Program Guide September 2024

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First Thursday Blues Jam

From May until September 5th, the CTBS sponsors a First Thursday Blues Jam at The Chicken Shack at The Farm at Carter Hill in Marlborough CT. The CTBS All-Stars (River City Slim, Phil Caron and Joey Primo) are back as the house band with a different 'guitar star' joining the band each month. The featured artist for the July 4 jam is the great Chris 'Stovall' Brown. Chris has played and toured with a wide variety of nationally known Blues artists, leads his own groups and often shows up backing top Boston-area singers. The Chicken Shack is a rustic barn setting, with tables indoors and huge side doors that open to a field for outdoor seating. Musicians bring your instruments - amps, drums, keyboards and PA are provided. Come out to play with some of the best Blues musicians in CT.

WWUH Classical Programming

September 2024

Sunday Afternoon at the Opera… Sundays 1:00 – 4:30 pm

Evening Classics… Weekdays 4:00 to 7:00/ 8:00 pm

Drake’s Village Brass Band… Tuesdays 7:00-8:00 pm

(Opera Highlights Below)

Sunday 1st

Picker, Awakenings, Rolnick, Anosmia

Monday 2d

Fidelio Overture / Pablo Casals JSB concerto #4/ L’ariesieme Suite 1 / Mozart Concerto # 22 Alicia de LaRocha /Carmentea / Claude Debussy Suite Bergamasque

Tuesday 3rd

Bruckner at 200 – Te Deum, Symphony #8, Organ Music

Drake’s Village Brass Band  Skybreak – Michael Davidson Trombone

Wednesday 4th

“To Sit and Dream,” Rosephanyne Powell and Langston Hughes; A Midsummer Night’s Dream Suite, Felix Mendelssohn; D’un matin de printemp, Lili Boulanger; Fantasia on Bellini’s Beatrice di Tenda, Giovanno Bottesini; Sleep, Eric Whitacre; Fantasia in C min, J.S. Bach; Fantasia in F min, W.A. Mozart; Scottish Fantasy, Bruch; Fingal’s Cave/The Hebrides Overture, Felix Mendelssohn; The Town Lay Hushed, Thomas Tallis; Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, Ralph Vaughn Williams; The Dream Keeper, William Averitt and Anonymous, with words by Langston Hughes; Dry Bones, a traditional spiritual arranged by Gerhard Livingston and Dick Rogers; Tulsa, Don Gillis; Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine, Eric Whitacre; To the Sky, Caroline Shaw; To Shiver the Sky, Christopher Tin

Thursday 5th

J.C. Bach: Sinfonia Concertante in A Major T.284/4 CW C34, Grand Overture in D Major Op. 18 No. 4 W. C27; Diabelli: Serenata Concertant Op. 105; Meyerbeer: Le Prophète: Ballet Music; Beach: Piano Concerto, Op. 45.

Friday 6th

Music for a Wedding Anniversary and the Asylum Quartet performs

Sunday 8th

Strauss, Capriccio

Monday 9th

Hansel und Gretel overture/ Desafinado Antonio Carlos Jobin/ Ernest Dohnanyi serenade for Violin /Fruhbeck de burgos Albenits Suite Espanola Varios

Tuesday 10th

24 Leonard Rosenman at 100 – Selections from

Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden, Barry Lyndon, The Cobweb, Star Trk IV

Drake’s Village Brass Band Three Rivers Trios with the Three River Trio, William Caballero Horn

