Gregg Whiteside

This week's broadcast, on Sunday, March 24, 2 to 4 pm, takes us back to November, 2011, when then-Music Director Designate Yannick Nezet-Seguin was appearing with greater frequency in Philadelphia, winning over the hearts of the Orchestra as well as Verizon Hall audiences. 

One of the most memorable of these early concerts was the Italian-themed program scheduled for rebroadcast this Sunday - Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini, followed by the ever-popular fourth symphony of Mendelssohn, and -  following Intermission - Verdi's overture to his opera La Forza del Destino, one of his finest overtures, and Respighi's exciting orchestral showpiece The Pines of Rome, a long-time favorite of Philadelphia audiences.

Intermission Features: As part of Women's History Month, Meridee Duddleston will take a closer look at The Philadelphia Orchestra's first female player, harpist Edna Phillips, the first woman to be appointed a principal player of any American orchestra.  And afterward, Susan Lewis will speak with today's principal harpist, Elizabeth Hainen - one of the world's great ambassadors for the instrument.

**Audio for Intermission features will be added to this post on Monday morning.

The performances that you'll hear in this broadcast were widely admired, receiving high praise from critics and concert-goers alike. So don't miss this opportunity to re-live them, this Sunday, March 24th, from 2 to 4 pm.

More information, including Program Notes, at The Philadelphia Orchestra's website.

Program:

Tchaikovsky - Francesca da Rimini
Mendelssohn - Symphony No. 4 ("Italian")
Verdi - Overture to La forza del destino
Respighi - The Pines of Rome
Yannick Nézet-Séguin - Conductor

This Sunday on WRTI, Carl Orff's iconic Carmina burana headlines a program that also features The Philadelphia Orchestra's Principal Trumpet David Bilger in a performance of Hummel's beloved Trumpet Concerto, as well as Haydn's rarely performed  Symphony No. 1. Sunday, March 17, 2 to 4 pm.

Guest Conductor Rafael Fruehbeck de Bourgos, who knew Carl Orff and gave the first performance of Carmina burana in Spain, will direct The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Philadelphia Singers,  the American Boychoir, and soloists in this authoritative performance from February at the Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall.  

Orff's raucous retelling of 24 medieval poems praises springtime, love, lust, and fortune. It requires a huge orchestra and a chorus singing a mix of old languages. The riveting choral refrains of "O Fortuna" open and close Carmina burana. While many sections of this iconic work have been re-used in movies and commercials, nothing equals the power when you hear this live, in its entirety.

Intermission Features:

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Conductor
David Bilger, Trumpet

Program Notes for Carmina burana and more...

Check out The Philadelphia Orchestra Website Here

PROGRAM:
HAYDN: Symphony No. 1 in D major
I. Presto
II. Andante
III. Finale: Presto

HUMMEL: Trumpet Concerto in E major
I. Allegro con spirito
II. Andante
III. Rondo

Intermission, featuring a conversation with Maestro Fruehbeck

ORFF: Carmina burana
Erin Morley: Soprano
Nicholas Phan: Tenor
Hugh Russell: Baritone
The Philadelphia Singers Chorale
David Hayes, Music Director
The American Boychoir
Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, Music Director

This Sunday on WRTI, listen to The Philadelphia Orchestra in a recorded program of music spanning 200 years, as the eminent Spanish conductor Rafael Fruehbeck de Borgos conducts a Stokowski Bach transcription, Philadelphia favorite André Watts performs Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, and Liszt’s Les Preludes gets its first performance by the Philadelphians in 16 years!

We’ll also hear Paul Hindemith’s festive and pleasant Concert Music For Strings and Brass from a concert in early February.

Join host Gregg Whiteside on Sunday, March 10, from*1 to 3 pm for The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert, from The Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall – *one hour earlier than usual – on WRTI 90.1 FM and the All-Classical stream at wrti.org.

Download the Program Notes Here

The Philadelphia Orchestra website

Sunday, March 10th, 1 to 3 pm:

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Conductor
André Watts, Piano

PROGRAM:
Bach - "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"
Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 5 ("Emperor")
INTERMISSION
Hindemith - Concert Music for Strings and Brass
Liszt - Les Préludes

Intermission Features:

Join us this Sunday as Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducts The Philadelphia Orchestra in a recorded program from late January at Verizon Hall that features two composers who were not only contemporaries, but who actually met during the premiere of Tristan und Isolde in 1865, Richard Wagner and Anton Bruckner.