Arts Desk
Throughout the week
Listen to WRTI's Arts Desk features for a daily look into music in the Philadelphia region.
Latest Episodes
-
This Is The Heavenly Work by J.S. Bach That Contains So Much of What He Learned Over His Entire LifeBach'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… -
June 22, 2020. Just 27 years old, Italian pianist Beatrice Rana has released three major-label albums of diverse repertoire, from powerhouse concerti to…
-
Professional trumpet player, educator, advocate, and arts leader Stanford Thompson is founder and executive director of Play On, Philly, which teaches…
-
In 2008, African-American conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson founded Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble of classically trained musicians from diverse…
-
Violinist Gil Shaham became enthralled by Beethoven's Violin Concerto as a child. Years later, he's still moved by its power. Listen to Gil Shaham play…
-
Valerie Coleman has written works for The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Library of Congress, and a host of other organizations and ensembles, including the…
-
June 8, 2020. Since J.S. Bach’s time to the present, musicians have been irresistibly drawn to transcribing and arranging works that others have written.…
-
A moving song cycle about love has an equally powerful backstory. Captivated by a collection of Pablo Neruda's love poems, composer Peter Lieberson set…
-
June 1, 2020. Complices is the title of our Classical Album of the Week, and for the non-Francophiles among us, that translates to "accomplices" or…
-
Yannick Nézet-Séguin loves Mahler's Symphony No.5 for many reasons. One is that it's a work that epitomizes everything that orchestral music can be. "It…
