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The Philadelphians on WRTI: Donald Runnicles Conducts Vaughan Williams, Mozart, Wagner, and Humperdinck

Simon Pauly
Conductor Donald Runnicles

Join us on on Sunday, November 7th at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1, and Monday, November 8th at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2, to hear a Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcast from 2017 that brings you a work very familiar through recordings, but not often performed in the concert hall: Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.

Here’s a chance to savor a performance of this emotionally riveting work by the celebrated strings of The Philadelphia Orchestra led by Scottish conductor Donald Runnicles, the esteemed general music director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, music director of the Grand Teton Music Festival, principal guest conductor of the Atlanta Symphony, and conductor emeritus of the BBC Scottish Symphony.

Also on this concert is Mozart’s 38th Symphony, the “Prague,” so named for the city that loved his music, and premiered some of his greatest pieces.

After intermission, an orchestral suite from Engelbert Humperdinck’s extraordinary fairy-tale opera, Hänsel und Gretel, and the Overture to Wagner’s early romantic opera, Tannhäuser, one of his first big successes.

During intermission, Debra Lew Harder speaks backstage with Maestro Runnicles, and Susan Lewis has a conversation with the Orchestra’s versatile and talented Principal Second Violin Kimberly Fisher, who is a member of the string quartet within the larger string ensemble in the Vaughan Williams Tallis Fantasy.

Read detailed program notes from the concert

PROGRAM:

Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

Mozart: Symphony No. 38 in D, (“Prague”)

INTERMISSION

Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel, Suite for Orchestra

Wagner: Tannhäuser Overture

The Philadelphia Orchestra

     Donald Runnicles, conductor

Listen to The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcasts, every Sunday at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1, streaming online at WRTI.org, and on our mobile app!Listen again on Mondays at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2

Gregg was the host of WRTI's morning drive show from 2012 until his retirement from WRTI in January, 2021. He began producing and hosting The Philadelphia Orchestra In Concert broadcasts in 2013, joining the Orchestra in Hong Kong for the first-ever live international radio broadcasts from that island in 2016, and in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for two historic broadcasts in 2018. You can still hear Gregg as host of the Orchestra broadcasts every Sunday and Monday on WRTI.