Week of September 1, 2025 - Les Six It’s the anti-Wagner and anti-Impressionist tour de force. Join us for the delightfully irreverent bad boys, and girl, of 1920’s Montparnasse. The members of this group called, Les Six, were Georges Auric (1899–1983), Louis Durey (1888–1979), Arthur Honegger (1892–1955), Darius Milhaud (1892–1974), Francis Poulenc (1899–1963), and Germaine Tailleferre (1892–1983).
Week of September 8, 2025 - School Days Celebrating the excitement of a new school year, we dedicate a week to children's songs, young composers and performers. We will hear compositions from Felix Mendelssohn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as well as travel down the Mississippi with Huckleberry Finn and composer Ferde Grofé. Additionally, we will feature Muzio Clementi's Sonatina No. 1 in C Major, Op. 36, Edward Elgar's "Dream Children" and "The Wand of Youth" Suite No. 1, Op. 1.
Week of September 15, 2025 - Caucasian Sketches: From the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea
On a clear day, when you stand on top of Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus Mountains, you can see from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, and it’s this area that is the center of Bill’s musical exploration. This week’s journey starts in Armenia and Azerbaijan, continues through Georgia and Ukraine, and ends on the western banks of the Black Sea. Baroque composers to musicians of the present day, each telling a musical story of the people between Eastern Europe and Western Asia. Our composers include Giya Kancheli, Aram Khachaturian, and Richard Yardumian.
Week of September 22, 2025 - Franz Schubert and The Friends He Never Got to Meet, Part 1 Bill and many other musicians have spent time studying the intimate worlds of great composers, trying to better understand their musical voice. After years of study, they find themselves “knowing” these composers and consider them friends. Bill was born 120 years too late to have met Franz Schubert, but he still thinks of him as a close friend. Schubert died in 1828 at just 31. He left us with music that expresses tremendous love and friendship. On this week’s program, Bill shares performances from Earl Wild, Imogen Cooper, Marian Anderson, and members of the Vienna Philharmonic to communicate their intimate connections with Schubert through his songs, piano music, chamber music, and orchestral works.
Week of September 29, 2025 - Franz Schubert and The Friends He Never Got to Meet, Part 2
Surely a great many of us have been moved by the deep music of the Austrian composer Franz Schubert, who created a massive catalog of works despite living only a tragically short 31 years. Bill got to thinking about all the composers who would have been friends with Schubert but were born just a few years too late. In this set of shows, we continue with listening to the works of Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, and Franz Liszt. We offer you performances of Arthur Rubinstein alone, Charles Rosin and Richard Goode accompanied by orchestras, plus Yo-Yo Ma, Evgeny Kissin, the Juilliard Quartet with Leonard Bernstein (at the piano!), Dawn Upshaw, George Szell, Emanuel Ax, and even Van Cliburn.
