October 6, 2025 - Latin Carnival Latin America has a rich musical history that spans five centuries, shaped by the interactions between indigenous peoples and the ambitious colonial powers of Spain and Portugal. Bill has conducted music from Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina, and he has a profound appreciation for this vast and diverse musical landscape. He emphasizes that "we can hear the echoes of cultural collisions” in many of the featured works. Bill highlights compositions from Mexico by Padilla and Ponce, then moves to South America to explore pieces by Ginastera, Villa-Lobos, and Piazzolla.
October 13, 2025 - Top Shelf, Part II Closing in on twenty years, Bill has been collecting and programming music for Exploring Music. However, many of his favorite recordings don’t find their way into a thematic week of EM and end up orphaned on a top shelf in his back room. This is the second week of Bill featuring these special recordings that have become a theme of colorful, great performances that Bill adores.
October 20, 2025 - Symphonies Numbered Nine Symphonic music is at the very center of Bill McGlaughlin’s spirit. He has performed as a trombonist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony; conducted the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; and served as music director of orchestras in Eugene, Tucson, San Francisco, and Kansas City. This week, Bill takes a cross-section of the art form with symphonies numbered “nine.” These are varied works by seasoned composers, ranging from the young Mozart to the older Beethoven and into the nineteenth century, with compositions by Roger Sessions and Roy Harris. And for fun, we’ll hear Papa Haydn’s Symphonies Nos. 9 and 99.
October 27, 2025 - Schubertiade, Part II The title refers to home music-making among Franz Schubert’s wide circle of friends, when in each other’s homes they sang his songs and played his piano pieces and chamber music. These were evenings among semi-Bohemians, rich with music and conversations. This week we explore the chamber-music compositions of Schubert. Some of these works are very familiar like the Trout Quintet, and others like some of his string quartets are less known but equally as wonderful.
