Join us this Sunday, Aug. 25 at 4 p.m. for the second episode of Sunday Classical with Astral. This special program is made in collaboration with our longtime partners at Astral — a Philadelphia-based musician mentoring program — offering curated playlists and insights from artists that speak to their musical inspirations and aspirations.
This week, host John T.K. Scherch is joined by saxophonist Valentin Kovalev. Originally from Siberia and now based in Philadelphia, Kovalev is the first Russian saxophonist to have both been admitted as an undergraduate to the Paris Conservatory and as a graduate student to the University of Michigan. While at Michigan, he organized a benefit concert in response to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine which raised over $17,000. Kovalev studied with famed French saxophonist Claude Delangle (who you’ll hear on the program), and he has performed all over the United States, Europe, and China. In addition to Astral, he is also represented by Concert Artists Guild.
Valentin’s program features standard repertoire for the classical saxophone — including works by Glazunov, Paule Maurice, and Erwin Schulhoff — along with works for other instruments that inspire his artistry, and a mind-bending moment from Takashi Yoshimatsu’s 1994 Saxophone Concerto, “Cyber-bird” (which he’ll also be performing live next month in Harrisburg). Be sure to join John and Valentin this Sunday at 4 p.m. on WRTI, 90.1 and streaming at wrti.org and on the WRTI mobile app.