Wednesday 11th

  Giovanni Simone Mayr: Gli americani, "Idalide": Overture; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Ch'io mi scordi di te … Non temer, amato bene, K. 505; Abbé Georg Joseph Vogler: Ballet Suite No. 2; Muzio Clementi: Symphony No. 4 in D Major, WoO 35; Ambroise Thomas: Mignon, Act I: Overture; Ambroise Thomas: Mignon, Act III: Elle ne croyait pas; John Thomas: Le désir; Amy Beach: Theme and Variations for Flute and String Quartet, Op. 80; Sir Edward Elgar: In the South Overture, Op. 50, "Alassio"; Florence Price: Elfentanz for Violin and Piano; Giuseppe Martucci: 3 Pezzi, Op. 84 (Canzone/Songs): No. 1 Maggiolata, No. 2 Pianto antico; Johannes Brahms: Trio for Piano, Clarinet and Cello in A Minor, Op. 114; Richard Wagner: Das Liebesverbot: Overture; Friedrich Gernsheim: Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 78;Ruperto Chapi: Combate de Don Quijote contra las ovejas; Theodore Dubois: Symphony No. 2 in B Minor;

Thursday 12th

Brossard: Sonata in D Major; Carr: Federal Overture, Six Imitations; Kullak: Piano Concerto in c minor Op. 55; Doppler: Fantasie pastorale hongroise Op. 26; Alpaerts: James Ensor Suite; Popov: Symphony No. 1 Op. 7; Shostakovich: Festive Overture Op. 96, Piano Concerto No. 1 in c minor Op. 35; Zimmer: The Lion King Suite.

Friday 13th

Celebrating the 150^th birth anniversary of Arnold Schoenberg

Sunday 15th

Bellini, La Straniera, Donizetti, Emilia di Liverpool (excerpts)

Monday 16th

Vivaldi:Concerto con Molti Stromenti R558; Dvorak:Symphony No. 9 "From the New World"; Beethoven:Violin Sonata No, 9, "Kreutzer"; Liadov: Orchestral Works; Various short pieces played by Guitar Kvartetten; Villa Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras No.5; Locatelli: Concerto for Violin in G Major Opus 3 No 9; Saladin: Exerpts from Musique-Judeo Baroque; Cesar Franck: Symphony in D minor; Dvorak:Slavonic Dances

Tuesday 17th

Schoenberg at 150 – Pelleas und Melisande, Suite for String Orchestra, Chamber Symphony #2, Five Pieces for Orchestra

Drake’s Village Brass Band Metalofonico, John Nelson and Metalofonico Wind Ensemble

Wednesday 18th

Host’s choice

Thursday 19th

Tomlinson: Suite of English Folk Dances; New Additions to the WWUH Library.

Friday 20th

Celebrating the life and legacy of Jean Sibelius

Sunday 22nd

Leoncavallo, La Boheme

Monday 23rd

Corolian Overture Ludwig von Beethoven/; Gregorian chants (canto Gregoriano) Monks from Santo Domingo de Silos; Symphony # 41 Jupiter Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Tuesday 24th

Gustav Holst at 100 – Walt Whitman Overture, Hymn to Dionysus, Choral Hymns to the Rig Veda, The Planets, Hymn to Jesus, Egon Heath

Drake’s Village Brass Band – Holst Music for Winds

Wednesday 25th

Host's Choice

Thursday 26th

Gilbert: Suite for Chamber Orchestra; Gershwin: An American in Paris, Cuban Overture; Rhapsody in Blue; New Additions to the WWUH Library.

Friday 27th

What is the only (so far as I have found) classical work that opens with a car horn? That and more to celebrate the composer’s 126^th birth annivesary

Sunday 29th

Gluck, Echo et Narcisse 

Monday 30th

Leonore Overture # 3 Ludwig von Beethoven; Masonic Music Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Klavierconcerte # 1 Franz Liszt; Sol danco Samba;

