Highland Park Strings Orchestra announced that it will extend it’s Ravinia Festival and WFMT Classical Radio Concert broadcast series.
Ravinia Festival and WFMT Classical Radio Extend Concert Broadcast Series
The eight-concert series kicks off on January 21st with performances ranging from solid and duos to small ensembles, including Elgin Symphony Orchestra and Highland Park Strings members. The series is to air on WFMT and wfmt.com Thursdays at 8 pm.
Ravinia, Highland Park, IL
Ravinia Festival announced the extension of its New from Ravinia concert broadcasts with WFMT classical radio. From January 21 to March 11, the series will bring fans new concert recordings from the festival every Thursday at 8 pm CST on 98.7 WFMT and streaming on wfmt.com.
“We are ecstatic to be working with our WFMT friends once again to bring listeners at home the music they love,” said Ravinia President and CEO Jeff Haydon. “By extending this series, we hope to bring warmth and familiarity to everyone tuning in.”
The series comprises eight 45-minute concerts recorded in Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall and is dedicated to Stephen Smoot, the festival’s longtime Artistic producer who coordinated the broadcasts of my Ravinia concerts on WFMT before his passing late last year. Pianist Claire Huangci is featured when the series kick off January 21, performing Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony in a transcription by Liszt, as well as Bach, Chopin, and Brahms works. The Cavani String Quartet will follow on January 28 with Charles Washington’s Midnight Child and Eric Gould’s He Speaks in Shadows (In Memory of John Coltrane), plus Beethoven’s last quartet.
Beethoven highlights will continue on February 4 with cellist Oliver Herbert and pianist Xiaohui Yang playing the composer’s first and last cello sonatas, and on March 4 Daniela Liebman headlines with his penultimate piano sonata in addition to Chopin’s Fourth Ballade and the final collection of piano pieces by Brahms. On February 11, pianist Dominic Cheli will perform Carl Vine’s Sonata No. 1 and Schulhoff’s Suite No. 3 for the Left Hand, his own arrangement of Beethoven’s song An die Hoffnung, and works by H. Leslie Adams, Clara Schumann, and Couperin.
Violinist Andrew Sords pairs up with pianist Daniel Overly for a February 18 broadcast featuring Franck’s Violin Sonata and Block’s Baal Shem suite, as well as Brahm’s Sonatensatz and Kreisler’s take on a dance from Falla’s La Vida Breve. Capping the month, soprano Nicole Heaston will be joined by members of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra for Jessie Montgomery’s I Want to Go Home and songs by Liszt, Schubert, Purcell, and Handel on the February 25 broadcast.
Violinist Maya Anjali Buchanan will close the series on March 11 with the Highland Park Strings, playing Winter from The Four Seasons in both Vivaldi’s original guise and Piazzolla’s Argentine Tango Twist, the ensemble will also perform Mozart’s K. 136 Divertimento and Elgar’s Serenade for Strings. [Violist Nora Williams will be in her usual principal chair for this concert.]
“WFMT is thrilled to bring back ‘Live from Ravinia,’” said George Preston, General Manager of WFMT. “We had such a positive response last year and are certain this outstanding lineup of artists will present incredible music.”
About WFMT
WFMT is one of the world’s most respected classical music radio stations, available on-air at 98.7 WFMT, online at wfmt.com/listen, and on the WFMT app. WFMT showcases superlative programs, concerts, and live events — from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Grant Park Music Festival, the Metropolitan Opera, Ravinia Festival, and many more. WFMT is also a leading producer and syndicator of a diverse selection of outstanding musical series, including Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin, the Beethoven Network, and the Jazz Network. Connect with WFMT on Facebook and Twitter. Visit wfmt.com/schedule for more information.
About Ravinia
Ravinia, located just north of Chicago, is North America’s oldest and most diverse music festival, presenting over 140 different events every summer, including the annual residency of the nation’s finest orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. As a nonprofit organization, Ravinia provides arts programs for over 85,000 people in communities within Cook and Lake Counties through its Reach Teach Play educations programs. The Ravinia Steans Music Institute is a summer conservatory that awards 60-70 fully paid fellowships each year to the most talented young professional musicians from around the world to work with an esteemed faculty and the headliners who frequent the festival. For information, visit ravinia.org. Ravinia welcomes all festival fans to follow, connect, and interact online with @RaviniaFestival on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as its blog, backstage.ravinia.org.