Saturdays at 11:00 am
Members of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras perform during a live broadcast of Introductions from Millennium Park. (Photo: Tipping Point Photography)
Hear talented pre-college classical musicians from the Chicago area
Introductions is WFMT’s weekly Saturday morning program that features talented pre-college classical musicians in the Chicago area. We invite soloists and chamber ensembles to perform live in WFMT’s Fay & Daniel Levin Performance Studio. Large ensembles, including orchestras, choirs, and bands, are recorded at their home venues and broadcast at later dates. The program also features youth music competition winners. While many Introductions alumni pursue careers outside of music, some have gone on to study at some of the most prestigious music schools around the world and maintain careers as professional musicians.
LIVE | Miriam Kessler, 17, harp, piano, and composer
Live, an unusual two-instrument recital: Miriam Kessler is an accomplished performer on harp and piano.
Tyler Wang, 17, piano
Music by Fanny Mendelssohn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, and Maurice Ravel.
Ethan Zheng, 16, piano
Today on Introductions, Ethan Zheng, a piano student of Marta Aznavoorian. His recital features the music of Brahms, Chopin, Chen Yi, and Prokofiev.
Women’s History Month Highlights
Enjoy highlights from the last twelve months of Introductions performances, with music by eight different women composers.
Anna Knight, 19, piano
A year ago, Anna Knight was studying at a specialist music high school in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. She's now living in the Chicago area, and brings us a recital of Chopin, Bach, Beethoven, Frolyak, Ravel, and Dunayevsky.
Encore Broadcast | Tabitha Mo, 16, flute
Tabitha plays music by Nielsen, Mozart, Still, and Sarasate in WFMT's Fay and Daniel Levin Performance Studio, joined by pianist Inah Chiu.
Encore Broadcast | Shivshankar Prasad, 17, piano
Prasad's recital in WFMT’s Fay and Daniel Levin Performance Studio features music of Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Danielpour.
Black History Month Highlights
This week on Introductions, we look back to performances of music by Black composers from the past twelve months. Teenage performers play music by composers old and new: Montgomery, Dett, Hailstork, Still, Perkinson and Walker.
Encore Broadcast | Sameer Agrawal, 17, violin
Sameer Agrawal is a multi-year member of the Music Institute of Chicago Academy and Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative. He joins pianist Milana Pavchinskaya for a recital of Arutiunian, Perkinson, Bach and Ravel.
Encore Broadcast | Nazeeh Shahid, 17, viola
Nazeeh Shahid plays music by Bach, Bartók, Ngwenyama, and Piazzolla, joined by Liang-yu Wang on piano.
Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras’ Fall 2022 concert
Short openers by Jessie Montgomery and Anna Clyne precede Richard Strauss's tone poem Ein Heldenleben. Allen Tinkham conducts.
Karen Kobayashi, 14, flute
Today we hear from Karen Kobayashi of Palatine, a flute student of Hideko Amano. She joins pianist Beilin Han in music of Ibert, Hailstork, Schocker, Fauré and Burton.
Encore Broadcast | Introductions in the Community at Navy Pier
For the middle of winter, we revisit a lovely warm summer's day and live music at the outdoor Lake Stage in Polk Bros Park at Navy Pier.
Encore Broadcast | Ukrainian Music with Myroslav Mykhailenko and friends
18-year-old pianist Myroslav Mykhailenko is joined by young friends and colleagues with selections by five different Ukrainian composers.
Encore Broadcast | Bianca Ciubancan, 16, violin
Joined by pianist Qi Kong, Bianca presents music of Bach, Beethoven, Montgomery, and Ysaÿe.
LIVE | Sameer Agrawal, 17, violin
Sameer Agrawal is a multi-year member of the Music Institute of Chicago Academy and Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative. He joins pianist Milana Pavchinskaya for a live recital of Arutiunian, Perkinson, Bach and Ravel.
Encore Broadcast | Omaggio String Quartet & Peresson String Quartet
Two prize-winning string quartets perform Haydn, Hindemith, Puccini, Ravel, and Bartók.
Encore Broadcast | Ukrainian Music with Myroslav Mykhailenko and friends
18-year-old pianist Myroslav Mykhailenko is joined by young friends and colleagues with selections by five different Ukrainian composers.
Encore Broadcast | Catherine Woods, 18, violin
Catherine is already an active violin and piano teacher, and in this recital she presents music by Bach, Beethoven, Boulanger, and Saint-Saëns.
Encore Broadcast | Bazyli Siwek, 17, piano and composer
Along with three of his own pieces, he presents music by Clara Schumann, Robert Nathaniel Dett, Maurice Ravel, and Lowell Liebermann.
