I caught up once again with CCO Executive Director Sarah Chandler and Music Director Guillaume Pirard to talk about their upcoming concert. The orchestra celebrates a milestone with a performance o…

It seems every time I update this site, it's another change, re-think, new-plan kind of post. Things start looking up ... then I seem to get knocked down again. This time in a very literal sense. It's been about five weeks since I took a hard fall onto my back. The first couple of weeks were agonizing, to be honest - I couldn’t stand up long enough to make a sandwich, let along prepare an entire meal.

It’s inevitable. At some point, I get asked this question… Who is your favorite composer? My answer might sound a bit glib, but it’s accurate. Me. Because if I don’t like what I’m writing, why am I doing this in the first place? The reality, of course, is that I don’t have any favorite composers. There are works that move me, works I appreciate for the skill and care taken in their creation (or performance), and there is music that touches me today, but didn’t yesterday – and might not tomorrow, depending on what’s happening in my life at the moment.

So for this final day of Classical Music Month, I decided to share one of my own pieces. Hey, my list, my choice, right? This is a piece titled “Earthrise,” and it was inspired by the Earth Rise photo taken by astronaut William Anders on Christmas Eve in 1968, during the Apollo 8 mission. It’s a single movement, but in three distinct sections – “Sunrise” depicts the awakening dawn, “Moonrise” the dance inspired by a moonlight night in the forest, and “Earthrise” as we rise and look at the earth from above. I hope you enjoy it.

As a classical music radio host, I’m constantly listening to music. More accurately, I’m constantly hearing music. There are many things happening during my airshift that need my attention as well. And I always have an ear on what’s playing – if something goes wrong, or if I’ve stepped out of the booth for a moment, I’m attuned to a sudden silence.

Sometimes it is context that makes a work stick with us for so long. That’s the case with Claude Debussy’s “First Arabesque.” It’s a beautiful piece, and probably a familiar one for most of us. What makes me stop whenever I hear it, however, is the memory – not just of the music, but the muscle memory – of learning this as a young pianist.

When I first heard “Better a Dish” from composer Michael Torke’s “Four Proverbs,” I was completely hooked. I listened to that piece over and over and over, and I still haven’t tired of it. As you probably surmised, Torke chose four biblical proverbs for the set. One of the things that is so appealing, especially with “Better a Dish,” is that such a short statement can become a rich, complex work.

When you’ve composed a piece as incredible as this one, would you ever write another for that ensemble?  I don’t know if Maurice Ravel chose to composed just a single string quartet, or if it’s just happenstance, but the only quartet we have from this masterful orchestrator takes my breath away at every listen.

Today’s piece comes from the Classical era, and Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. His father was a wealthy, white plantation owner, and his mother one of the slaves, Bologne was automatically emancipated when he emigrated to France. He was a violinist, a composer, an athlete, a dancer, and an excellent fencer, appointed as a “gendarme de la garde du roi” by Louis XVI. His legacy is his music, and especially his violin concertos, so that’s what I have for you today.

Caroline Shaw’s music first came across my radar in 2017, when I heard the Jasper String Quartet perform “Valencia” at the Cooperstown Summer Music Festival. When I heard Festival director Linda Chesis explain the piece – the simple act of peeling an orange – and then heard the work itself, I was hooked. Shaw has had an amazing career so far, winning a Pulitzer Prize at the age of 30, not to mention several Grammy awards, and just this year she was nominated for a Tony award for Best Original Score for Death of a Salesman.

A couple of years ago, I had the chance to interview a fantastic pianist, Michelle Cann. Michelle teaches at the Curtis Institute of Music, and is one of the leading interpreters of the music of Florence Price. Michelle was charming, enthusiastic, and is a fantastic performer. As for Florence Price, if you're not familiar with her name, I'm not surprised. Price's music was nearly lost to time.

Peter Schickele became known through his "discovery" of the works of the least-regarded son of Johann Sebastian Bach...PDQ Bach. There is an incredible art to musical parodies, and too often we overlook the tremendous talent and skill needed to write that music. I was excited when Peter Schickele started gaining recognition for his non-parody works. Most important, though, is that Schickele hasn't set aside his sense of humor for the sake of being taken seriously.

It's a bit of a two-fer today. I'm sharing a work that I always enjoy - Manuel de Falla's "Siete canciones populares españolas" (7 popular Spanish songs). It's one of de Falla's best known works. Originally composed for voice and piano, it has been arranged and orchestrated for a variety of instrumental combinations. Which brings us to the second part of this two-fer - this particular performance.

