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 Our Fall Fund Drive which takes place from Nov. 2 - Nov 9 will be only the second time this year that we have gone on the air to ask for support. We're proud of the fact that we have been able to limit our on air appeals to just twice a year when many of the public stations seem to be doing it at least twice as often. We can get by with only two fund raisers because everyone you hear on the air at WWUH is a volunteer so just about all of our programming is free. The only exceptions are a few syndicated public affairs show which we pay a nominal fee for.
Using volunteers has been a tradition at WWUH since we first went on the air in 1968. It allows to keep the programming fresh because our hosts come from both the campus and the local community and they bring a wide variety of expertise to the airwaves.
We're here for you 24/7 and provide an independent voice and a wide variety of programming, much of which you can't hear elsewhere.
If you have already made a pledge of support I thank you. If you haven't please do so, it's not too late. You can call anytime, 800-444-WWUH (9984) or pledge on line via our secure website, wwuh.org.
John Ramsey General Manager
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WWUH - Your Live, Local, Listener-Supported Station In a world of digital music services, large corporate station ownership, and out-of-area rebroadcasts, WWUH increasingly stands out as something unique. Our programming is locally produced, our on-air staff are all volunteers, and our air studio is staffed 24/7. The beauty of a live, local station featuring such a diversity of genres is that of discovery: by listening to WWUH, you are exposed to viewpoints and sounds that you might never hear elsewhere. Downloadable apps give you music that's computer-selected to suit your previous listening preferences; WWUH gives you music that's host-selected to expand your knowledge and appreciation of new, different, local and global artists that you might never have known existed otherwise. Although we are sponsored by the University of Hartford, we truly are your station, because it is through generous support from you, our listeners, that we are able to remain on the air as your public alternative station. Kari Mackey Publicity Director |
How To Listen To WWUH
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Come as You Are... Tune in However Works Best for You
In Central CT and Western MA, WWUH can be heard at 91.3 on the FM dial. Our programs are also carried at various times through out the day on these stations:
WAPJ, 89.9 & 105.1, Torrington, CT
WDJW, 89.7, Somers, CT
WWEB, 89.9, Wallingford, CT
You can also listen on line using your PC, tablet or smart device. We offer both Windows Media and MP3 streams here.
We also recommend that you download the free app "tunein"
here to your mobile device.
Hi tech or low tech, near or far, we've got you covered!
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Never Miss Your Favorite WWUH Programs Again!
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Introducing... the WWUH Archive!
We are very excited to announce that all WWUH programs are now available on-demand using
the "Program Archive" link
This means that if you missed one of your favorite shows, or if you want to listen to parts of it again, you can do so easily using the Archive link. Programs are available for listening for
two weeks after their air date.
Enjoy the music, even when you can't listen "live"!
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Hartford Hawks Basketball Returns to WWUH
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It's that time of year again, Sports Fans!
Live coverage of the Hartford Hawks women's basketball games returns to the airwaves on WWUH this fall, beginning with the Hawks' away game at Cornell on Friday, November 14th at 7pm.
GO Hawks!
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WWUH Classical Programming - September/October 2014
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Sunday Afternoon at the Opera... Sundays 1:00 - 4:30 pm
Evening Classics... Weekdays 4:00 to 7:00/ 7:30/ 8:00 pm
Drake's Village Brass Band... Mondays 7:00-8:00 pm
November
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Sun
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2
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Handel: Jephtha
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Mon
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3
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Selections from Mercury Recordings
Drake's Village Brass Band: Fennell, Eastman Wind Ensemble - Grainger: Lincolnshire Posy
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Tue
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4
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An anthology of shorter works from several centuries
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Wed
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5
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Johann Christian Bach: Symphonies, op. 3; Antonio Scandello: Missa Epitaphium Illustrissimi; Schubert: Piano Sonata in A Major; Joseph Bodin de Boismortier: Flute Concertos; Ferdinand Ries: Concerto for Two Horns; Johann Mattheson: Sonatas
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Thu
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6
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New Releases - A Sampling of New Acquisitions from the WWUH Library.
