Arts Desk

Throughout the week

Listen to WRTI's Arts Desk features for a daily look into music in the Philadelphia region.

TIME IN with Violinist Sarah Chang: Hiking with Her Dog Chewie, Making Sushi, and Skydiving

By • 3 hours ago
M. Nicole Fischer

Classical Album of the Week: Igor Levit Plays Beethoven's 32 Piano Sonatas

By • Aug 3, 2020

August 3, 2020. This is is Beethoven’s 250th anniversary birth year. It’s also the year the coronavirus pandemic has forced the cancellation of countless live concert tributes to Beethoven across the globe. This calamitous turn of events makes the release of important Beethoven recordings especially welcome.

Chris' Jazz Café, Legendary Philly Music Venue, Pivots with Launch of High-Tech Livestream Events

By • Jul 31, 2020
Courtesy of Chris' Jazz Café

When Center City Philadelphia's Chris' Jazz Café closed its doors in March because of the Coronavirus, the world-famous venue was already a couple of months into a quiet revamp, offering live streaming performances as a natural option for its patrons.

How a Historic Philadelphia Music Program is Preparing Young Musicians for the Future—Virtually

By • Jul 30, 2020

Philadelphia's All City Music Program has been teaching kids for over 70 years. The All City Orchestra Summer Academy—ACOSA, now in its second year—is going one step further, teaching the technology skills students need to share their music in 2020 and beyond.

TIME IN with Composer Jennifer Higdon: New Concerto, New Car, Favorite Podcast

By • Jul 29, 2020

What has been life been like for Philadelphia-based composer Jennifer Higdon since the start of the pandemic? In this late May, 2020 TIME IN interview with WRTI’s Susan Lewis, Jennifer shares how the COVID-19 shutdown has influenced her writing and teaching, and prompted her to explore new activities, including listening to a certain podcast and driving the first car she's owned in 22 years!

Classical Album of the Week: Chiaroscuro String Quartet Plays Stimulating Music of Haydn

By • Jul 20, 2020

July 20, 2020. The last complete set of string quartets that Josef Haydn composed, a set of six, Op. 76, are among his most ambitious chamber works, deviating from their predecessors in their near-continual exchange of motifs between instruments.

Remembering the Unforgettable Eleanor Sokoloff: The Longtime Curtis Educator Has Died at 106

By • Jul 17, 2020
David Swanson

It was 1931 when Eleanor Blum arrived in Philadelphia at age 17 to study piano at the Curtis Institute of Music—and she never left. "Mrs. Sokoloff," as she was known to students and educators alike at the storied conservatory, died on July 12, 2020 at age 106 of natural causes. She taught at Curtis, the place she called home, for more than 84 years, and was planning to teach this fall despite the pandemic.

Music By This 19th-Century French Composer Is Getting The Attention It Deserves In Philadelphia

By • Jul 14, 2020

In the mid-19th century, there were few performance opportunities for large-scale works by women composers. Today, a symphony composed in the 1840s by French pianist, teacher and composer Louise Farrenc is finally getting well-deserved attention on the concert stage in Philadelphia.

Classical Album of the Week: British Violinist Daniel Hope Explores Music of the Belle Epoque

By • Jul 6, 2020

July 6. 2020. Belle époque, or “beautiful era,” represents the time in European history between the end of the Franco-Prussian War (1871) to the onset of World War I (1914) when science and the arts flourished. Violinist Daniel Hope explores the music of the Belle époque in his 17th release for Deutsche Grammophon.

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

By • 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.

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