We will begin the marathon with an exploration of the life and careers of Bruno Walter and Otto Klemperer, two of the great conductors of the 20th century. Klemperer dubbed his colleague the “Moralist," a man orchestras loved to play under who exuded warmth and kindness, and called himself the "Immoralist"—a half-paralyzed manic-depressive who conducted with his fists. Both had to flee Europe when Hitler came to power, and both saw the fire of their prime cede to the autumnal calm of their last years. Join us for three hours as we hear them in the music of Mahler (who mentored both), Mozart, Brahms, and more.

This program’s centerpiece is Duke Ellington’s adaptation of the Nutcracker Suite. We’ll explore other seasonal and classical pieces on a theme of jazz interpretation.

The saxophone is one of the more recent additions to the family of woodwinds playing the classical repertoire.  The saxophone has made its way into the symphony orchestra and also onto the recital stage.  Tune in and you will hear some of the many, varied colors of the instruments of the saxophone family played by virtuosi of the instrument both past and present.

As a way to show their improvisation skills, composers will use songs, their own works and other composers' pieces to create inventive variations based on the themes.  We will be listening works from Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart, and many others as they demonstrate their imagination skills with Themes and Variations.

Nothing quite matches the anticipation and excitement of the Broadway overture. Join us for two glorious hours of overtures and opening numbers, featuring some of the greatest music ever written for Broadway.

The settlement of the New World occurred coincidentally with the dominance of Baroque style in Western music. Even as style galant began to displace the Baroque manner in major European centers of music beginning in the 1730s, the Baroque stubbornly held on in colonized lands, particularly those held by Spain, through about 1820. This special, three-hour edition of The Early Music Show will examine the state of music in the Western Hemisphere before that time, both in native contributions and in works exported abroad from the old countries.

From Barry Lyndon’s baroque themes to The Shining’s Penderecki thrilling, Stanley Kubrick managed to incorporate an array of classical music pieces into his dazzling pictures. Join our sound odyssey as we relive some of these most unforgettable moments in cinematic history.

Classical music all night long! Join us for hours of non-stop selections, and while you're at it be sure to make a pledge of support to your favorite radio station, WTJU!

Opera features some of the finest orchestral writing in classical music, but there's just so much singing! If you want to enjoy the great music of opera but don't want to hear singing in the morning, tune in forOpera Without Words, a special classical marathon show featuring the best in symphonic writing from the greatest opera composers - with none of the singing!

Of course this show will include some of the expected favorite recordings of music for kids - “Peter and the Wolf,” "Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” “Carnival of the Animals,” etc. But, in addition to these timeless stories and pieces, I will be sharing favorite recordings of narrated stories and music from my own childhood. These are recordings that shaped my love of Classical music generally, and Early music specifically. Please join me as I fill your Tuesday morning with a bit of childhood magic.

Opposing forces make for great classical pieces! In this program, we’ll listen to music about the sun and moon, winter and summer, angels and demons, and others!

It's not all just tutus and swans! Louis XIV made his name as the dancing Sun King, and Igor Stravinsky became famous for his “riotous” Rite of Spring. We'll hear three centuries of the finest ballet scores, from Lully and Rameau in the French court to the revolutionary music of the Ballet Russes. Turn up your radio and don't be surprised when you find yourself carried off your feet!

A tribute to the great soprano, who passed away this September at the age of 74.

Join Xavier on a journey through the magic and mystery of the Festival of Lights. He’ll shine some of the light on the past and also look toward the future. It’s music and a story shimmering with tradition, hope, love, family, and faith.

In recent years, the laptop has been used more and more in music production. This is no different in classical music. Composers have been implementing tools available in laptops, not only for composition but also in the creation of sound. This inherently digital mode of processing differs from “electronics” as such, which can broadly refer to modular synthesis, contact mics or anything in between. We need a new descriptor on our programs: we need to consider the laptop as an instrument. 

Classical music all night long! Join us for hours of non-stop selections, and while you're at it be sure to make a pledge of support to your favorite radio station, WTJU!

A show about a vanishing genre, light classical music. Selections from Leroy Anderson, Eric Coates, Albert Ketelby, Emile Waldteufel, Eric White, and more!

Pieces by composers written for or about their homelands to which they can no longer return, from Rachmaninoff to Chopin to Beethoven.

Based on the Teej-FM podcast, hosts Shari Barbour and Ralph Graves will share selections from the composers that Shari has featured over the past 20 or so episodes on her podcast. Music from Wagner, Beethoven, Sousa, Gershwin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, and others!