Violin Concerto, Opus 61 Ludwig von Beethoven

______________________________________________________________

SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT THE OPERA

your "lyric theater" program

with Keith Brown



Programming for the month of September 2024

• SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 1ST Picker, Awakenings, Rolnick, Anosmia American opera is certainly called for on the Sunday of the Labor Day holiday weekend. Normally I like to feature an opera dealing with American laboring folk on this Sunday, but this time around I focus on how the American people confront strange health conditions. Not long ago we had to confront the Covid health menace. During the twentieth century Americans confronted the outbreak of a bizarre tropical viral disease: Encephalitis Lethargica, also known as "von Economo's disease" and commonly called Sleeping Sickness. It was pandemic worldwide circa 1916-27, with later outbreaks into mid century. It killed at least a million people, and those who survived it were left debilitated like zombies in a living death. There was for them no hope until 1966 when along came an American doctor, Oliver Sachs, working with Sleeping Sickness patients at a hospital in Bronx, NY, who came up with what seemed to be a miraculous experimental treatment using massive doses of L-Dopamine, a drug used to treat the similar symptoms of Parkinson's Disease. The drug "awoke" many of his patients and brought them back to life. This is the subject of Tobias Picker's opera Awakenings (2022), based on Dr. Sachs' book of the same name. Tobias Picker (b. 1954) is one of the distinguished American composers of our time who now in the twenty first century has attempted to fill the void left by the passing of twentieth century greats Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. On Sunday, November 17, 2002 I presented the Chandos recording of Picker's lyric tragedy Therese Raquin (2001). Picker's Awakenings was recorded in the studios of WGBH Radio, Boston in 2023. Gil Rose directs the cast and chorus of Odyssey Opera and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. The recording was released on silver disc through the orchestra's BMOP Sound label.
•    People may temporarily have their sense of smell impaired due to a head cold or sinus obstruction. As a medical condition it's referred to as Anosmia. Sometimes Anosmia is due to a rare neurological disorder and it's for keeps! Composer Neil Rolnick (b. 1947) permanently lost the hearing in his left ear in 2008. Only the white noise of tinnitus remained. Inspired by the stories of other people's loss of their senses, he put together his own libretto for Anosmia (2017), which is a sort of cantata for the nose. Rolnick's cantata was performed by the New Music Ensemble of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Innova, the label of the American Composers' Forum, released Anosmia on CD in 2013.
• SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 8TH Strauss, Capriccio (1943) How to describe such a curious lyric theater piece as this? Well, it's the last opera in the composer Richard Strauss' long career of composing for the lyric stage. It's a kind of unanswered question of opera. Heinz Becker says of it,"Capriccio is a 'little opera' for connoisseurs. It is intended for the well-informed listener of taste who can appreciate subtle nuances of meaning and can place cryptic allusions." Strauss himself called it a "conversation piece" in one enormous act of thirteen scenes. Indeed, it is a discussion in singing of the central question about the writing of opera that goes back to its very beginnings in the seventeenth century: which comes first, the words or the music? Conductor Clemens Krauss shared Strauss' mind about what treatment the topic should receive. You could say Krauss co-composed the opera in Straussian style. Long ago, on Sunday, September 13,1987 I presented on Deutsche Grammophon LP's the recording of Capriccio conductor Karl Bohm made with the musical backing of Radio Bavaria's orchestra and chorus, and with outstanding vocal soloists of the mid 20th century like American mezzo Tatiana Troyanos in the role of the actress. Another illustrious conductor of the era, Wolfgang Sawallisch, leads the Philharmonia Orchestra in an early stereo recording, made in London in 1958 for EMI. The lineup of famous opera stars of the period can't be beat: Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Eberhard Wachter, Nicolai Gedda, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Hans Hotter, Christa Ludwig and another American luminary, Anna Moffo. EMI reissued this vintage recording on two compact discs in1987. 
• SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15TH Bellini, La Straniera, Donizetti, Emilia di Liverpool (highlights) The theme for this Sunday's programming is "bel canto rarities." La Straniera ("The Foreigner," 1829) was Vincenzo Bellini's fourth opera, and the second one with a libretto by Felice Romani, who supplied wordbooks for the other leading Italian tunesmiths of the Romantic era, like Rossini and Donizetti. The audience at La Scala went crazy for La Straniera when it premiered, but it had disappeared from the repertoire before the end of the nineteenth century and it has remained one of Bellini's least known works. La Straniera was revived at the historic Teatro La Fenice in Venice in 1970. Ettore Gracis conducts the orchestra and chorus with a cast that stars Italian soprano Renata Scotto and includes distinguished baritone Domenico Trimarchi.
•   Even more obscure than Bellini's "Foreign Lady" is Gaetano Donizetti's Emila di Liverpool (1824). Keep listening for highlights from this opera semiseria, which doesn't have anything to do with the real Northern British port city, but was recorded live in performance there in 1957. John Pritchard conducts the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. What makes this recording memorable is that the title role is sung by the young Joan Sutherland at an early stage in her glorious career. Piggybacked on this single1991 Myto compact disc release are further bonus tracks of Sutherland singing arias from Lucia di Lammermoor (rec. London,1959).
• SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 22ND Leoncavallo, La Boheme Giacomo Puccini's La Boheme (1896) is at the core of the international standard operatic repertoire. But there's another opera by that name that premiered in Venice fifteen months later than Puccini's in 1897 that never seems to have been taken up into the operatic canon. That other La Boheme is by Puccini's colleague Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857-1919). He had already made a name for himself with his fabulously popular I Pagliacci (1882), which remains very much in circulation on the lyric stage to this day and has been frequently recorded. Leoncavallo, like Wagner, wrote his own librettos. He crafted one in Italian from Henri Murger's French language novel about the young artists eaking out a living in 1837 Paris. Leoncavallo had some personal insight into Murger's "Scenes of the Bohemian Life." He lived in Paris for a few years early on in his own life. Leoncavallo's Boheme is styled a "lyric comedy" in four acts, the first two of which are if anything more lighthearted and operetta-like than Puccini's lyric conception. Like the Puccini work, Leoncavallo's Boheme darkens in mood thereafter and ends with Mimi's tragic death. There's a rare recording of Leoncavallo's "other Boheme" made in 1990 at the historic Teatro La Fenice of Venice. Jan Latham Koenig directs the orchestra and chorus of La Fenice. Soprano Lucia Mazzaria is featured as the consumptive little seamstress, opposite tenor Jonathan Summers as her beloved Rodolfo. The Italian label Nuova Era issued this recording on two compact discs. 
• SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 25TH Gluck, Echo et Narcisse This was the last work the famous reformer of opera Christoph Willibald Gluck composed for the lyric stage, ending his career with a flop: only twelve performances and no financial profit, and it failed again in a second Parisian production in 1780. In revised form it reappeared occasionally in productions in the French provincial theaters up until sometime into the nineteenth century, when it completely disappeared. You can't fault Gluck's music: Echo et Narcisse is a lyrically delightful pastoral piece with a story derived from the classical Latin writer Ovid's Metamorphoses. You will be hearing the second only ever recording of Gluck's final masterwork, as issued in a two-CD deluxe package in 2023 courtesy of Chateau de Versailles Spectacles. Herve Niquet leads the vocalists and period instrumentalists of Le Concert Spirituel.            

