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.
Encore Broadcast | Sami Gershenhorn, 11, piano
This Easter weekend we have a recital of classical favorites from 11-year-old pianist Sami Gershenhorn of Lake Forest. On this holiday program is music by Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu; Bach’s Italian Concerto; Beethoven’s Tempest Sonata; and pieces by Rachmaninoff, Liszt, and Debussy. Sami Gershenhorn’s Introductions recital was first broadcast on December 26, 2020. Audio and more information are available on the original episode ...
Camerata Chicago Senior Academy and 2021 New Music School Concerto Competition
This week, two different music schools. The Camerata Chicago Academy is based in Wheaton, and their Senior Academy rehearsed and recorded their winter chamber orchestra concert in a socially distant manner. We also hear from the top two place-getters at the recent annual concerto competition from Chicago’s New Music School: Zarin Mehta playing Beethoven and Sami Gershenhorn playing Gershwin. Camerata ...
Noah Kim, 14, piano
This Saturday, Noah Kim of Vernon Hills, a student of Marta Aznavoorian, presents a piano recital featuring Ludwig van Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata and Felix Mendelssohn’s Variations sérieuses, as well as shorter pieces by Frédéric Chopin, Claude Debussy, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and local composer Misook Kim. Thanks to the Music Institute of Chicago for allowing WFMT to record in Nichols Concert Hall. ...
Bella Kim, 18, viola
This week is all about the alto clef: 18-year-old Bella Kim of Buffalo Grove is a viola player who has chosen a diverse recital of Johann Sebastian Bach, Béla Bartók, local composer Augusta Read Thomas, and the recently rediscovered 1939 Sonatine of Ulysses Kay. Beilin Han joins her on piano. Thanks to the Music Institute of Chicago for allowing WFMT ...
Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative Class of 2021
Today we hear from fellows of Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative. CMPI’s mission is to support high school orchestral musicians from underrepresented backgrounds, and give them development and support for acceptance into top-tier conservatory, college or university classical music programs in preparation for careers as professional musicians. CMPI’s eventual goal is to diversify the ranks of America’s professional orchestras, and is ...
CYSO: Gershwin’s Magic Key
This week on Introductions, an entire brand new album! Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras‘ flagship ensemble was chosen to be the first ever youth orchestra to record an album for Classical Kids Music Education. Classical Kids stages theatrical concert productions with actors and orchestras, telling stories of the lives and music of famous composers. Their latest production is Gershwin’s Magic Key, ...
Ella Saputra, 16, violin
This week Introductions features violinist Ella Saputra of Schaumburg, a student of Desirée Ruhstrat. Ella is a member of Midwest Young Artists Conservatory and a fellow of Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative. Today she presents a recital of Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Jonathan Bailey Holland, and the complete Alexander Glazunov Violin Concerto. Thank you to pianist Beilin Han, and ...
Louis Auxenfans, 16, clarinet & piano; Henry Auxenfans, 13, violin
This Saturday’s recital is an unusual family affair: brothers Louis and Henry Auxenfans of Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood present a recital with five different instrumentations in one. Both attend the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and have been longtime members of Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras, moving up through the ranks of the orchestras since their elementary school days. Their recital ...
Alumni: Matthew Wright & Sonia Mantell
This week, Introductions digs into the archive to find two musicians who both went to music conservatories on the East Coast, but have ended up in quite different careers: one in music and one in medicine. Matthew Wright, flute Matthew Wright grew up in Gurnee and studied flute with Donald Peck and Hideko Amano. He gave a solo recital on ...
Encore Broadcast | Esme Arias-Kim, 14, violin
Join us this Saturday for to once again hear from 14-year-old violinist Esme Arias-Kim of Hoffman Estates. Along with pianist Milana Pavchinskaya, Esme presents a program of Mozart, Ysaÿe, Wagner, Saint-Saëns, Gershwin, and Ponce. This episode first aired on November 21, 2020.
