Share the love this week on Classical 91.5

Are you watching the Winter Olympics?  Many of your friends at WXXI are watching, too, and listening for all the great music that underscores the beautiful skating.  It’s also pledge week at WXXI, and we’ll be enlisting your help in the very important effort of securing a bright and secure future for Classical 91.5 FM.  Thank you for supporting the music we all love by calling 454-6300 or visiting wxxi.org.

 Monday, February 10    Hanson's "Merry Mount" brings lurid sex and violence to the Met on the Composers Datebook.  On the Writer’s Almanac, meet the man who wrote Doctor Zhivago. On the playlist: Beethoven’s Turkish March, Edgar Meyer’s Druid Fluid, and Christopher Seaman conducting the RPO in Vaughan Williams' London Symphony.

Tuesday, February 11    On the playlist: Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, the barber Bugs Bunny made famous, and supercharged Olympic music by John Williams. Discover the varieties of Bruckner on the Composers Datebook.  On the Writer’s Almanac, Garrison tells the story of what happened the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison outside Cape Town, South Africa.

Wednesday, February 12   Classical 91.5 presents a new series called Sharp Ears that gives you the chance to learn more about the great performers you hear on the station and what makes them so special.  This morning, RPO trumpeter Herb Smith explains his current obsession with cellist Yo-Yo Ma.   The Brothers Johnson write an anthem on the Composers Datebook. We’ll celebrate the birthday of Abraham Lincoln on the Writer’s Almanac. On the playlist: Warlock’s charming Capriol Suite, Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.

Thursday, February 13   

Hear about a fascinating interdisciplinary project between the Memorial Art Gallery and the Eastman School of Music that ties together sacred music and sacred art.  Peter DuBois speaks with Nancy Norwood, Curator of European Art at the Memorial Art Gallery, and Michael Alan Anderson, Assistant Professor of Musicology at the Eastman School of Music and Artistic Director of the Schola Antiqua Chicago.  Johann Strauss and Philip Glass mark 3/4 time on the Composers Datebook.  On the playlist: Music for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Holst’s ode to jollity, Richard Stoltzman playing Poulenc.

Friday, February 14  

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Orff's "Trionfo di Aphrodite" appears on the Composers Datebook.  There’s more musical romance on the playlist, including Nino Rota’s Romeo and Juliet, a tender moment from West Side Story, and the flip side of love.