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Fri
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7
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A collection of short works from across the contemporary board for Fall Fundraiser Week
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Sun
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9
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Verdi: Ernani
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Mon
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10
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Villa-Lobos: Symphny #6; Stravinsky: Pulcinella Suite, Apollon Musag�te; R. Strauss: Serenade in E Flat Major, Op. 7
Drake's Village Brass Band...Fennell, Easman Wind Ensemble - Diverse Winds
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Tue
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11
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Spohr: Violin Concerto #13 in E; Paganini: Guitar Quartet #7 in E; Still: Symphony #1; Beethoven: Missa Solemnis in D
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Wed
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12
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Host's Choice
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Thu
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13
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Zach: Oboe Concerto in B Flat, Sinfonia for Strings #2 in A; Louis-Lefebure Wely: Bolero de Concert in g Op 66; Chadwick: Melpomene, Symphonic Sketches; Kokkonen: Symphony #4; Bresnick: Pigs and Fishes; Plog: Four Miniatures for Viola and Wind Quintet; Brahms: Variations on an Original Theme Op 21; Mozart: Piano Concerto #14; Thomas Ades: Arcadiana.
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Fri
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14
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Birthday tributes to "Robert J." and Walter/Wendy Carlos
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Sun
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16
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Shakespeare: Julius Caesar
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Mon
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17
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Villa-Lobos: Symphony #7; R. Strauss: Metamorphosen; Wagner: Siegfried Idyll
Drake's Village Brass Band...West Point Band- Harvest
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Tue
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18
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Chadwick: Suite symphonique; Weill: Concerto for Violin & Wind Orchestra; Rachmaninoff: Symphony #2 in e; Palestrina: Stabat mater
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Wed
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19
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Ignaz Holzbauer: Symphony in D Minor; Joseph Rheinberger: Missa in A; Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Kabalevsky: Piano Sonata No. 2; Bernhard Crusell: Clarinet Concerto No. 2
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Thu
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20
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New Releases - A Sampling of New Acquisitions from the WWUH Library.
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Fri
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21
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A celebration of First Performances - Stravinsky, Shostakovich and more
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Sun
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23
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MacDermot: The Human Comedy
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Mon
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24
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Wilder: Wind Quintets; Villa-Lobos: Symphony #8; Bartok: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Divertimento for Strings
Drake's Village Brass Band...New England Brass Band - Be Glad Then America
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Tue
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25
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Couperin: Concerts Royaux, No. 4; Emil Mlynarski: Violin Concerto No. 2 in D major, Op. 16 (1916); Domenico Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonatas; Julius R�ntgen: String Trio No. 6; J. S. Bach: Cantata BWV 206 "Schleicht, spielende Wellen, und murmelt gelinde" (Dramma per Musica); C. P. E. Bach: Sonatas for Connoisseurs and Amateurs (selections)
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Wed
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26
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Dvorak: Symphony No. 9, From the New World; Clement Janequin: Missa L'Aveugle Dieu; Perotin: Hymns; Danzi: Bassoon Quintet No. 1; Johann Krebs: Sonata No. 2 in G Major; Luigi Dallapiccola: Episodes from Marsia; Debussy: Nocturnes
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Thu
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27
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Cozzolani: Marian Vespers; Pugnani. Overtures; Anton Stamitz: Concerto for 2 Flutes in G; Krommer: Clarinet Concerto in E flat Op 36, Octet-Partita in F Op 57; Ewald: Brass Quintet #1 Op 5; Koechlin: Sonata for Flute & Piano Op 52; Bertold Hummel: Sonatina for Horn & Piano; Benedict: Piano Concerto in c Op 45.
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Fri
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28
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Classical Conversations - a quarterly feature
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Sun
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30
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Wagner: Rienzi
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December
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Mon
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1
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Korndorf: Hymn III in Honor of Gustav Mahler; Stravinsky: Capriccio; Shostakovich: Concerto for Piano #1; Villa-Lobos: Symphony #9
Drake's Village Brass Band...Annapolis Brass Quintet - Forever is Composed of Nows
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Tue
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2
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Couperin: Concerts Royaux, No. 5; Uuno Klami: Violin Concerto (1943); Domenico Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonatas;
Julius R�ntgen: String Trio No. 7; J. S. Bach: Cantata BWV 204 "Ich bin in mir vergn�gt" (Von der Vergn�gsamkeit); C. P. E. Bach: Sonatas for Connoisseurs and Amateurs (selections)
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Wed
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3
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Nielsen: Symphony No. 3; Josef Myslivecek: Symphonies; Janacek: Folk Choruses for Male Voices; Giulio Regondi: Ten Etudes; Michael Haydn: Violin Concerto in B Flat Major
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Thu
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4
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Campra: Messe de Requiem-excerpts; Mozart: Violin Sonata in F K376; Harty: A Comedy Overture, In Ireland; Classical Happy Hour Tchaikovsky: Festival Coronation March; Telemann: Trumpet Concerto in D TWV 53:D2; Mozart Piano Concerto #17; Soler: Harpsichord Sonatas.