Hildegard of Bingen was a medieval abbess, poet, mystic, composer, and healer. We are fortunate to have so much of her music available for performance and study, as church records were well maintained over the centuries. Her music was primarily vocal - motets and hymns - as that was what the nuns would be able to perform regularly. Her harmonies are gorgeous, and (unsurprisingly) perfectly suited to women's voices.

I love music that doesn't fit neatly into a box. When Bartok rooted his compositions in folk music, did that remove it from the "classical music" box? Peter Schickele wrote hilarious parodies in the guise of PDQ Bach, and some of that humor made its way into his "straight" concert music - so is it comedy, or legitimate? More and more composers are infusing their concert works with influences outside the classical realm, and the results are wonderful.

When composer Heitor Villa-Lobos created a set of nine suites that are a fusion of Brazilian folk and popular music in the style of Johann Sebastian Bach, the result was something entirely unique. They are the Bachianas Brasileiras, and in each work you hear the skill and mastery of Bach’s harmonic sensibilities, with the unmistakable soul of Brazil. Perhaps the best known of these suites is the Cantilena, the Suite No.

“While I was thinking about a thousand different things of no importance whatsoever, a kind of rhythmical theme in the style of a Spanish dance took form in my brain. This theme developed by itself, became harmonised in different ways, changes and modulated; in effect it germinated by itself.” This is an excerpt from a letter from Gabriel Fauré to his wife about today's piece, his…

William Grant Still composed nearly 200 works, including 5 symphonies, 4 ballets, 9 operas, along with choral works, art songs, chamber music, and solos. He was the first American composers to have an opera produced by the New York City Opera; the first African-American to conduct a major symphony orchestra; and the first to have an opera performed on national television.

Sometimes it's the story of the work that catches my attention first. I came across the music of Cuban-American composer Tania León while searching for music for an episode of Feminine Fusion. I really liked her work, her story - and this piece in particular. "Raíces" translates to "Origins," and it reflects much of her own multi-cultural heritage - Cuban, Spanish, French, and Chinese.

Before I went to music school, I never went to opera. It was too much for me, foreign and confusing, and it wasn't worth slogging through a looooooong boring performance. Then I took a class with a professor who was absolutely in love with opera - and everything changed. He brought the stories and music to life, and it wasn't intimidating any more.

It began as part of the Fanfare Project, a 1986 commissioning project from the Houston Symphony. Composer Joan Tower wrote her "Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman" inspired by Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man." She dedicated it to Marin Alsop, a groundbreaking conductor who, like Tower, refused to be constrained by gender expectations. Since then, Tower has composed a total of six "Fanfares for the Uncommon Woman," each dedicated to a notable woman in classical music.

The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra is kicking of its 50th Anniversary season, with a fantastic concert planned. I had a chance to catch up with CCO Executive Director Sarah Chandler and Music Director Guillaume Pirard to find out more about the stories behind this concert. I think you'll enjoy hearing about a neat twist on Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, as well as a new work from Christina Courtin, her "rhapsody on being giant-proof." Take a listen!

The first time I heard Aaron Copland's "Old American Songs" was while I was still an undergraduate music major. The Delaware Symphony Orchestra had a weekend concert series called "Words and Music," and one of the concerts featured the chamber orchestra version of Copland's "Appalachian Spring," along with the complete piano/vocal version of his Old American Songs. I loved it! The piano was such a great complement to the vocal lines, and it certainly didn't hurt that the performances were just fantastic.

There are some events that can never be left behind. I remember exactly where I was when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. I remember the next hours and days glued to the news, trying to make sense of what was happening. I remember the sheer overwhelming weight of so many deaths. On this 25th anniversary of those attacks, it is fitting to share today's work with you.

Artists often mark significant life events through their art. That is often the best way to express what cannot be said. For Aaron Jay Kernis, time spent with his young twins - just six months old when he began composing - was the genesis of "Newly Drawn Sky." It's not a specific story that he tells, but rather "it reflects a constancy of change and flux musically and personally." I'll let the piece speak the rest for itself.

Would you like to know what I love the most about the music of Johann Sebastian Bach? It translates to easily and beautifully to almost every instrument you can think of. And when I say that, I mean, not just today's piece, but just about every piece of music he wrote. You can find transcriptions for so many of his works ranging from solo piano or guitar, to brass quintets, or flute choirs, or full orchestrations.

