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The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert on WRTI: Rafael Payare’s debut and a world premiere featuring principal clarinetist Ricardo Morales

Principal Clarinet Ricardo Morales is soloist and Rafael Payare is on the podium in this concert broadcast of The Philadelphians on WRTI, recorded live in November, 2021.
Jeff Fusco
Principal Clarinet Ricardo Morales is soloist and Rafael Payare is on the podium in this concert broadcast of The Philadelphians on WRTI, recorded live in November, 2021.

Join us on Sunday, August 21st at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1, and Monday, August 22nd at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2 when our Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcast brings you a performance recorded live in November, 2021.

This concert marks the Philadelphia Orchestra debut of Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare, the music director of the San Diego Symphony and music director designate of the Montreal Symphony. Payare opens the program with the rambunctious and ever-popular Roman Carnival Overture by Hector Berlioz, based on themes from his opera Benvenuto Cellini.

Antonin Dvorak’s monumental Symphony No. 7 in D minor – a work of sweeping grandeur, brilliant orchestral color, irresistible melodies, and high drama – concludes the concert.

In between, the virtuosity of Philadelphia Orchestra principal clarinetist Ricardo Morales is on brilliant display in the world premiere of a playful new concerto written for him in 2020 by American composer Jacob Bancks. The work gives expression to every aspect of the soloist's ebullient personality and musical mastery.

We’ll also bring you some chamber music by Dvorak, offered by Philadelphia Orchestra musicians to accompany a USCIS naturalization ceremony in 2021, as part of the orchestra’s “Our City, Your Orchestra” initiative.

Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Clarinet Ricardo Morales talks with WRTI's Susan Lewis
Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Clarinet Ricardo Morales talks with WRTI's Susan Lewis

Listen for interviews interspersed throughout the broadcast. Producer Susan Lewis speaks with clarinetist Ricardo Morales about the new Bancks concerto, and with guest conductor Rafael Payare about Dvorak and working with the Philadelphians for the first time.

Read detailed program notes from the concert here.

PROGRAM:

Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture
Bancks: Clarinet Concerto
Dvorak: I. “Cavatina,” from Four Miniatures, Op. 73a
Dvorak: Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Rafael Payare, conductor
Ricardo Morales, clarinet

Listen to The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcasts, every Sunday at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1, streaming at WRTI.org, on the WRTI mobile app, and on your favorite smart speaker. Listen again on Mondays at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2. Listen for up to two weeks after broadcast onWRTI Replay. 

Melinda 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.
Susan writes and produces stories about music and the arts. She’s host and producer of WRTI’s TIME IN online interview series, and contributes weekly intermission interviews for The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert series. She’s also been a regular host of WRTI’s Live from the Performance Studio sessions.