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Fri
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5
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Additional celebration of First Performances -Janacek, Mihaud and more
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Sun
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7
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Preempted
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Mon
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8
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Walton: Sonata for String Orchestra; Prokofiev: Visions Fugitives; Villa-Lobos: Symphony #10 "Amerindia"
Drake's Village Brass Band...Eastern Wind Symphony - Music in the Air
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Tue
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9
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Locatelli: Violin Concerto #5 in C, Op. 3, #5; Martinu: String Quartet #1; Bart�k: Concerto for Orchestra; Kod�ly: Psalmus Hungaricus
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Wed
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10
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Albert Roussel: Symphony No. 3; Thomas Campion: Songs; Antonio Rosetti: Two Horns Concerto; Purcell: Airs; Louis-Antoine Dornel: Suites; Jacques-Martin Hotteterre: Suite No. 1
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Thu
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11
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Cardoso: Motets; Zelter: Viola Concerto in E Flat; Berlioz: Waverley Overture, Reverie and Caprice Op 8, Symphonie Fantastique; Karlowicz: Serenade for Strings in C Op 2, Violin Concerto in A Op 8; Ornstein: A la Chinoise Op 39, Morning in the Woods; Carter: Scrivo in Vento; Jan Bach: Music for a Low-Budget Epic.
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Fri
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12
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Listeners' choices - email your request to [email protected]
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Sun
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14
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Preempted
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Mon
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15
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Villa-Lobos: Symphonies # 11 & 12; Arlen: Blues Opera Suite; Gershwin: Catfish Row; Korngold:
Another Dawn
Drake's Village Brass Band...United States Coast Guard Band - Live from Taiwan
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Tue
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16
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Albinoni: Concerto in C for 2 Oboes, Op. 9, #9; Magnard: Sonata for Cello & Piano, Op. 20; Enescu: Roumanian Rhapsody #2 in D; Mahler: Symphony #3 in d
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Wed
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17
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Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 3; Michael Corrette: Symphonies des Noels; Rimsky-Korsakov: Christmas Eve Suite; Anton Titz: String Quartet No. 1; Francesco Corbetta: Fantasia in Ciaconna; Santiago de Murcia: Marionas
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Thu
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18
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Mainerio: Dances; MacDowell: Piano Concerto #2 in a Op 23, Suite #1 Op 42, Woodland Sketches Op 51; Brahms: Symphony #3; Liptak: Commedia; Julia Wolfe: Lick; Theofanidis: Rainbow Body, Statues.
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Fri
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19
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Happy Chanukah
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Sun
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21
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Berlioz: L'Enfance du Christ
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Mon
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22
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Host's Choice
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Tue
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23
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Krommer: Clarinet Concerto in e; Reznicek: Symphony #3 in D; Schubert: Piano Trio #1 in B-flat; Vaughan Williams: Symphony #5 in D
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Wed
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24
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Host's Choice
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Thu
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25
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Gibbons: Hosanna to the Son of David, "Italian" Ground, Fantasia � 4; Mondonville: Pieces de Clavecin en Sonates Op. 3 #1, 4; Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Symphony in D Op 11 #2, Violin Concerto in A Op 5 #2; Herbeck: Pueri Concinite; No�l Lee: Prelude Prolonged #4; Perera: Meditations on Wondrous Love; Tchaikovsky: Symphony #1 in g Op 13 "Winter Daydreams"; Mendelssohn: Piano Music.
