Debra Lew Harder

The 2019-2020 Philadelphia Orchestra season was built around two themes – BeethovenNow (in the 250th anniversary year of his birth), and WomenNOW. And our Sunday, April 18th re-broadcast at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1 and repeated on Monday, April 19th at 7 PM on HD-2 begins and ends with compositions by French women of the 19th and early-20th centuries, with Beethoven right in the middle.

The British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor and the French-born conductor Nathalie Stutzmann are in the spotlight for this 2019 Philadelphia Orchestra In Concert broadcast on March 28th at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1 and March 29th at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2.

While Easter has inspired Bach's Saint Matthew Passion and many other beloved classical works, the holiday of Passover—being celebrated by millions of the Jewish faith this week—claims no famous pieces in the concert repertoire. WRTI's Debra Lew Harder explores why, and finds out what music you can find at a seder.

Join us on Sunday, March 14th at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1 and Monday, March 15th at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2 to hear a 2018 concert broadcast from the Orchestra’s British Isles Festival conducted by Fabio Luisi.

The legendary Broadway musical writing team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II produced their final show together, The Sound of Music, nine months before Hammerstein passed away of cancer. Yet throughout all the songs of the show, there’s a great sense of hope and optimism.

Join us on Sunday, February 14th at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1, and Monday, February 15th at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2 to hear a fabulously romantic Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcast from 2019. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Sergei Prokofiev’s brilliant take on Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet.