Music

In the fall of 1913, when Robert Nichols was in his first term at Oxford, a friend said, "there's a chap in the house you ought to know. An extraordinary chap -- plays the pianola, the piano and all that. In fact, I think he's a what-d'you call it --...

Mimmi Fulmer

September 18, 2018 - 12:00pm

Norman talks to soprano Mimmi Fulmer about her upcoming appearance with the Edvard Grieg Society of the Great Lakes on September 22 in Morphy Hall on the UW-Madison campus and the Oshkosh Nordic Music Festival on October 6, 2018 in Recital Hall on the UW-Oshkosh campus.

Mimmi Fulmer received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Princeton University and her Master of Art degree in Voice from New England Conservatory of Music. She is a professor of Voice and Associate Director of Opera at UW-Madison. She has performed as featured soloist throughout the United States and performs regularly with pianist...

Robert & Clara

September 18, 2018 - 11:30am

Twenty-seven-year-old Robert Schumann was a gifted composer. But the father of his 18-year-old fiancée, Clara Wieck, was unimpressed. Clara’s father steadfastly refused permission for his daughter to marry. Schumann tried everything he could think of to make the marriage take place -- including a meeting with Clara's father. On September...

What's The Best Live Version Of A Song Or Album?

September 17, 2018 - 3:30pm

Music artists and producers spend lots of time, money and effort to make albums sound just right. But sometimes, live performances sound much more enjoyable. We discuss why that is and welcome your nominations for the the best live versions of songs of all time.

Berlioz vs. Cherubini

September 17, 2018 - 11:30am

It was the meeting of two great composers -- Hector Berlioz and Luigi Cherubini -- and it's a wonder no one was hurt. In his memoirs Berlioz relates that Cherubini issued an order that men and women were to enter the Paris Conservatory from opposite ends of the building. Unaware...

Northern Romantic Violins

September 16, 2018 - 1:00pm

Violinist David Perry sings out a Romance from Norwegian composer Johan Svendsen, and violinist Naha Greenholtz spins the tales of Scheherezade in the music of the Russian Rimsky-Korsakov.

Where The Kora Is King

September 15, 2018 - 10:00am

The kora, the most developed string instrument hailing from Africa, remains CHIEF among stringed-instruments in Gambia, Guinea, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria.

Soundbed: Tk 6. Sekou Amadou 5:10 Anansy Cissé Traditional Rough Guide To The Best World Music You've Never Heard, World Music Network, 2015

#1263 9.15.18 Live Broadcast

September 14, 2018 - 1:00pm

Soundbed: Tk 3 Battersea Skillet Liquor 4:22 Damien O'Kane & Ron Block Pop Songlines CD #141 (October 2018) Live Broadcast features: Moonlight Bejamin, Svang, George Darko Enzo Enzo, Full Set, Pigram Brothers, Lala Njava, Carolina Chocolate Drops, The East Pointers, Las Cadeteras, Le Vent Du Nord, Nordic Raga Fabian Holland,...

Old Borax

September 14, 2018 - 11:30am

Bringing the great composer Antonin Dvorak to New York in the 1890s was one thing. Keeping him entertained once he was there was something else again as critic James Huneker found out. Mrs. Jeanette Thurber, the wife of a prominent New York greengrocer, brought Dvorak to America to direct her...

Desperate Measures

September 14, 2018 - 11:30am

San Francisco, 1865. Louis Moreau Gottschalk had an unusual problem. He had promised a concert featuring fourteen pianists playing Wagner's march from Tannhauser. One of them had gotten sick and Gottschalk was hard-pressed to find a replacement. For his unusual problem he resorted to desperate measures. The proprietor of the...

Admiration and Disdain

September 12, 2018 - 11:30am

They were the three greatest Czech composers, and the relationship between two of them was less than friendly. Leos Janacek, the youngest of the three, admired one of the other two. He was drawn to the earthy, sensual, popular qualities of the music written by Antonin Dvoraik. He also liked...

Anton Rubinstein's Reward

September 10, 2018 - 11:30am

The virtuoso pianist Anton Rubinstein had heard plenty about the extremes of performing in America. In 1872 he decided to find out for himself. He knew the Americans liked showmanship, but Rubinstein vowed to avoid spectacle. He would give the Americans serious, straightforward music without gimmicks. He almost succeeded. He...

Kamikaze Diaries Reveal That Many Pilots Were Coerced

September 9, 2018 - 4:00pm

Many of World War II Japan's kamikaze pilots had no choice but to fly suicide missions. We'll hear some of their stories from letters and diaries with Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney.

The Sweet Tasting Sound of the Drops

September 8, 2018 - 10:00am

The Carolina Chocolate Drops are an African American string band hailing from North Carolina in the U.S. The drops, as they are affectionately called, are one of just a few such ensembles still in existence today.

René Izquierdo and Elina Clekan

September 7, 2018 - 12:00pm

Photo of Guitarists Elina Chekan and René Izquierdo

René Izquierdo and Elina Chekan perform several classical Cuban guitar pieces beginning with four Cuban Dances by Manuel Saumell (La Virtuosa, La Niña Bonita, La Nené, La Quejosita) followed by Eduardo Martín's Sones y Flores.

René then plays four traditional Cuban pieces including Zapateo Cubano, Ojos Brujos, El Arroyo que Murmura, and Drume Negrita . Finally we hear Martín's Mirandote, Lecuona's La Comparsa and Rojas' Guajira a Mi Madre.

René Izquierdo graduated from the Guillermo Tomas, Amadeo Roldan Conservatory and Superior Institute of Art in Havana, and holds a Master of Music and an Artist Diploma degrees from the Yale University School of Music. He is currently a professor of classical guitar...

Bizet, Citizen Soldier

September 7, 2018 - 11:30am

Composer Georges Bizet was a patriot. But the Franco-Prussian War and the occupation of Paris by Prussian troops put his patriotism to the test. It was 1871, and France was on the brink of civil war. In a letter to his uncle, Bizet summarized the situation: “Thirty thousand men in...

#1262 9.8.18 Live Broadcast

September 6, 2018 - 1:00pm

This edition features acoustic music from India, a mix of unheard music from around the globe, a showcase of women blues singers, some unknown Cuban music grooves, a serving of South African jazz, a sampling from Harmonious Wail’s Midwest Gypsy Swing Festival, the Afro Cuban All Stars with Juan de...

The Apprentice Murderer

September 6, 2018 - 11:30am

Even a masterpiece isn't finished until the "customer" is satisfied--as a poet named Goldoni relates in an account from 1735: "Antonio Vivaldi was desperate for a poet to revise—murder actually--a drama so that he could include the arias that his pupil had sung on other occasions and, being assigned the...

Ancora Quartet

September 5, 2018 - 12:00pm

Norman welcomes members of the Ancora String Quartet to our performance studio in Madison. The quartet includes violinists Wes Luke and Robin Ryan, violist Marika Fischer Hoyt and cellist Benjamin Whitcomb.

Also appearing is mezzo-soprano Melinda Paulson. Together, they perform several pieces by Samuel Barber.

Menu

Listen Live

Program Schedule

Program Notes

Program Schedule

Music Playlists

Program Schedule

Music Playlists

First Meeting

Mimmi Fulmer

Robert & Clara

What's The Best Live Version Of A Song Or Album?

Berlioz vs. Cherubini

Northern Romantic Violins

Where The Kora Is King

#1263 9.15.18 Live Broadcast

Old Borax

Desperate Measures

Admiration and Disdain

Anton Rubinstein's Reward

Kamikaze Diaries Reveal That Many Pilots Were Coerced

The Sweet Tasting Sound of the Drops

René Izquierdo and Elina Clekan

Bizet, Citizen Soldier

#1262 9.8.18 Live Broadcast

The Apprentice Murderer

Ancora Quartet

Search form

The Ideas Network

Program Schedule

Program Notes

NPR News & Classical Network

Program Schedule

Music Playlists

All Classical Network

Program Schedule

Music Playlists

Subscribe To WPR Newsletters