WRTI | Your Classical & Jazz Source

July 4th Weekend on WRTI Will Bring a Smile To Your Face!

So, your Independence Day weekend may be a little different this year, but one thing is the same: WRTI is here for you. We have classical and jazz fireworks planned for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Details from playlists and special shows for each day are listed below.

The Philadelphia Orchestra In Concert on WRTI 90.1: Wynton Marsalis' Blues Symphony In The Spotlight

Classical Album of the Week: Welcome Summer with Soprano Angel Blue's Joy Alone

Flix@5 with WRTI's Kevin Gordon Features Music from Film Adaptations of Great Books

By Kevin Gordon & Susan Lewis • Jul 2, 2020

Summer is a great time to read, watch movies, and listen to great soundtracks. WRTI Flix@5 Host Kevin Gordon talks with Susan Lewis about the movie music he's featuring during our special Book-to-Film week, July 6th through the 10th. Join us each day after the 5:00 news for Flix@5!

How Music Responds on WRTI: A Conversation with Writer Candace Allen

By Susan Lewis • Jul 1, 2020

How does music help us find our identity and also bring people together with different backgrounds? Candace Allen—a contributor to the BBC and The Guardian, and author of Soul Music: The Pulse of Race and Music—shares her thoughts on recent events, and how music can respond, in a conversation with WRTI's Susan Lewis.

WRTI Awarded $25,000 From the COVID-19 Arts Aid PHL Fund

By WRTI Staff • Jul 1, 2020

In response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts and culture sector of the Greater Philadelphia region, the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy (OACCE), the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance (GPCA), and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund (PCF) created the COVID-19 Arts Aid PHL Fund, an emergency support fund to assist individual artists as well as arts and culture organizations whose operations, work and livelihood h

Johnny Mandel, Who Set a Gold Standard in Popular Song and Movie Scores, Has Died at 94

By Nate Chinen • Jun 30, 2020

Johnny Mandel, a composer and orchestrator who brought emotional depth and a sophisticated sheen to the realms of popular song, television and film, died on Monday at his home in Ojai, Calif. He was 94.

WRTI's NPR Live Sessions Video of the Week: Trumpeter Arnetta Johnson & SUNNY Perform "Who Are You"

By Bobbi I. Booker • Jun 29, 2020

Trumpeter Arnetta Johnson discovered the trumpet a dozen years ago as a "band geek" at Creative and Performing Arts High School in Camden, NJ, and went on to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Mentored by both Jill Scott and Tia Fuller, Arnetta blossomed from her first professional gig with the Unity Community Center's (UCC) Little Jazz Giants, to being the featured trumpeter on both Beyoncé Formation and On The Run II tours.

Freddy Cole, Singer Who Eluded the Shadow of His Brother Nat "King" Cole, Has Died at 88

By Nate Chinen • Jun 29, 2020

Freddy Cole, whose debonair yet unassuming vocal style lighted his way through a distinguished jazz career, in and out of the shadow of his older brother Nat “King” Cole, died on Saturday at his home in Atlanta, Ga.

Jazz Album of the Week: Avery Sharpe’s 400 Navigates Four Centuries of African-American History

By Matt Silver • Jun 29, 2020

[Originally published in June, 2019] Sometimes in music, especially jazz, we call a particularly ambitious new album “a project,” especially when the music is something more, the perfect vehicle to deliver an impactful story. With 400: An African American Musical Portrait, bassist Avery Sharpe hasn’t just released a new album—he’s unveiled a serious project.

Someone Finally Remembered William Dawson's 'Negro Folk Symphony'

By Tom Huizenga • Jun 26, 2020

On Nov. 20, 1934, a brand new symphony brought a Carnegie Hall audience to its feet. The concert featured the Philadelphia Orchestra, led by its star conductor Leopold Stokowski. The music was the Negro Folk Symphony, by the 35-year-old African American composer William Dawson.

This Is The Heavenly Work by J.S. Bach That Contains So Much of What He Learned Over His Entire Life

By Susan Lewis • Jun 23, 2020

Listen

Listening...

1:31

Listen to the short radio story.

Bach's Mass in B minor is a testament to a lifetime of work by the "King of Baroque"—but the masterpiece is not a typical Mass in scope or compositional history.

The Philadelphia Orchestra In Concert on WRTI: Yannick Conducts J.S. Bach's Magnificent B minor Mass

By Gregg Whiteside • Jun 23, 2020

Listen

Listening...

9:54

WRTI's Susan Lewis talks backstage with Joe Miller, director of the Westminster Symphonic Choir.

WRTI is proud to bring you a very special Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcast on Sunday, June 28th from 1 to 4 PM on WRTI 90.1, and Monday, June 29th from 7 to 10 PM on WRTI HD-2.