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Sounds Like Chicago

August 23, 2025, 7:00 pm

beach with Chicago skyline in the background

Chicagoans cool off at Oak Street Beach. (Photo: Chris6d, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Sounds Classical’s Season 3 premiere features a playlist honoring our homebase: Chicago. Tune in for music inspired by the Windy City, including works by Shawn E. Okpebholo, Sofiane Pamart, Tomeka Reid, and more.

Playlist

Shawn E. Okpebholo: city beautiful
Lincoln Trio
Cedille CDR-90000211

Leo Sowerby: Symphony for Jazz Orchestra, “Monotony”
III. “Sermons”
Andy Baker Orch/Andrew Baker
Cedille CDR-90000205

John Alden Carpenter: Skyscrapers
Scene IV
Boston Modern Orchestra Project/Gil Rose
BMOP Sound 1100

Sofiane Pamart: Chicago
Sofiane Pamart, p
Urban PIASU-166D

Augusta Read Thomas: Plea for Peace
Jennie Oh Brown/string quartet
Innova 43

Tomeka Reid: Prospective Dwellers
D-Composed
WFMT Live in studio

Orbert Davis: The Chicago River
I. The Illinois River Valley That Was Changed Forever (clip)
Chicago Jazz Phil/Orbert Davis
3Sixteen CD-31610

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.

The WFMT Orchestra Series

The WFMT Orchestra Series

Sounds Like Chicago

Playlist