Week of August 5, 2024 - Music In 19th Century Paris: from Waterloo to Bismarck Music in Paris during the middle of the 19th century was dominated by one supreme composer, Hector Berlioz, along with a stellar supporting cast whose works remain in heavy rotation to this day. Join us to explore the Parisian scene from roughly 1813 to 1870, the period between the fall of Napoleon I and the start of the Franco-Prussian War. We will listen to works by Hector Berlioz, Georges Bizet, Jacques Offenbach, Camille Saint-Saëns, and some of the foreigners who flocked to Paris to make their contributions, Vincenzo Bellini, Franz Liszt, and Richard Wagner. It was an era of great artistic change that brought Realism and Naturalism to the novels of Victor Hugo and Gustave Flaubert and led to impressionism in painting. Paris is where we go this week on Exploring Music.
Week of August 12, 2024 - The Spanish School Borrowing our title from the storied Spanish Riding School in Vienna, home of the Lipizzaner horses, this program explores the wealth of musical output from Iberian composers. Following a lineage from the 18th century on to those creating new music today, we consider the Spanish School as a living tradition, blending the values of the past with the passion of the present. From the guitar to the piano, and every instrument in between, this week features selections from Pablo de Sarasate, Andrés Segovia, Antonio Soler, and many other Spanish composers and performers.
Week of August 19, 2024 - Under the Hood II Back by popular request, Bill takes us through the inner workings of five great symphonies by Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Peter Tchaikovsky, and Jean Sibelius. Thus, allowing us to understand some of the deeper meanings hidden in these symphonies. Bill will highlight the workings of Haydn’s Symphony No. 101 "The Clock," performed by the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields under the baton of Sir Neville Marriner, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2, “Little Russian,” played by the London Philharmonic with Rostropovich conducting.

Week of August 26, 2024 - Grieg and Sibelius We’ll explore the lives and music of the two Nordic greats: Edvard Grieg and Jean Sibelius. Music spanning almost one hundred years includes many chamber works, Grieg’s Peer Gynt, Norwegian Dances, and several Sibelius symphonies. Bill will introduce us to the Hardanger fiddle, and we’ll listen to Norwegian Leif Ove Andsnes perform on Edvard Grieg’s own piano. Finnish composer Jean Sibelius wrote about his fifth symphony, "It was as if God the Father was throwing pieces of mosaic from the edge of heaven and asking me to figure out what the pattern was."