The best and the brightest (as judged by the DJ!) releases from 2019.  Recordings include: Stephane Degout, Ensemble Correspondances, Lars Vogt, Melody Moore, Trio Parnassus, Jeremy Denk, Christian Tetzlaff, and many more!

Join Michael for a musical journey of choral music from Germany, France, America, Russia, etc., anywhere *but* England. If variety is the spice of life, this show promises to be spicy!

John Adams’s magnificent, multifaceted opera-oratorio, El Niño, tells the nativity story with texts both familiar (the Gospel of Luke) and unconventional (gnostic gospels and contemporary Mexican poetry). It also features some of Adams's most striking, communicative, and deeply expressive music.

ECM records has a rich and varied catalog, and often the recordings defy easy categorization. Notable artists include both American and European composers and are often discussed in the jazz world; but a few of these artists have branched into musical structures that incorporate elements of jazz, classical, folk and avant-garde vocabularies. In this classical marathon edition of Living Time, we will explore some of these third stream recordings by artists such as Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, John Surman, and others.

Classical music all night long! Join us for hours of non-stop selections, and while you're at it be sure to make a pledge of support to your favorite radio station, WTJU!

Grab a bowl of popcorn and settle in for great film music from the Golden Age of Hollywood with Ken and Ralph. You'll hear themes from movies both well-known and obscure, as they present familiar melodies and help you discover hidden musical gems from the silver screen.

There have been many highly regarded classical guitarists over the decades who have recorded their own versions of a variety of classical styles. Join us as we feature some of the best as part of the 2019 Classical Marathon.

A show about unusual instruments (theorbos, vihuelas, clavichords, Chapman sticks, etc.) showing off some classical chops. This show will run the course of many centuries, with several virtuosi to showcase each instrument's beauty and diversity.

Although aloof from the more spectacular and agonized writing that characterized such romantics as Liszt and Wagner, Danish Romantic composers shaped a lyrical and gracious style steeped in history and myth.  But the works of Gade and Bendix, redolent of Mendelssohn and Brahms, eventually broadened to encompass the hyper-romanticism and iconoclasm of Rued Langgaard.  Accompany Francesca as she considers the “alluring tones” of three Romantic Danes.

No Romantic composer is more fascinating than Robert Schumann. Endlessly creative, he wrote works in totally new forms inspired by his love of literature, while also experimenting in the fields of the symphony, concerto, and sonata. He identified two sides of his personality—the energetic and passionate Florestan, and the introspective, melancholy Eusebian—and his music can move from boundless joy to the deepest despair in the same piece. Join us as we explore the many sides of this ultimate Romantic composer.

The vast majority of classical music we're accustomed to is Western, written by composers from Europe, the Americas and Russia. This special edition of Piano Forte will explore the piano music of composers from Africa (Uzoigwe & Labi), the Middle East (El-Dabh, Succari & Saygun), South Asia (Shankar), East Asia (Sheng & Yashiro), and Oceania (Kats-Chernin & Sculthorpe). Join this intercontinental journey and expand your musical horizons!

2019 marks the ten-year anniversary of the founding of this trailblazing new music vocal ensemble, best known for debuting the Pulitzer Prize-winning Partita for 8 Voices by composer (and ensemble member) Caroline Shaw. We'll celebrate with an assortment of joyous, genre-bending works written especially for the group.

Classical music all night long! Join us for hours of non-stop selections, and while you're at it be sure to make a pledge of support to your favorite radio station, WTJU!

It’s almost the weekend! For this morning’s program, we will listen to works that anticipate time for relaxation, festivities, and the home.

Composer and lyricist Cole Porter was one of the greatest American composers of the 20th Century. Rus Perry and Brian Keena will again team up to explore the jazz side of his deep catalog. Tune in for "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love," "Love For Sale," "Night and Day," "Miss Otis Regrets," "In The Still of the Night," "Begin the Beguine," "I Concentrate on You," "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye," "I Love Paris," "Too Darn Hot," and many others.

We’ll chart the history of classical music in the Caribbean region from the 18th century through to the present day. We’ll pay particular attention to music written by members of indigenous and enslaved populations, who used the language of classical music to tell their own stories, and to music written by a diverse array of living Caribbean composers.

Pianists in recital often favor their audiences with short, usually bravura encores. Have you ever wanted to hear more of those tasty pianistic tidbits, played by the finest pianists?  Your wish is our command in this selection of rare encores played by some of our favorite pianists.

Join us for a look back at the great musicals of the 50's and 60's - Lerner and Lowe, Rogers and Hammerstein, Frank Loesser - The King and I, The Music Man, Guys and Dolls. The music of these classic shows await you. Here's your Playbill. The usher will show you to your seats. Sit back and enjoy the music that put Broadway on the map.

