Conductor Sakari Oramo concludes the BBC Proms season with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Chorus, mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, and more, in a jubilant, wide-ranging program. Tonight at 9:00 pm.
WFMT challenged the famous satirist to a classical music speed round!
Perform on WFMT’s showcase of the Chicago area’s finest pre-college musicians!
Get Out composer Michael Abels brings his horror soundtrack into the concert hall [Video]
"Writing music, I believe, is a spiritual practice,” says composer Michael Abels. “Any three notes you can find are either terrible or brilliant depending on the context.” Abels makes his Sinfonietta conducting debut leading the orchestra in a live-to-picture performance of his own score for Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning film Get Out.
“Weird Al” flexes his classical music muscle with WFMT [Video]
Since the 1980s, world-renowned satirist “Weird Al” Yankovic has found consistent success parodying popular music. From Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” to Jimmy Webb’s “MacArthur Park” and Don McLean’s “American Pie,” Al has woven himself into the fabric of modern music and pop culture. As part of his 2019 Strings Attached tour, Al and his band ...
‘No path is easy’: Black opera singers detail struggles
NEW YORK (AP) — More than 60 years after Marian Anderson broke the color barrier at the Metropolitan Opera, black singers still face unique obstacles in building their careers within the industry. “We’ve made some strides, but not a whole lot,” said Naomi Andre, a professor at the University of Michigan and author of the book “Black Opera.” “I happen ...
Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes on revisiting a beloved 150-year-old concerto to open the CSO season
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 2019-20 season will start with a much-loved concerto in a performance by two artists picking up the piece for the first time in a while. In a phone interview with WFMT, pianist Leif Ove Andsnes says that he hasn’t played the Grieg piano concerto in more than a decade. And according to Andsnes, Riccardo Muti says ...
Valuable Vinyl: Caring for Your Prized Classical LPs
The multi-sensory, ritualistic experience of listening to a vinyl record transcends any digital playlist. And whether they're new or vintage, you’ll want to make sure that your prized classical albums are well cared for.
A globetrotting new PBS series uses classical music to explore countries, cultures
“The goal of the show is very simple,” says the host of Now Hear This, violinist and conductor Scott Yoo. “To make sure that people try out classical music and give it a chance... If you want to get the most out of life, part of it is getting the most out of music.”
Can video games bring new, younger audiences into classical music?
Video games don’t always conjure up images of a concert hall. Surveys show that 90% percent of teens play video games on a computer, game console, or phone. The numbers aren’t quite as high when you ask teens if they like classical music — a separate survey shows that classical music is the preferred genre of just about 4% of ...
Lyric names Enrique Mazzola as next music director, succeeding Sir Andrew Davis
LISTEN | WFMT general manager George Preston interviews Enrique Mazzola and Sir Andrew Davis On September 12, Lyric Opera of Chicago general director, president, and CEO Anthony Freud announced the next music director of Lyric — Spanish-born Italian conductor Enrique Mazzola. When he assumes the position in the 2021-22 season, Mazzola will be just the third music director in the ...
6 classical music and wine pairings that are sure to soothe your soul
Wine and music pair together in perfect harmony. Check out these 6 pairings from maestro and wine ambassador Enrique Mazzola.
Pianist Alon Goldstein performs two Scarlatti sonatas in WFMT’s Levin Performance Studio [Video]
In an Impromptu broadcast featuring music by Ginastera, Bernstein, Beethoven, and yes, Domenico Scarlatti, pianist Alon Goldstein spoke with host Kerry Frumkin on the prolific mastery of the Baroque composer, who composed more than 550 sonatas during his lifetime.
