Playlist: WFMT Radio Network Holiday Specials
Compiled By: The WFMT Radio Network
The holidays are a magical time of food, family, and most importantly, time off of work! Enjoy this selection of quality holiday programming from the WFMT Radio Network!
Giving Thanks to Music - 2018 Edition
From The WFMT Radio Network | 58:30
In the 2018 edition of Giving Thanks to Music, host Nadia Sirota, creator of the Peabody Award-winning Meet the Composer podcast, invites several musical artists, many of whom you and your audiences hear through their recordings each day, to choose a piece of music that illustrates the profound value that classical music has had for them in their lives.
In the 2018 edition of Giving Thanks to Music, host Nadia Sirota, creator of the Peabody Award-winning Meet the Composer podcast, invites several musical artists, many of whom you and your audiences hear through their recordings each day, to choose a piece of music that illustrates the profound value that classical music has had for them in their lives.
As these outstanding people from the worlds of conducting, composing and performance reveal their experiences, they and we give thanks for the music that has enriched their and our world.
Guests in the 2018 edition include:
● James Ehnes, violinist and Grammy and JUNO award-winner for his 2006 recording of the Barber, Korngold and Walton concertos
● Minnesota Orchestra Assistant Conductor Roderick Cox, recently part of the 2016 Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview of the League of American Orchestras
● Grammy award-winning composer Augusta Read Thomas, who recently founded the University of Chicago’s Center for Contemporary Composition and has taught throughout her career at the Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University, and the Tanglewood and Aspen music festivals.
● Carlos Kalmar, music director of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor Grant Park Music Festival
This program reveals how classical music has inspired some of the most celebrated artists composing for and gracing our finest stages today.
About the Host, Nadia Sirota
Violist Nadia Sirota’s varied career spans solo performances, chamber music, curation, and broadcasting. In all branches of her artistic life she aims to open classical music up to a broader audience. Nadia’s singular sound and expressive execution have served as muse to dozens of composers, including Nico Muhly,Bryce Dessner, Missy Mazzoli, Daníel Bjarnason, Judd Greenstein, Marcos Balter, and David Lang. Nadia won a 2015 Peabody Award, broadcasting’s highest honor, for her podcast Meet the Composer, “the world’s best contemporary classical music podcast” (Pitchfork),which deftly profiles some of the most interesting musical thinkers living today.
For the 2018-19 season, Nadia teams up with the New York Philharmonic as their first-ever Creative Partner, a position created for her. In this role, she will host nine contemporary music concerts over two new series: Nightcap and Sound ON, the latter of which she will also curate. As a soloist, Nadia has appeared with acclaimed orchestras around the world, including the Detroit Symphony, the Colorado Symphony, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Spanish National Orchestra, and the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France. To date, she has released four albums of commissioned music, most recently, Tessellatum, Donnacha Dennehy’s groundbreaking work for viola and microtonal viola da gamba consort, featuring Liam Byrne. Nadia has also lent her sound to recording and concert projects by such artists as The National,Arcade Fire, and Grizzly Bear. Nadia is a member of the acclaimed chamber sextet yMusic. Their virtuosic execution and unique configuration have attracted high profile collaborators including Ben Folds, Son Lux, Anohni, and The Staves, and inspired an expanding repertoire of original works by prominent composers including Andrew Norman, Caroline Shaw, and Chris Thile. This Spring and Summer, yMusic is proud to join legendary artist Paul Simon on stages around the world for his “Homeward Bound” Farewell Tour.
Nadia has received the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for her work in radio, and Southern Methodist University’s Meadows Prize, awarded to pioneering artists and scholars with an emerging international profile. She sits on the board of directors of Chamber Music America, the national service organization for ensemble music professionals. Nadia received her undergraduate and Master’s degrees from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Heidi Castleman, Misha Amory, and Hsin-Yun Huang.
“If the ancient and unassuming viola is having a renaissance in contemporary music, it’s thanks largely to Nadia Sirota,who specializes in, well, anything a composer can throw at her.” (New York Magazine)
A Chanukah Celebration with Chicago a cappella
From The WFMT Radio Network | 58:30
Join Jonathan Miller, artistic director of Chicago a cappella and a longtime champion of Jewish choral music, for an inspiring and informative show featuring choral music set to Chanukah texts. Familiar tunes include "I Have a Little Dreidel" (both in its original Yiddish form and in a neo-funk Hebrew/English setting), a swing version of "S'vivon" by Steve Barnett, and a lively setting of the traditional melody for "Al-Hanissim" ("For the Miracles") by Elliot Levine. Heartfelt original compositions by American and British composers provide added depth of expression to celebrating the holiday. Such works include "Lo Yisa Goy," a plea for peace by Stacy Garrop; Bob Applebaum's stirring new version of "Haneirot Halalu"; and movements from the majestic "Hallel Suite" by London-based Daniel Tunkel.
