The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert

What instrument has been used to conjure a shepherd’s horn as well as a human cry of despair? WRTI’s Susan Lewis has more on the oddly named, but evocative, English horn.

A glorious work, infrequently heard in the concert hall, will grace the airwaves this Sunday, July 23rd at 1 pm, as the Philadelphia Orchestra, soloists, and the Westminster Symphonic Choir perform Mozart's Great Mass in C minor at the Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.

The Curtis Institute of Music recently announced  that violinist Midori will be joining its faculty in 2018. Midori  has been performing with major orchestras since her 1983 New Year’s Eve debut at age 11 with The New York Philharmonic. While still in her teens, she developed another passion, which she will continue in Philadelphia.

In an era when women had little voice, 12th-century abbess Hildegard of Bingen founded her own women's monastery, authored volumes of sacred text, served as a physician to her community, wrote the oldest surviving musical morality play, and produced plainchants of great expression and beauty. She was canonized in 2012.

Mozart mentioned in a letter to his father that he wanted to write a mass for his new wife Constanze, who was a soprano. “But there was no commission,” says Temple University music history professor Steven Zohn. “It’s not usual for him to write something on spec or just because he wanted to write something that showed the love for his wife.”

Join us for re-broadcasts of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2016-17 season with Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium for his fifth year as music director of the Orchestra. WRTI  presents, for the second time if you missed them the first time around, nearly all  of the  subscription concerts beginning Sunday, July 16th.

Tchaikovsky grappled with the issue of fate in an early symphonic poem, and in his 4th symphony, when he described it as a ‘fatal force.’ But, as WRTI’s Susan Lewis reports, in his 5th symphony he suggests a way to be happy in the face of events beyond our control.

On Tuesday, June 20th, Allison Vulgamore announced she will be stepping down as President and CEO of the Philadelphia Orchestra when her contract expires in December, 2017. WRTI’s Debra Lew Harder spoke with her the next day about her biggest achievements as well as the biggest challenges she faced during her tenure with the Orchestra, which began in 2010.