Tired of Pachelbel’s Canon in D and Mendelssohn’s Wedding March? Here are other romantic selections to consider!

We all came to love classical music in different ways. Here are some of the musical first loves of our WFMT listeners, in their own words.

From all corners of the city and beyond, take part in holiday cheer with music to suit every palate.

The winter holidays are right around the corner, and WFMT has a feast of musical offerings to make the season bright!

This week, Music Director Emeritus for Life Riccardo Muti leads a program featuring Tchaikovsky’s Suites from The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, opening with Reznicek’s Overture to Donna Diana. Filling out the broadcast, Stephanie Jeong, So Young Bae, Lawrence Neuman, and Kenneth Olsen perform Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major.

With this wealth of allegorical associations, these elegant creatures have captured composers’ imaginations for centuries.

This week, we hear Daniel Barenboim leading the CSO before his tenure as the ninth Music Director. Opening the broadcast is Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol, followed by Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini and Bruckner’s “Romantic” Symphony No. 4 in E-flat Major.

On our next musical hour, flautist Tara Helen O’Connor and pianist Ran Dank deliver a virtuosic interpretation of the Flute Sonata by Prokofiev. Then later, the Dover Quartet plays Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet in D Major, whose famous second movement was said to have moved the novelist Leo Tolstoy to tears.

This week, guest conductor Tugan Sokhiev conducts the CSO in Tchaikovsky’s “Winter Dreams” Symphony. Opening the program is Panufnik’s Heroic Overture, followed by Chopin’s first Piano Concerto, featuring Yulianna Avdeeva.

Marathons, not sprints…

This week, Music Director Emeritus for Life Riccardo Muti leads a program featuring Tchaikovsky’s Suites from The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, opening with Reznicek’s Overture to Donna Diana. Filling out the broadcast, Stephanie Jeong, So Young Bae, Lawrence Neuman, and Kenneth Olsen perform Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major.

Sometimes music can bring us awe-inspiring wonder… here are a few such pieces!

New York Philharmonic Principal Cellist Carter Brey performs Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with Alan Gilbert conducting.

Plus the world premiere of a percussion concerto commissioned for Christoph Sietzen, “a refreshingly natural musician notable for his technical mastery and powerful stage presence.” 

Plus beloved titles from Puccini, Mozart, Verdi, and more.

Alan Gilbert conducts works by Ravel, Nielsen, and Tchaikovsky.

Manfred Honeck, the longtime music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, leads music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Giuseppe Verdi, and Gustav Mahler.

Expanding the orchestra’s sonic palette with some truly unorthodox instruments!

Curated celebratory classical music, and the exact second to press play so the music crescendos with the changing of the New Year.

A selection of winter-themed highlights from the New York Philharmonic’s storied discography.

A concert performance of the complete ballet by the French National Orchestra.

Music of Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky.

Maria Dueñas shines in Béla Bartók’s darkly beautiful Violin Concerto No. 2 with conductor Elim Chan. The Berlin Radio Symphony rounds out the program with works by Igor Stravinsky and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

We visit Lyadov’s Enchanted Lake and Swan Lake of Tchaikovsky before hearing the Symphony No. 10 by Dmitri Shostakovich. Alan Gilbert conducts.

From all corners of the city and beyond, take part in holiday cheer with a wide range of merriment.