Since 1885, the Boston Pops Orchestra has brought light classical and popular music to the people of Boston, America, and the world. We'll sample music from their vast repertoire as presented by their three most recent maestros: Keith Lockhart, John Williams, and, of course, Arthur Fiedler. Sit back and enjoy an Evening With the Boston Pops on WTJU.

Jonny Greenwood first gained notoriety as lead guitarist and experimental-arranger for the rock band Radiohead, before composing several well-received soundtracks and classical pieces.  In 2019 he founded a new contemporary classical music label Octatonic Records, with its first release featuring Bach’s Partita No. 2, and its second release decidedly more experimental and modern.  Greenwood said, “a 20-something carrying a cello case will always be more impressive than someone with a guitar. It’s just harder to do. It takes more commitment, and the sounds they make are so limitless….”

Classical music all night long! Join us for hours of non-stop selections, and while you're at it be sure to make a pledge of support to your favorite radio station, WTJU!

JS Bach took a common Baroque practice--revamping existing scores—and used it to create uncommon art. His own music lends itself extremely well to transcription, orchestration, and arrangement, and has inspired a multitude of compositions across generations. Join Francesca as she eavesdrops on this open-ended conversation amongst some of the greatest composers of the Classical tradition.

Rex cannot be with us this year and he will be much missed, however the great English choral tradition will be showcased as usual and needs no introduction. The English Anthem is back and Lady Alison and the Contessa will be spanning the centuries, presenting some wonderful examples of this transcendent music to brighten your Saturday morning. They'll be joined by Winston Barham, alum WTJU classical host. We look forward to your company!

There are many works that feature popular instruments such as flutes, violins, violas, oboes, or clarinets.  But what about their cousins and other unknown instruments like the accordion, bass clarinet, or soprano saxophone?  We will hear pieces that feature these and other hidden stars with compositions by Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, and others in their works.

There is a truism that Western music in the latter half of the eighteenth century is all the same, structurally and stylistically, and that it took Ludwig Van Beethoven to shake it out of its slumber and mediocrity. On closer examination, the romantic spirit may be found cropping up within nearly the whole of the classical era, especially through composers influenced by sturm und drang ("storm and stress") literature. Listen as Uncle Dave Lewis exposes how some music of the eighteenth century is just as turbulent and revolutionary as the upheaval that shaped its historical events.

Back again, Xavier opens up the classic American radio vault to bring you a Christmas treasure: It’s a Wonderful Life, a radio version featuring the original cast from 1946. We'll hear this classic and so much more! Be ready to laugh, cry, and really get into the swing of the holiday season!

A composer who hardly needs an introduction, we’ll explore his profound impact on the the opera house and the concert hall, as well as dance, film, and popular music.

Back by popular demand, WTJU will air Max Richter's transcendent SLEEP in its 8.5 hour entirety. We hope you will tune in and listen to its calming chords, and keep the radio on when you slumber off to bed. Indeed, the piece is meant to aid you in your sleep and its many stages, building toward a radiant conclusion as the sun rises.

This show has become a standard feature of our annual Classical Music Marathon, and I am honored to be hosting it this year. We’ll have favorites from Praetorius, Josquin, and others, but I also hope to bring you some surprises as well.

Join us as we (once again!) take a stroll through Harlem, listening to the musical legacy of many composers and artists from its important Renaissance. We will also explore the cultural legacy of African-American composers who came after this unique moment in American history.

Many of the significant pianists of the 19th and 20th centuries transferred their knowledge and skills to subsequent generations, establishing a pedagogical and pianistic lineage with distinct national characteristics.  In the “French School,” touch, flexibility, and emotional restraint became the means for articulating a wealth of color and texture.  From Long and Cortot to Collard and Grimaud, the tradition continues.

The collaboration between Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo da Ponte resulted in one of the greatest creations of the operatic repertoire. Hear a rare collaboration between our opera stars Ann Shaffer and Tim Snider as they present a newly remastered performance of this great masterpiece, featuring a sterling cast of Mozarteans.

Two hours of pipes, power, and bombast featuring virtuosic organ music needing a bit more time than the King's usual hour. Fear not, as some subtle tones of the monarch of music will also be featured.

Join us for our traditional airing of music for the season: Handel's Messiah.

When popular music is performed by an orchestra or string quartet, magical things can happen. And when string arrangements are added to the right rock, soul, and jazz song, the results can be transcendent. Join Rick and Don of Radio Wowsville as they close out the 2019 Classical Marathon with their own special orchestral maneuvers in the dark.