This is one of those cool pieces I love, both in performing and in listening. Charles Ives “The Unanswered Question” brings a soloist and two chamber ensembles together to play - but not as a single cohesive group. If you’ve never heard (or better yet, experienced in person) the piece, allow me to set the stage. A string quartet provides a gentle base, playing smooth, sonorous, quiet chords, inviting the audience to listen in.

When I was an undergraduate at the University of Delaware, composition majors were required to take instrumental methods classes (with the education majors). It was an incredibly Val thing to do, for a number of reasons. On the first day of our violin methods class, the professor said there were two violin concertos he said absolutely everyone should hear. One was this work, the first violin concerto from Max Bruch. So I couldn’t let Classical Music Month go by without sharing it.

"Can music reflect colors and can colors be reflected in music?" That is the question Jennifer Higdon poses in her program notes for her Piano Trio. That trio was composed in 2003, and explored the colors Pale Yellow and Fiery Red. In 2016, Higdon expanded her color trios with "Color Through" which explored Wondrous White and Brilliant Blue. And just this past season, I had the opportunity to hear the premiere of the third trio, "A Vast Palette," adding Majestic Green and Zesty Orange to the mix.

Music can change the course of a life. When she was just 16, Pretty Yende was preparing for a career as an accountant. Then she heard a piece of music on a TV commercial for British Airways, the Flower Duet from the opera "Lakmé" by Léo Delibes. She later told Classic FM presenter Anne-Marie Minhall, “Those ten seconds gave me the whole world of classical music, the richness of the music, the limitless power of that music.

Music is a near constant in my day, as I'm sure it is with many of us. But there are a few works that always - and I mean always - make me stop to listen to them. This is one of those pieces. Arvo Pärt’s "Spiegel im Spiegel" translates to "Mirror in mirror," and at it's core, that is exactly what it is.

Today I'd like to share an amazing choral work from composer Kerry Andrew. I don't have a Spotify link for you, since this has not been commercially recorded. Plus, this piece is most effective when you can see the choirs sing. Yes. Choirs. This is a video from the premiere at the Royal Albert Hall in 2016, with the combined National Youth Choirs of Great Britain - and…

On Day 2 of Classical Music Month, a work written by a 16-year-old Felix Mendelssohn. His Opus 20 is termed an "octet" rather than a "double string quartet," since he treats the 8 instruments as a complete ensemble, a singular unit, rather than two quartets playing back and forth. I particularly like the Emerson String Quartet performance of this work. Not only did they perform all 8 parts, they each played two different instruments, to ensure the sonic landscape was not…

Sometimes, when I was working on a new piece with my flute teacher, I'd go home and listen to the music, letting the images flow across my imagination, writing down the story the music told me. Whenever I listen to Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, my mind is filled with colorful imagery. (And no, it's not always from Disney's "Fantasia!") What I love about this work is how the music carries me along from the very first note until the very last one.

As I put together my daily playlists for the radio station, I always check the calendar to see what fun and funky holidays might inspire my choices. It has led to some fun discoveries in the music library - Stephen Hartke's "The Ascent of the Equestrian in a Balloon" and Raymond Scott's "The Penguin" to name just two. When I was looking over the holidays for the coming week, I saw that September is "Classical Music Month." Technically, it was a Presidential proclamation designating September…

I was so pleased. I was riding to work regularly. Ticking away a few miles every day. Not long rides, but more riding than I've done in quite a while. I felt good. I didn't miss too many days of cycle commuting. Unless you count the rainy days. And where we're living now, "rain" often equals... I've discovered that flash floods are a thing here.

When last we chatted, I had just finished moving and barely started my new job. I wasn't even a full month into my new home. And since then? Now that I'm getting settled, getting the routine, finding my footing? Hmm. I guess things have been... Amazing!! Work is going really well, I enjoy coming into the office every day, and I'm even commuting by bike most days.

What is this all about? Welcome to Meet Me Backstage, a podcast featuring interviews and insights from artists and arts organizers. Your host is Diane Jones. Diane's unique combination of talents brings a special insight to these conversations. In her broadcasting career, she has hosted more than 600 interviews, welcoming hundreds of people into the studios to talk about their work.

Celebrate being left-handed on August 13th

Josh Groban's 'Stage, Screen & Symphony' concert pulls on classics from Broadway and film. It will include pieces from Groban's most recent album release, 'Cinematic.'

Things change, things change, how things change. And I've had this song from OK GO running through my head all day... In my last post, I said there would be no cancer rides for me in 2026. And that's still true - sort of. But I do have a good opportunity to raise funds for cancer research coming up, and I'm very excited.