keithsbrown1948@gmail.com

Boomer's Paradise

Monday's 1-4 PM with your host, The Turtle Man

In a wink of an eye summer has pretty much passed us by and we now move into much better weather. What better way to enjoy it than listen to Boomers Paradise with your host, The Turtle Man at WWUH 91.3 FM/wwuh.org.

We kick off the month of September with a listen to tracks from albums released in September 1974.

From there it's tunes from the digital jukebox, some classic torch songs and great rock riffs.

We return once again to Billboard's Top 40 One Hit Wonders and colors in song titles.

From there it's more treasures from the Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era vaults and time in the song title.

We end the month with song titles about money and appropriately numbers.

So September is chock full of great music waiting for you to tune in every Monday from 1-4 PM on WWUH Public Alternative Radio where the heart and mind matter.

Tune in on the radio (91.3 FM) or streaming online at wwuh.org.

The mission of the Connecticut Symphony Orchestra is to provide opportunities for advanced musicians and emerging professionals to perform a high level of repertoire while engaging and collaborating with diverse communities in mutual growth through the joy

of making music.

Connecticut Symphony Orchestra

The West Hartford Symphony Orchestra

In collaboration with the WWUH Classical Programming we are pleased to partner with the West Hartford Symphony Orchestra to present their announcements and schedule to enhance our commitment to being part of the Greater Hartford Community.

