Alongside fireworks, barbecues, World Cup matches, and every kind of Fourth of July festivity imaginable, this Independence Day offers a chance to celebrate more than 250 years of American musical history.
From Friday, July 3 through Sunday, July 5, WRTI will bring you Sounds of America, a special weekend featuring American composers, performers and musical traditions in all their richness and variety. We’ll trace a wide-ranging musical map, covering everything from Colonial-era songs to favorites by Gershwin, Copland, and Bernstein to the visionary experiments of Charles Ives, Philip Glass, and Jennifer Higdon.
Whether you’re spending the weekend by the grill, on the road, or enjoying a few quiet hours at home, we hope you’ll join us for this celebration of America in music. Here are some highlights below.
Friday, July 3
Morning Classical with John Scherch
John T.K. Scherch kicks off the festivities with a morning full of American favorites.
Wake up with our Sousalarm at 7:15 a.m., a stirring performance of the March King’s Stars and Stripes Forever — because really, what else could we pick?! At 8 a.m., Breakfast with Bach takes an American turn with three pioneering musicians: mandolinist Chris Thile, bassist Edgar Meyer, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Other morning highlights include Dudley Buck’s Festival Overture on “The Star Spangled Banner,” Aaron Copland’s Rodeo, Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, and selections from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel.
Midday Classical with Melinda Whiting
Melinda Whiting keeps the celebration going with more musical fireworks, including Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Barber’s lyrical Violin Concerto, and Dvořák’s rarely performed cantata The American Flag.
Even Midday Mozart has Independence Day flair: we’ll hear a march that Mozart composed in July 1776, as the American experiment was getting underway.
Afternoon Classical with Dave Tarantino
At 2 p.m., Dave Tarantino plays one of the most beloved symphonic portraits of America ever written by a visitor: Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.”
The afternoon also features works by Duke Ellington, Leonard Bernstein, Amy Beach, and Copland’s heartwarming score to Our Town for Flix at Five.
Saturday, July 4
Saturday Morning Classical with Mike Bolton
From 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., Mike Bolton hosts a morning of American music that is celebratory and reflective in equal measure. Highlights include arrangements of Shenandoah and America the Beautiful, Dvořák’s “American” String Quartet, Copland’s Appalachian Spring, and Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks (in a performance by Boston Baroque). We’ll also hear favorites by William Billings, Leroy Anderson, John Williams, and many others.
WRTI Opera Special: Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha
At 1 p.m., Zev Kane hosts a special broadcast of a rarely performed but profoundly important American opera: Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha.
Completed in 1911, Joplin’s magnum opus ingeniously weaves together ragtime, early vaudeville, spirituals, dance music, and operatic forms into a work unlike anything else in the American repertoire. For this special broadcast, we’ll hear the landmark 1976 Houston Grand Opera recording, released during America’s bicentennial, with Gunther Schuller conducting his own orchestration of Joplin’s score.
Afternoon Classical with Mark Pinto
After Treemonisha, Mark Pinto offers an afternoon of festive selections for the Fourth. Standouts include Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Elmer Bernstein’s evocative soundtrack to To Kill a Mockingbird, and piano music by Margaret Bonds and Robert Nathaniel Dett.
Sunday, July 5
The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert
Melinda Whiting hosts a special episode of The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert exploring the Orchestra’s long advocacy for American composers across its 125-year history. Drawing on both live and studio performances, the program features conductors Eugene Ormandy, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Christoph Eschenbach, and Xian Zhang in music by William Grant Still, Ives, Higdon, Barber, and Gershwin.
Sunday Classical: New Releases
From 3 to 6 p.m., Mark Pinto hosts a special edition of our Sunday Classical devoted to new releases by American composers and artists, including several projects connected to America 250. Highlights include music by Gershwin, Howard Hanson, Barber, John Williams, and Glass, with performances by Barbara Hannigan, the Apollo Chamber Players, violinist Paul Huang, the United States Marine Band, and pianist Simone Dinnerstein.
