Classical Conversations

Mandolin virtuoso Avi Avital and jazz bassist Omer Avital join Haley Taylor for a conversation about their high-powered collaborative album Avital Meets Avital, which brings together their two musical worlds with an emphasis on Middle Eastern folk traditions.

British film composer Ilan Eshkeri joins us to talk about his third collaboration with actor/director Ralph Feinnes, The White Crow. The film tells the story of famed Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev and his defection to France in 1961. Eshkeri's soundtrack, which features violinist Lisa Batiashvili, is meant to mingle with and compliment the ballet music of Tchaikovsky, which bore an important...

The young, American violist Matthew Lipman joins us to preview his new album Ascent – which features a wide variety of works for viola, including the world premiere recording of a recently unearthed piece by Dmitri Shostakovich.

Legendary conductor, pianist, and Toledo native Dennis Russell Davies joins Brad Cresswell for a wide-ranging discussion about growing up in Toledo, how his career took shape, his championing of new music and living composers and his plans to celebrate his 75th birthday on April 16.

At more than 70 minutes, Ferruccio Busoni's wildly inventive Piano Concerto stands as a holy grail of the repertoire – a tour-de-force of virtuousity and stamina that has rarely been set down on disc. With his latest album, powerhouse pianist Kirill Gerstein adds to the collection his own formidable interpretation, which has been years in the making. Kirill joins us for a conversation about the wo...

Violinist Philippe Quint and pianist Marta Aznavoorian team up (with guest Joshua Bell) for a rich compendium of tunes by the legendary filmmaker Charlie Chaplin, in original arrangements by the composer Charles Colman. Philippe and Marta join us to preview the album and talk about its genesis and the process of bringing it to disc.

One of contemporary music's brightest lights, pianist Sarah Cahill is presenting her provocative program "The Future is Female" at the Detroit Institute of Arts and also at Bowling Green State University. Sarah joins us for a conversation about the program and her longtime championship of music by living composers.

Cellist Hee-Young Lim was (at age 15) the youngest student ever accepted to Korean National University. Afterward, she attended Boston's New England Conservatory and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique of Paris. In 2016, at the age of 28, she was appointed Principal Solo Cello of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin – making her one of the first female Asian...

German-born composer Reiko Füting writes highly unique music with a social conscience, that maintains an awareness of the past while looking to the future. Füting's musical voice is on full display in his second recording for New Focus Recordings, called Distant Song. The composer joins WGTE's Brad Cresswell for a detailed conversation about the works on the disc, and his musical process in genera...

You know her from the NPR News Quiz Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! The one and only Paula Poundstone returns to Toledo on March 15 for an appearance at the Stranahan Theater (details and tickets here). Listen to Brad Cresswell's entire interview with the comedy legend, which covers a wide range of topics: from how she hates her name, to fake karate belts, to – of course – her many years on one of NPR...

Opera star Joyce DiDonato joins us to talk about and sample her new album Songplay, which delightfully mixes jazz, Latin, and tango rhythms into arrangements of Italian Baroque arias, jazz standards, and picks from the Great American Songbook.

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine surveys her groundbreaking album of blues-influenced classical works for solo violin and violin and piano by 20th and 21st century composers of African descent, Blues Dialogues from Cedille Records.

Morten Lauridsen is the country's most-performed choral composer and with over 200 albums containing his work, one of the most recorded. He joins us to talk about the latest album made up entirely of his music: Light Eternal, from Deutsche Grammophone records.

The last time we spoke with the Nieve Trio (violinist Anna Williams, cellist Mikhail Veselov and pianist Eri Nakamura), it was French Moments, which provided a showcase for some wonderful trios by Roussel, Debussy, and Fauré. This time Nieve is Celebrating Piazzolla, with a wonderful and wide-ranging collection of works by the Argentine master Astor Piazzolla and other musicians that came within h...

Since 2012, Israeli-born cellist Amit Peled has famously played the 1733 Matteo Goffriller cello formerly owned by the great cellist Pablo Casals. For the first time, Peled has recorded the solo cello suites of Johann Sebastian Bach, which were made world-famous in the 1930s through Casals' recording of them, with that same instrument. Amit joins us to discuss the disc and Casals' legacy with thes...

Emerging star baritone Benjamin Appl, fresh off his U.S. recital debut, introduces his new album of arias and songs by his countryman Johann Sebastian Bach.

Now going on their 48th year, the Fischer Duo (Norman Fischer and Jeanne Kierman Fischer) are celebrated around the world for their rich and thoughtful performances. In their latest album from Centaur Records, the duo turn their attention to the music of Johannes Brahms, with the two cello sonatas. They also welcome their daughter, acclaimed mezzo Abigail Fischer, for two beautiful songs by Brahms...

Looking for a last minute stocking stuffer? Cally Banham, solo English Horn for the Saint Louis Symphony, has released a new album of Christmas favorites in wonderful arrangements featuring a variety of styles – from Tango to Jazz. Joining Cally are the Adam Maness Trio, the Trombones of the Saint Louis Symphony and her group Cortango (pictured).

Two members of the ever-popular DePue Brothers Band (Alex and Zachary DePue) along with special guest Aria Curzon preview their upcoming Christmas Spectacular concert at Bowling Green State University.

Reigning Chopin Competition winner and piano superstar Seong-Jin Cho joins us for a preview of his latest album on Deutsche Grammophon, dedicated to the music of Mozart. On the disk is soulful and expressive renderings of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20, alongside two very different piano sonatas: No. 12 in F Major, and No.3 in Bb Major. Joining Seong-Jin for the concerto is Metropolitan Opera Musi...

In his debut solo album, star countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo pairs two iconic composers: George Frederic Handel and Philip Glass. While the two may seem at opposite ends of the musical spectrum, Costanzo draws fascinating parallels between Handel and Glass and ties it all together in this wonderful disc – which he joins us to preview.

Renowned pianist (and Toledo favorite) Kirill Gerstein chats up his new album The Gershwin Moment – which features classics like Rhapsody in Blue alongside piano tributes by Earl Wild and Oscar Levant.

You may know Alain Trudel as the newly-minted Music Director of the Toledo Symphony, but he is also one of the world's most acclaimed trombonists. Alain joins us in WGTE's Dana Performance Studio with pianist Valrie Kantorski for a musical menu of Eugène Bozza, Arthur Pryor, and Gabriel Fauré.

On Saturday, November 3, 2018 at 8 PM at the Stranahan Theater, protégé of Ray Charles and former lead singer of Tower of Power, Ellis Hall joins the Toledo Symphony Orchestra to perform Motown favorites like Heard It Through the Grapevine and Ray Charles greatest hits, including Hit the Road Jack, and Georgia On My Mind. The "Ambassador of Soul" joins Brad Cresswell and the TSO's Merwin Siu by ph...

Violinist Hilary Hahn made a big splash with her first recording at age 17: an album of the first three sonatas and partitas by J.S. Bach – some of the most difficult solo works for the instrument. Now, some twenty years later, she revisits Bach and offers a new recording which completes the set. Hilary joins us for a preview and discussion of her work.