Melinda Whiting
Classical HostMelinda has worked in radio for decades, hosting and producing classical music and arts news. An award-winning broadcaster, she has created and hosted classical music programs and reported for NPR, WQXR—New York, WHYY–Philadelphia, and American Public Media. WRTI listeners may remember her years hosting classical music for WFLN and WHYY.
Currently the host of The Philadelphia Orchestra In Concerton WRTI, Melinda has in the past served as the national radio voice of the New York Philharmonic and the Saint Louis Symphony. For many years she was a frequent host, producer, and editor on the daily public radio music program Performance Today. She also produced a national concert series from the Marlboro Music Festival.
While continuing her radio career, Melinda was editor in chief of Symphony, the bimonthly magazine of the League of American Orchestras. During her tenure, the magazine won several ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards for excellence in music journalism. She then took a hiatus from the airwaves while serving the Curtis Institute of Music as vice president for communications and senior editor.
Trained as a singer, Melinda also performed professionally for many years with early music ensembles and chamber choirs in New York, Washington, and Philadelphia. She is a member of the board of directors of the Theodore Presser Foundation and formerly served on the board of Network for New Music, as an officer of the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, and a member of the Diocesan Council of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey.
Melinda returned to radio at WRTI in Spring 2017 and has served as WRTI’s midday host since 2021.
Hear Melinda as host of Classical Weekdays on WRTI-FM, weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and as host of The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert, Sundays from 1 to 3 p.m. on WRTI-FM and Mondays from 7 to 9 p.m. on WRTI HD-2.
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In this episode of The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert on WRTI, Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads the orchestra in its first performance of Louise Farrenc's Symphony No. 3 in G minor, and Seong-Jin Cho performs Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2.
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The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert celebrates International Jazz Day with performances of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue; Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major; and Wynton Marsalis’ Tuba Concerto, along with selections from his Blues Symphony.
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The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert on WRTI features Roderick Cox in his debut, conducting John Adams' Dr. Atomic Symphony and the Suite No. 2 from Ravel's ballet Daphnis and Chloe. In between, Augustin Hadelich plays Sibelius' iconic Violin Concerto in D minor.
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The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert on WRTI features two exciting soloists, British cello sensation Sheku Kanneh-Mason and South African soprano Pretty Yende, in a program of Haydn and Mahler, alongside a world premiere by Xi Wang.
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The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert finds clarinetist Ricardo Morales and violist Choong-Jin Chang shining in a Max Bruch Concerto, alongside Dvořák’s beloved Symphony No. 9.
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Join us on Sunday, July 9 at 1 p.m. on WRTI 90.1 and Monday, July 10 at 7 p.m. on WRTI HD-2 as The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert brings you a program of Brahms, Holst, and Missy Mazzoli from the 2022/2023 season.
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Nicholas McGegan conducts The Philadelphia Orchestra in a program of Johann Sebastian Bach, George Friederic Handel and Jean-Fery Rebel, with featured organist Paul Jacobs.
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On this episode of the Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert, guest conductor Tugan Sokhiev leads the orchestra in exploring three important currents in the history of Russian music, with a Philadelphia debut by pianist Lukas Geniušas.
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In a program spanning Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night, and selections from Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni, the common denominator is love.
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Join us as The Philadelphia Orchestra, with guest conductor William Eddins and featured soloist Hilary Hahn, deliver a program of Debussy, Tchaikovsky, and Coleridge-Tayler Perkinson.