Monday - Friday at 7:00 pm
An expedition through the world of classical music.
Exploring Music takes listeners on an adventure through the world of classical music. Each five-episode series explores a single theme, revealing surprising connections among composers, cultures, history, and great works – from Shakespeare and music to the lives of iconic composers, from musical capitals like Paris and Venice to festivals, genres, and traditions from around the globe. Whether you're a devoted classical music fan or just beginning to explore, Exploring Music offers a welcoming place to learn, listen, and be inspired – one week, one theme, and one musical adventure at a time.
Hosted by Peter van de Graaff, Exploring Music welcomes a new chapter while continuing to feature encore episodes from founding host Bill McGlaughlin in selected weeks.
Boulanger, Nadia
July 27, 2026
“Every town in the United States had a five-and-dime and a Boulanger student,” Virgil Thomson once said, and he wasn’t far off. Nadia Boulanger taught and influenced an entire generation of musicians, from Aaron Copland and Ástor Piazzolla to Philip Glass and Quincy Jones, and this week we’ll hear some of her compositions and performances alongside those of her prolific ...
Get the Picture
July 20, 2026
Listen your way through the works of composers inspired by well-known paintings and poems. Pianist Alicia de Larrocha will perform Goyescas, by Enrique Granados, a musical transcription of Francisco Goya’s paintings. This week’s music includes Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler (Matthias the Painter), and Rachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead. Many of these musical works have gone ...
Symphony, Part IV
July 13, 2026
We start this week featuring the symphonic form at its Romantic apex, with Austrian composers Anton Bruckner and Gustav Mahler. Then we’ll head over to Britain to enjoy the music of Edward Elgar. Together, these three composers wrote 22 symphonies, which is impressive considering Bruckner didn’t compose his first until his forties, and Elgar was turning fifty! Get ready for ...
String Quartets from Fibich to Sibelius
August 3, 2026
This week Bill broadens his considerations of the string quartet with an emphasis on lesser-known, late-19th century composers. He begins with Poème for violin and piano by Czech composer Zdeněk Fibich. Bill says “the music is familiar but the composer maybe not so familiar”: Poème was the score for one of the first choreographies by George Balanchine. Fibich was among ...