Encore Broadcast | Zarin Mehta, 13, piano
This Saturday we hear once again from 13-year-old pianist Zarin Mehta of Chicago’s River North neighborhood, playing pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Debussy. This episode first aired on November 7, 2020.
Jan Vargas Nedvetsky, 14, cello
This Saturday we hear from Jan Vargas Nedvetsky, a 14-year-old cellist from Wilmette and a student of Horacio Contreras. He’s selected a program of classics by Bach, Bréval and Rimsky-Korsakov; as well as 20th-century Latin American works by Brouwer and Villa-Lobos. Jan is joined by Milana Pavchinskaya on piano. Thank you to the Music Institute of Chicago for allowing us ...
Encore Broadcast | Ardente String Quartet & Trio Primavera
This Saturday, we once again bring you two chamber groups from the 2019-2020 school year: the Ardente String Quartet from Midwest Young Artists Conservatory, and Trio Primavera from the Music Institute of Chicago Academy. We also hear Zoom interviews with two members: violinist Ella Saputra and cellist Jan Vargas Nedvetsky, both of whom are set to record solo recitals for ...
2020 Recap
On the first Introductions of 2021, we look back at the music-making that happened in the rather strange year of 2020. We have home recordings, competition winners, young local performers getting shoulder-tapped for Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, new albums and singles, and Introductions in the Community collaborations with The People’s Music School and Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative. Enjoy this ...
Sami Gershenhorn, 11, piano
This Saturday we have a recital of classical favorites from 11-year-old pianist Sami Gershenhorn of Lake Forest. On this holiday program is music by Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu; Bach’s Italian Concerto; Beethoven’s Tempest Sonata; and pieces by Rachmaninoff, Liszt, and Debussy. Sami Gershenhorn is an 11-year-old established classical composer and professional pianist, who attends Deerpath Middle School in Lake Forest, and studies ...
Eytan Raviv, 17, cello
This week we feature cellist Eytan Raviv of Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. A senior at the Latin School of Chicago, Eytan presents a program of Johann Sebastian Bach, Daniël van Goens, Dmitry Kabalevsky, Gabriel Fauré and Bright Sheng on acoustic cello; plus his own electric cello loop of the hit rock song Eye of the Tiger. Thanks to pianist Shirley ...
2020 Beethoven Highlights
Beethoven is a mainstay of many young musicians’ training. To mark his 250th birthday, Introductions brings you encore broadcasts of some of the greatest performances from this year’s season. It’s a nice lead-in to today’s Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Fidelio. Trio Primavera Esme Arias-Kim, violin Jan Vargas Nedvetsky, cello Yerin Yang, piano First broadcast August 22, 2020. Zarin Mehta, piano ...
Mark Zhu, 16, piano
This Saturday, we hear from 16-year-old pianist Mark Zhu of Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood, playing pieces by Bach, Debussy, Ginastera, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, and Liszt. Thank you to the New Music School for letting us record in their River North location. At 16 years old, Mark Zhu is a junior at Walter Payton College Prep on Chicago’s Near North Side. He ...
The People’s Music School
This Saturday, we feature some of the top students from The People’s Music School, headquartered in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. Founded by Dr Rita Simó in 1976, the school began in a small storefront with just a few students, $625, and a donated piano. Nowadays, the school provides tuition-free music education to over 850 students annually. They hail from more than ...
Esme Arias-Kim, 14, violin
Join us this Saturday for the winner of the 2020 Sphinx Competition Junior Division: Esme Arias-Kim of Hoffman Estates. Along with pianist Milana Pavchinskaya, Esme presents a program of Mozart, Ysaÿe, Wagner, Saint-Saëns, Gershwin, and Ponce. Thanks to the Music Institute of Chicago for letting WFMT record in Nichols Hall. Esme Arias-Kim, 14, is a Merit Scholarship Fellow at the ...
