Thank you to Luna Galassini for filling in for me over my recent vacation.  I spent time with friends in Philadelphia, Princeton, and Bristol Harbor, and then had a week to get ready for winter, putting the garden to bed and sorting through a big basket of mittens and hats which now sits by the front door.  And rest!  I slept in every day!  Getting enough rest and being healthy is very important to me, and it was especially vital given the dramatic week that followed with the unexpected announcement that the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra wished to end its four-year contract with Music Director Arild Remmereit two years early. WXXI-FM listeners have expressed shock, anger, sadness, and hope that classical music lovers will work through this situation together to support our city’s great orchestra.  Our newsroom will keep you updated on the situation.

This coming week, we’ll hear Mystery Gifts at 6:40 a.m.  Here are more highlights of what’s to come:

  Monday, December 3    

The new director of the George Eastman House, Bruce Barnes, has a vision to make the Rochester museum better known around the world.  WXXI's Beth Adams explains. On the Composers Datebook, conductor and composer Jose Serebrier reveals where he thinks music really exists.   You’ll hear incidental music by Eric Korngold and Vincent d’Indy, and treasures from the WXXI Holiday Songbook, compiled by WXXI Music Director Julia Figueras.

Tuesday, December 4

What holiday classic offers “the solemnity of church, leavened with the pleasing airs of the stage?”  Rochester Oratorio Society Director Eric Townell explains his vision of a masterwork to WXXI’s Mona Seghatoleslami.   Enjoy a parade of wooden soldiers, a march of toys, a romanticized portrait of life in turn-of-the-century London, and more gems from the WXXI Holiday Songbook.

  Wednesday, December 5

RPO principal horn player Peter Kurau previews today’s “Live from Hochstein” (tentative.) On the Composers Datebook, Berlioz gets snuffed.  Wake with fine performances from the Cambridge Singers, the Eastman Wind Ensemble, and pianist Garrick Ohlsson.

Thursday, December 6

Albany Records has released the first commercial CD made in Hatch Hall at the Eastman School of Music.  Find out who’s on it, what’s on it, and how the hall itself became a partner in the recording process.   On the Composers Datebook, Schumann and Prokofiev make private debuts. You’ll hear glorious music by Handel, Beethoven, and Poulenc.

Friday, December 7

Eastman Conductor Yunn-Shan Ma previews a performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ choral work, Dona Nobis Pacem. (tentative)  On the Composers Datebook, Carl Ruggles ascends a mountaintop.  We’ll start the day with joyful music by Peter Warlock, Alberto Ginastera, and Johann Strauss, Jr.  Here is some of what Yunn-Shan Ma is conducting Friday night at 8 p.m. in a free concert in Kodak Hall.

You’ll see the word “tentative” above.  Life throws us a curve ball now and then, so we are ready to react to anything, to the best of times, the worst of times, and to the unexpected challenge that asks us to consider what we really hold dear.  Thank you for listening to and supporting Classical 91.5 and 90.3 FM.