Stories

U2, George Clooney, Amy Grant among Kennedy Center honorees

Eight-time Grammy-winning singer Gladys Knight and acclaimed Cuban-born American composer Tania León are also among the honorees.

Stephen RaskauskasMarch 29, 2017

Composer Creates Music Major for Persecuted Bahá’ís in Iran Despite No Classrooms, Teachers, Piano

Michael San GabinoMarch 24, 2017

VIDEO: How a Holocaust Survivor Changed a Young Musician’s Life by Donating His Violin

Stephen RaskauskasMarch 23, 2017

Sitarist Anoushka Shankar on Sexism, Collaboration, Her Return “Home” to the United States

The Film Score: Music for Halloween

Michael San GabinoOctober 28, 2019

Hosted by Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Phillips, the program presents music from movies that explore the supernatural, the science-fictional, and the demonic (with a few laughs along the way).

Video: Weird Al Flexes His Classical Music Muscle

Daniel GoldbergOctober 28, 2019

When beloved satirist and musician “Weird Al” Yankovic visited Ravinia, WFMT spoke with him about his tour... and then challenged him to a classical music speed round!

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Defiant Requiem Honors Holocaust Victims, Reminds Us: “The Arts Are Critically Important”

Stephen RaskauskasMarch 20, 2017

"What the Jews did at Terezín was reach for the best of mankind to help them endure the worst of mankind. This is what the arts can do. This is what the arts do do," says conductor Murry Sidlin

Composer Samuel Adams Explains How Schubert, J-Pop Inspired His First Work for the Chicago Symphony

David PolkMarch 17, 2017

31-year-old composer Samuel Adams didn’t yet have specific ideas in mind when he began his three-year residency with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra two years ago. Rather, he developed them as he got to know members of the orchestra and music director Riccardo Muti. Eventually, he decided that he wanted to write something that would “explore every possible extreme of what ...

Stream: This Rare Live Recording of ‘Queen of Gospel’ Mahalia Jackson Will Take You to Church

Stephen RaskauskasMarch 15, 2017

Hear a rarely-heard live performance by Mahalia Jackson’s broadcast from the Morrison Hotel in 1975 courtesy of the Studs Terkel Radio Archive.

Mornings with Jan Weller