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Fri
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26
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A potpourri of music new in 2014
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Sun
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28
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Smith: The Seasons
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Mon
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29
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Host's Choice
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Tue
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30
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Classical Music for the Holiday Season
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Wed
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31
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Mozart: Symphony No. 18; Jean Mouton: Missa Dictes Moy Toutes Voz Pensees; Georges Auric: Orphee Suite; Mendelssohn: Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano, No. 2; Henri Herz: Piano Concerto No. 1; Prokofiev: Violin Sonata in F Minor; Luis Venegas de Henestrosa: Dances
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Thursday Evening Classics -
Composer Birthdays for September and October
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Composer Birthdays
November 6
1607 (bapt) Sigmund Staden
1753 Jean Baptiste Sebastien Breval
1757 Louis-Abel Beffroy de Reigny
1854 John Philip Sousa
1883 Hubert Bath
1909 Henk Bijvanck
1910 Arthur Cohen
1936 David Ward-Steinman
1936 Barbara Heller
1937 Gordon Brisker
1962 Howard Fredrics
November 13
1699 (bapt) Jan Zach
1817 Louis-Lefebure Wely
1854 George Whitefield Chadwick
1868 Pierre Maurice
1875 Rogelio del Villar
1878 Reinhard Oppel
1879 Maurice Delage
1921 Joonas Kokkonen
1926 Max V. Mathews
1939 Margaret Lucy Wilkins
1945 John Plant
1946 Martin Bresnick
1947 Anthony Plog
1951 John Kaizan Neptune
1952 Marius van Paassen
1955 Cord Meijering
1976 Scott Unrein
November 20
1759 (bapt) Nikolaus Zmeskall
1776 Ignaz Schuppanzigh
1827 Edmond D�d�
1873 Daniel Gregory Mason
1899 Juan Vicente Lecuna
1921 Norbert Moret
1932 John Barnes Chance
1942 Meredith Monk
1955 Daniel William McCarthy
1970 Geoff Keezer
1971 Marco Oppedisano
1974 Orianna Webb
November 27
1602 Chiara Margarita Cozzolani
1731 Gaetano Pugnani
1750 Anton Thad�us Johann Nepomuk Stamitz
1759 Franz Krommer
1801 Alexander Egorovich Varlamov
1804 Sir Julius Benedict
1827 Joseph Kaulich
1830 Harrison Millard
1860 Viktor Ewald
1867 Margaret Ruthven Lang
1867 Charles Koechlin
1879 Mabel Daniels
1895 Nico Dostal
1915 Victor Nicholas Alessandro
1925 Bertold Hummel
1935 Helmut Lachenmann
1938 Tien Cung
1953 David Felder
1960 Maria Schneider
1971 Edward Schocker
December 4
1660 (bapt) Andre Campra
1667 (bapt) Michel Pignolet de Monteclair
1806 Johann Burgmuller
1838 Rudolph Friedrich Niemann
1855 William J. Henderson
1879 Herbert Hamilton Harty
1910 Alex North
1945 Ron Hannah
1946 Pierre Even
1947 Robert J. Walsh
1951 Kenneth Lafave
1981 Ross Popoff
December 11
1566 Manuel Cardoso
1703 Ren� Drouard de Bousset
1758 Carl Zelter
1803 Hector Berlioz
1838 Whitney Eugene Thayer
1855 Julian Edwards
1876 Mieczyslaw Karlowicz
1892 Leo Ornstein
1905 Koos van de Griend
1907 Norbert Rosseau
1908 Elliott Cook Carter, Jr.
1937 Jan Bach
1938 Alfred McCoy Tyner
1941 Rogier van Otterloo
1944 David Ashley White
1971 Daniel Bernard Roumain
December 18
1746 Venanzio Rauzzini
1848 Frederick Grant Gleason
1860 Edward MacDowell
1862 Moriz Rosenthal
1870 Arsene Korestchenko
1873 Adolf Vogl
1941 Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith
1941 Don Walker
1949 David Liptak
1958 Julia Wolfe
1967 Christopher Theofanidis
December 25
1583 (bapt) Orlando Gibbons
1711 Jean-Joseph Cassanea de Mondonville
1728 Johann Adam Hiller
1739 Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges
1829 Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore
1831 Johann Ritter von Herbeck
1859 Charles Whitney Coombs
1883 Fran Lhotka
1885 Gisella Augusta Zuckermann aka 'Mana Zucca'
1924 No�l Lee
1928 Heinrich Poos
1938 David Borden
1941 Ronald Perera
1969 Tom Schnauber
1977 Brendan Epstein-Hynes
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Sunday Afternoon at the Opera
