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Music for Children

May 17, 2025, 7:00 pm

Music note dice (Photo: slgckgc, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

When you think of your childhood, what music comes to mind? This week, LaRob and Kristina invite listeners both young and young-at-heart to enjoy a playlist of classical music written especially for kids.

Playlist

Asako Hirabayashi: Suite for Children
Gina DiBello, v; Asako Hirabayashi, hc
Albany
TROY-1180

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Othello, Op. 79
“Children’s Intermezzo”
RTÉ Concert Orch/Adrian Leaper
Naxos 8.555191

Engelbert Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel
“Sandman’s Song”
Barbara Hendricks, s; Bavarian Radio Sym Orch/Jeffrey Tate
EMI CDS7-54022-2 (2)

Alexey Shor: Two Songs for My Children
David Aaron Carpenter, vi; London Phil Orch/David Parry
Warner 190295697693

George Gershwin: Promenade (Walking the Dog) (clip)
George Silfies, cl; St. Louis Sym Orch/Leonard Slatkin
RCA 68511-2

Aaron Copland: Rodeo
“Hoe-Down” (clip)
Buffalo Phil Orch/JoAnn Falletta
Naxos 8.55924

Sergei Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf, Op. 67
David Bowie, n; Philadelphia Orch/Eugene Ormandy
RCA 60878

Camille Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals
“Aquarium; The Cuckoo”
The Kanneh-Masons
Decca 4851156

Benjamin Britten: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34
Fugue
London Sym Orch/Simon Rattle
LSO Live
LSO-0830

Mason Bates: Philharmonia Fantastique
“The Making of the Orchestra”
Chicago Sym Orch/Edwin Outwater
Sony G010004751141I

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Sounds Classical is made possible, in part by, Sylvia Furner and the members of the WFMT Fine Arts Circle.

Meet the Hosts

LaRob K. Rafael joined the WFMT announcing staff in 2020 as a fill-in host and became WFMT’s full-time weekend morning host and producer in Fall of 2021. A Bass-Baritone from the DMV area (Maryland), LaRob has been involved with music since childhood and is a graduate of DePaul University, where he studied Vocal Performance. He has since gone on to work with arts organizations including Lyric Opera of Chicago, La Caccina (a professional women’s ensemble), Black Opera Alliance, Black Administrators of Opera, and Sphinx Organization to name a few. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of Hearing in Color and combines his experience and research to change the predominantly white, European, male classical canon.

Kristina Lynn is a producer and host at WFMT, presenting both Sounds Classical with LaRob K. Rafael, and Evening Music on Friday nights. She has hosted live performances and artist interviews with the Rush Hour Concerts and has done voiceover work for the WFMT Radio Network. With an easygoing approach, Kristina aims to welcome all types of listeners to classical music and explore the art form from a 21st-century perspective. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree specializing in Trumpet Performance from DePaul University. Before announcing at WFMT, she has previously worked in radio production at both WFMT and at WQXR in New York.

Music with Jan Weller

Music with Jan Weller

Music for Children

Playlist