A Chanukah Celebration with Chicago a cappella
Join Jonathan Miller, artistic director of Chicago a cappella and a longtime champion of Jewish choral music, for an inspiring and informative show featuring choral music set to Chanukah texts. Familiar tunes include "I Have a Little Dreidel" (both in its original Yiddish form and in a neo-funk Hebrew/English setting), a swing version of "S'vivon" by Steve Barnett, and a lively setting of the traditional melody for "Al-Hanissim" ("For the Miracles") by Elliot Levine. Heartfelt original compositions by American and British composers provide added depth of expression to celebrating the holiday. Such works include "Lo Yisa Goy," a plea for peace by Stacy Garrop; Bob Applebaum's stirring new version of "Haneirot Halalu"; and movements from the majestic "Hallel Suite" by London-based Daniel Tunkel. All selections are performed by Chicago a cappella, the virtuoso vocal ensemble. Jonathan Miller provides liturgical and cultural background as part of this unique look inside old and newer choral Chanukah traditions.
Chicago a cappella
An ensemble of professional singers founded in 1993 by Jonathan Miller, Chicago a cappella presents an annual Chicago-area subscription series, creates studio recordings as well as live and broadcast-media musical content, produces educational outreach programming, and gives performances on tour and in special engagements. Long recognized for vocal virtuosity and innovative programming, the ensemble enjoys a reputation as a leader in the choral field.
With more than 350 performances to its credit, Chicago a cappella has produced more than 200 concerts on its Chicago-based series. On tour, the group has appeared in 13 American states and in Mexico. The ensemble has been heard frequently on WFMT radio and through broadcasts distributed by American Public Media, including the nationally-syndicated Performance Today. The ensemble has produced nine CD recordings of music ranging from Renaissance masses to contemporary works.
From its inception, Chicago a cappella has been a champion of living composers. Since 1993 the group has presented more than 100 works in their world, national, or local premiere. Chicago a cappella has commissioned new music from composers including Joseph Jennings, Chen Yi, Stacy Garrop, Rollo Dilworth, Tania León, and Ezequiel Viñao.
Chicago a cappella is also active in educational and community engagement. The ensemble produces an annual Youth Choral Festival for young singers from the Chicago area, and leads an innovative High School Internship program, a multi-faceted immersion for selected students in the worlds of performance and arts administration.
Jonathan Miller, Host and Chicago a cappella Founder and Artistic Director
Known for innovative programming of choral concerts, Jonathan Miller has guided Chicago a cappella through more than 300 performances and nine commercial CD releases since he founded the ensemble in 1993. He is the recipient of the Louis Botto Award for Innovative Action and Entrepreneurial Zeal from Chorus America. When Jonathan was a teenage bass in the Chicago Children’s Choir, he was bitten hard by the choral bug. He was fortunate to be exposed to a wide range of repertoire by a remarkable group of mentors, including Christopher Moore, Lena McLin, Max Janowski, Howard Mayer Brown, Richard Proulx, John Nygro, and Anne Heider. Eager to learn research tools for choral music, Jonathan earned his doctorate in historical musicology at UNC-Chapel Hill. After returning to the Chicago area, Jonathan led the choir at Unity Temple in Oak Park for nine years and began composing new music for that ensemble. Jonathan has taken a leadership role in Jewish choral music, composing, arranging, narrating programs on stage and on radio, and leading workshops at the North American Jewish Choral Festival and elsewhere. A champion and publisher of the music of the late Max Janowski, Jonathan conducted the culminating concert of the Janowski Centenary at KAM Isaiah Israel Congregation; he also was the recipient of the 2013 Perelmuter Award at KAMII and was Scholar in Residence at Lakeside Congregation in Highland Park, Illinois, in November 2014. Jonathan is honored to serve as high-holiday cantor for Congregation Rodfei Zedek in Hyde Park. He has written more than 75 choral works in a variety of genres and languages; his music has been sung at venues including St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Pentagon; his mashup Jingle Bells Hallelujah Chorus is a minor hit; and his series of Wacky Christmas Carols continues to mix words and tunes in new combinations. He also serves as Director of Choral Catalog at Musicnotes.com. Jonathan is married, has an adult daughter and two step-grandsons, and dotes on his English Cocker Spaniels, Higgins and Moseley.