Richard Chiarappa, Music Director 860-521-4362

Visit www.whso.org for tickets and Covid protocols.

whso.org

The Musical Club of Hartford

The Musical Club of Hartford is a non-profit organization founded in 1891. Membership is open to performers or to those who simply enjoy classical music, providing a network for musicians from the Greater Hartford area. Club events take place normally on selected Thursday mornings at 10:00 a.m, Fall through Spring. The usual location is the sanctuary at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2080 Boulevard, West Hartford, CT (between Ridgewood and Mountain Avenues). Information on time and location is given at the bottom of each event description.

musicalclubhartford.org

Connecticut Lyric Opera

Connecticut Lyric Opera is the state’s leading opera company, performing to thousands in Hartford, Middletown, New Britain, and New London. We have earned the reputation as an innovative company that is renowned for our world-class singers, phenomenal concert-quality orchestra and programming choices that go beyond the well-loved standards of the repertoire to include lesser-performed yet equally compelling works.

https://ctlyricopera.org/

Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra

The Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra is the state’s premier professional chamber orchestra dedicated to presenting both traditional and contemporary classical chamber works to the public. The Orchestra, led by Founder and Artistic Director Adrian Sylveen, continues to grow in size and repertoire, presenting approximately 35 times a year in many major performing arts centers throughout Connecticut and New York.



http://thevirtuosi.org/

Beth El Temple Music & Art

/

WHERE ELSE COULD MUSIC BE THIS HEAVENLY? Music at Beth El Temple in West Hartford is under the direction of The Beth El Music & Arts Committee (BEMA). With the leadership of Cantor Joseph Ness, it educates and entertains the community through music. The BEMA committee helps conceive and produce musical performances of all genres, while supporting the commemoration of Jewish celebrations and prayer services.

https://www.bethelwesthartford.org/community/get-involved/bema

Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra

Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra is one of Connecticut’s premier community orchestras dedicated to promoting musical excellence. We believe that classical music provides a magical experience that inspires, delights, and brings our community together.

Founded in 1981, the Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra performs 6-7 concerts each season with a variety of classical, romantic and popular holiday favorites. The orchestra serves Farmington, Canton, Avon, Simsbury, Burlington, Bloomfield, West Hartford & Hartford, as well as Greater Hartford and the Connecticut River Valley. We are your local, civic orchestra and look forward to seeing you at one of our concerts!

Further information is available at FVSO.org or by calling 800-975-FVSO.

www.fvso.org

South Windsor Cultural Arts

Coming Up

Sunday, September 29

The program will include Beethoven’s “Sonata in C Minor "Pathetique" Op. 13; Robert Nathaniel Dett’s “Incantation” and “Beyond the Dream” from Enchantment Suite; Liszt’s “Vallée d’Obermann” from Années de Pèlerinage S. 160, No. 6; Grieg’s “Notturno” Op. 54, No. 4; and Schubert’s “Fantasy in C Major "Wanderer-Fantasie" Op. 15.

The concert starts at 2:00 pm at Evergreen Crossings Retirement Community, 900 Hemlock Ave, South Windsor, CT. Seating begins at 1:30 and is on a first-come, first-served basis. The concert is FREE and donations are welcomed. A reception with the artist will follow the concert hosted by Evergreen Crossings Retirement Community.

For information, call (860)-416-6920

SWCA Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SouthWindsorCulturalArts/

For information, call (860)-416-6920

https://www.facebook.com/SouthWindsorCulturalArts

The New Britain Symphony Orchestra

The New Britain Symphony Orchestra is a professional orchestra which presents several concerts each season in the Greater New Britain area, performing works from all periods in a wide range of musical styles. In addition to its full orchestra concerts under the direction of Music Director and Conductor, Toshiyuki Shimada, including a free concert for children, members of the orchestra perform in various free chamber music concerts during the concert season.

https://newbritainsymphony.org/