw masterpieces, and “I Do Believe” as part of the Highhwaymen. Host Cowboy Jack Clement tells the story with help from Waylon’s wife Jessi Colter, musicians and collaborators Kris Kristofferson, and Richie Albright, and writers Lenny Kaye and Anthony DeCurtis.
     He took his name to heart, and then made music from its foursquare beat, and listened to what his inner sense of the music was telling him, and chewed on his songs, because that’s what he liked to do best, and let them live out his life, more than one chorus at a time.” – Lenny Kaye
 
 

 

 

Sunday, May 27th at 5:00pm
America: Here and Now
     America brings their unmistakable, platinum-selling sound into the new millennium on Here & Now, their new album produced by Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne) and James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins).
     Band members Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell introduce these new songs to their fans alongside live, full-band versions of classics like “Sister Golden Hair,” “Ventura Highway,” and “Horse with No Name.”
     In exclusive interview clips, Beckley, Bunnell, Schlesinger and Iha discuss America’s impact on contemporary music, the making of the new album, and the roles played by their
acclaimed collaborators. Ryan Adams, Ben Kweller and members of My Morning Jacket and Nada Surf pay tribute to one of their favorite bands by contributing songs and support to America on many tracks throughout Here & Now.
 
 

 

 

Thursday, May 31st, 2007 at 8:00pm
Cuarteto Latinoamericano In Concert
A Silver Anniversary Concert
 
     Recorded by Classic 89 and nature Coast 90 on November 12 & 13, 1993 at the Center for the Performing Arts in Gainesville.
     Cuarteto Latinoamericano are Arón Bitrán, second violin; Alvaro Bitrán, cello; Javier Montiel, viola; Saúl Bitrán, first violin.
The Program
    Silvestre Revueltas Quartet No 4 (Musica de Feria)
    Heitor Villa-Lobos Quartet No 5
    Astor Piazzolla Four for Tango
    Mario Lavista Reflejos de la Noches (dedicated to Cuarteto Latinoamericano
    Albert Ginastera Quartet No 1 - Op 20
    Paul Cooper Quartet No 6
    Allen Blank Quartet (1989)
   
      Cuarteto Latinoamericano is known worldwide as the leading proponent of Latin American music for string quartet. This award-winning ensemble from Mexico consists of the three Bitrán brothers, violinists Saúl and Arón and cellist Alvaro, along with violist Javier Montiel.
       The Cuarteto was nominated for a Grammy award in 2002 in the field of Best Chamber Music Recording as well as for a Latin Grammy. The Cuarteto records for Elan, New Albion, Urtext and Dorian Recordings among others. The Villa-Lobos anthology of 17 string quartets is recorded on 6 volumes for Dorian Records and has recently been re-released as a box set by Brilliant Classics.
 
        The Cuarteto has performed as soloist with many orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Seattle Symphony under Gerard Schwarz, with the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa, the Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México, the Dallas Symphony and the Símon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela, under Eduardo Mata. The Cuarteto has toured extensively around the world including performances in Europe, North, Central and South America, as well as in New Zealand and Israel and they have appeared in a wide range of venues from the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC to the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Dartmouth College, Cornell University, Dartington Festival, Orford Arts Center, and the Ojai Festival. They have collaborated with many artists including cellist Janos Starker, guitarists Narciso Yepes and Sharon Isbin, pianists Santiago Rodriguez, Cyprien Katsaris and Rudolph Buchbinder, and tenor Ramon Vargas.
        The Cuarteto has been in residence at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh since 1987, and at the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.
 

 

 

 

Thursday, May 31st, 2007 at 10:00pm

Discoveries at Disney:

Bach's Brandenburg Concertos

     The Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra performs J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, music which is featured in a wide range of Hollywood film scores including A Bridge Too Far and Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.
     "Discoveries at Disney Hall" is an eclectic mix of concert Specials recorded live at Disney Hall in Los Angeles. From singer-songwriters to classical, world music and Broadway stars, it's a celebration of the diversity of our thriving musical culture. In addition to the dynamic live performances, these programs feature the artists introducing their music from stage and weaves in brief interview clips. Hosted by Renée Montagne.