Stories

Students compose, too! 16 works from composers’ school days [Playlist]

Just because the school year is right around the corner doesn’t mean that you have to stop playing (or writing) music. As proof, here are 16 pieces from composers written when they were still students! With works from composers’ homeschooling to their graduate studies and everything in between, we hope this playlist will get you in the back to school mood!

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Fu Xiru as Zi Dan in “The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan”

How Western Opera Changed Singing in Chinese Opera

If you have ever heard Peking opera, you might think that one of the only things this style of singing has in common with Western opera singing is that they both contain the word “opera.”

Luciano Pavarotti as Enzo Grimaldo in the SF Opera’s 1979 production of La Gioconda (Photo: Ron Scherl)

Ron Howard tells Pavarotti’s ‘bittersweet’ story in new doc

NEW YORK (AP) — Ron Howard recalls seeing his first opera when he was 4 years old. Just don’t ask him to tell you much about it. The budding child star and future director was in Austria with his parents to shoot a movie, and they took him to a performance at the Vienna State Opera House. “I remember this …

Maggie Clennon Reberg’s dramatic transformation for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Elektra

Richard Strauss’s Elektra is challenging, dramatic, and very, very bloody. This thrilling, one-act opera is based on an ancient Greek myth: Elektra seeks her sweet revenge on her mother for murdering her father. Lyric Opera of Chicago’s intense production features WFMT host Maggie Clennon Reberg. Go behind the scenes at Lyric, and be astonished as Maggie transforms in hair and makeup!

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Watch Glyndebourne’s vivid Barber of Seville [Video]

From the iconic overture to Figaro’s scintillating entrance aria — and all of the deception and hilarity that ensues — Gioachino Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) is opera buffa, or comic opera, at its best. See the uproarious opera performed on the stage of Glyndebourne, one of the world's leading opera companies.

On the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, hear a song cycle inspired by American women astronauts

In February, soprano Tamara Wilson joined WFMT to perform a celestial song cycle composed for her by Chicago composer James Kallembach. The works draw from the experience of women astronauts, including Sally Ride, Sunita Williams, and Peggy Whitson. We're bringing this video back in honor of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.

Anthony Davis’ The Central Park Five — Opera as Mirror of Modern Society

Classical and jazz composer-pianist Anthony Davis is known for writing operas based on historical figures, notably X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X. His latest opera, The Central Park Five, with a libretto by Richard Wesley, premiered in June 2019. We spoke with the composer and members of the creative team about bringing the opera to life.

Hit the Road with these 3 Classical Music Road Trips You Can Take from Chicago

I confess I do need an excuse to take a road trip. But if there’s a guarantee that the sun will be shining, the scenery beautiful, the temperature warm, and the traffic navigable, I can be convinced. And, if there’s great music to be heard at the end of the journey, I’m long gone! Kalamazoo, Michigan was one such destination ...

Maggie & Michael’s Great British Playlist!

Some of the most beautiful music ever composed originates from or was inspired by the British Isles. Weekend morning program host Maggie Clennon Reberg and Introductions host and producer Michael San Gabino have selected some of their favorites in this great British playlist!

Sally Field, ‘Sesame Street’ to receive Kennedy Center award

San Francisco Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas is among the awardees. Asked why he felt he was chosen for the award, Tilson Thomas laughed and said, "I guess I've just been around a long time!"...

Over the Moon for “Moon River”

This 45 is the first record I ever bought. In 1961, I went with my parents to see Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer’s “Moon River” was the hit song and Audrey Hepburn the star. I was thirteen years old and on a definite budget: I took some of my paltry allowance and spent the princely sum of ...

Elliott Golub, founding concertmaster of Music of the Baroque, dies at 85

Respected Chicago violinist Elliott Golub has died at age 85. He was the founding concertmaster of Music of the Baroque, holding the position from the ensemble’s establishment in 1972 until his retirement in 2006.

VIDEO | Harpist Yolanda Kondonassis discusses her Chicago ties and the wide world of harp repertoire

It all started in Chicago. As a child, Yolanda Kondonassis and her family visited the Windy City. During the trip, her mother, a piano instructor, brought the family to the Lyon & Healy showroom, which was at that time sort of a "music department store," Kondonassis recalls. "Because it was Valentine's Day... they had a very kind of 'dream love' ...

10 Piano Concertos You Need to Know But Probably Don’t

You voted on your 10 favorite piano concertos and we aired them on WFMT along with 10 piano concertos that might be less familiar to you. Which of the concertos below are discoveries to you? Which of your favorites would you add to the list?