News

Jill's guest is this week is Terence Blanchard. His most recent album,"A Tale of God's Will - Requiem for Katrina" was the film score for Spike Lee's documentary recounting the horrors that befell the people of New Orleans. Blanchard is a Grammy award winner and five-time Grammy nominee, and continues his musical efforts as an internationally recognized performer, composer, band leader, and arranger. He is also currently Artistic Director of the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Jim Cotter speaks with Jennifer Higdon.  The Philadelphia Orchestra and Time for Three premier her Concerto 4-3 this week. It's part of the orchestra's Leonard Bernstein Festival.

Also, Susan Lewis looks at the life and legend of the great American composer, conductor, and educator.

Jason Peifer talks to the organizers of the annual One Book, One Philadelphia program.

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Jim Cotter speaks with pianist Simone Dinnerstein about a computer generated re-recording of Glenn Gould's legendary performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations. Her own recording of the 'Variations has been on the classical music charts for 18 weeks now.

Jason Peifer takes us the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia.

Susan Lewis visits an exhibition of the works of the prominent late nineteenth century Italian painter Antonio Mancini at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

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Jill Pasternak speaks with the Carlos Chavez string quartet, formerly the Russian-American String Quartet. Since its founding, the ensemble has created a positive impact in its pursuit of unearthing, performing, and recording works by Mexican composers of the 19th and 20th century. In 1997 the quartet won First Prize in the Competition for Special Projects in Chamber Music sponsored by the Cultural Diffusion Department of Mexico's National Autonomous University for researching and recording lesser-known Mexican string quartets.

WRTI's countdown of the top jazz tunes in 2007.

The top 75 most requested songs of the year, based on WRTI listener-generated requests from the weekly Jazz Hot 11 Countdown.

ARTIST - TUNE
ALBUM
LABEL

1
Terence Blanchard - Wading Through
A TALE OF GOD'S WILL
Blue Note

Tune to WRTI on Saturday, January 19th, when the Metropolitan Opera will broadcast a historic performance of Puccini's La Boh?me, starring the late Luciano Pavarotti with the legendary Renata Scotto, conducted by Maestro James Levine. Originally broadcast on March 19, 1977, this performance was the inaugural Live from the Met telecast that turned Pavarotti into an American superstar.

Jill Pasternak speaks with vocalist Max Raabe, leader of the 12-piece Palast Orchester. The ensemble has achieved international success for their original arrangements of music from the Golden Age of film and dance, including Gershwin, Porter, and Berlin.

Resources:

Jill's guest this week, composer and conductor John Rutter, is one of the most respected figures in choral music. His works are among the most frequently-performed and loved in the choral repertoire. Mr. Rutter speaks about his career and his latest release with the Cambridge Singers, recorded in the historic Lady Chapel of Ely Cathedral in Cambridge, England.

Legendary jazz and R&B producer Joel Dorn passed away on December 17, 2007.

My friend, Joel Dorn, of some 37 years passed away today [December 17, 2007]. We bonded a friendship initially by phone, and corresponded that way for almost 40 years before finally meeting face-to-face. But all the while he'd send me LP's and CD's he either singularly produced or helped produce.

Jim Cotter finds out what happens when a group of Temple University fine arts students are let loose on a derelict suburban home.

Temple University Tyler Fine Arts Project

Resources:

• Temple University Tyler School of Art