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Your "lyric theater" program with Keith Brown programming selections for the months of November and December, 2014 Sunday 1-4:30pm Ernani SUNDAY NOVEMBER 2ND Handel, Jephtha This was George Frideric Handel's last full-length composition. True, the secular oratorio The Triumph of Time and Truth followed Jephtha in 1757, but that work was mainly pieced together from preexisting music. In 1752 it was a struggle for Handel to complete the score of Jephtha. His eyesight was giving out; soon he would go quite blind with cataracts. Handel's final essay in the oratorio genre is quite dark as well. It's a lyric tragedy, actually, taken from the Old Testament Book of Judges. Jephtha, the Israelite military hero, must sacrifice his daughter Iphis to the Lord as a consequence of his bargain with God for victory. The story has its parallels in the Greek legends about Idomeneus and Agamemnon. In Thomas Morell's libretto for Jephtha, Iphis' death sentence is commuted because of the 18th century public's demand for a happy ending. Jehovah shows His mercy and Handel gets to end the oratorio,as usual, with a rousing "Halleluyah!" chorus. I have presented Jephtha once before, on Sunday, March 14, 1997, working from a CD reissue of a 1979 Decca/London recording. Neville Mariner led his own chamber orchestra, The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, with an all-English lineup of choristers and vocal soloists. That British orchestral Academy is not a "period instrument" ensemble, but the Academy for Ancient Music of Berlin certainly is. Marcus Creed directs these "period" players, plus the RIAS Chamber Chorus and a mostly British cast of solo singers. Jephtha was recorded in 1992 in co-production with Radio Berlin. Berlin Classics issued the oratorio on three compact discs in 1994. If you enjoyed listening to Jephtha on WWUH radio, why not go see and hear it performed live at Trinity Episcopal Church in Hartford this coming Saturday evening, November 8th. The Hartt School's resident musicologist Ken Nott has prepared a new critical edition of Handel's score. Hartt's choral specialist Edward Bolkovac conducts the Hartt Collegium and Hartt Chamber Choir. Vocal soloists include the internationally acclaimed soprano Julianne Baird as Iphis. For more information go online at harttweb.hartford.edu/. SUNDAY NOVEMBER 9TH Verdi, Ernani Giuseppe Verdi's Ernani (1844) sets forth a tale of political intrigue in Spain at the time of the conquistadors. The story centers upon a nobleman of Aragon, one Don Juan,called Ernani,who has been forced to turn outlaw. Amidst the struggle between rivals for the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor Ernani is also a rival for the hand of Donna Elvira. The bandit/nobleman becomes entangled in an assassination plot. In the end a fateful oath binds him to commit suicide. Ernani is as bombastic as nineteenth century romantic opera can be. Its improbable sequence of twists and turns was derived from a play by the French playwright Victor Hugo. Another playwright and music critic George Bernard Shaw had a special affection for this opera. He recognized that in Ernani the young Verdi had created a score full of passionate melody. Ernani established Verdi's international reputation. Way back on Sunday, March 10, 1985 I presented an EMI/Angel recording of Ernani made live in performance in 1982 at Milan's famous La Scala opera house. Riccardo Muti was conducting the La Scala orchestra and chorus. Cast in the title role was the superstar tenor Placido Domingo. After more than three decades that old Angel LP issue has acquired a certain historical significance, but of truly historic value is the recording made live in performance at the Metropolitan Opera house in New York, December 1, 1962. Thomas Schippers was directing the Met's orchestra and chorus, and the star of the show was the now recently deceased Italian tenor Carlo Bergonzi. Opposite him as Donna Elvira was the American soprano Leontyne Price. This recording is actually an airtape of a radio broadcast from the Met. Sony Classical gained access to the Met's archives and has included this audio document of Ernani in its recent series of vintage releases "The Metropolitan Opera." Sony has delved as far back in the archives as the 1940's, giving us today the opportunity to hear voices from the period in the mid twentieth century that many opera lovers regard as the Golden Age of opera singing. Ernani came out in Sony's series in 2012 on two compact discs. My broadcast of Ernani falls on the last day of the WWUH Fall Fundraiser week. I'll be breaking in on mike at certain junctures in my time-slot to urge you to donate your dollars to the fundraising drive. You faithful listeners have never failed to help this station meet or even exceed its fundraising goals in past seasonal efforts, so I thank you in advance for your generosity. SUNDAY NOVEMBER 16TH Shakespeare, Julius Caesar My broad definition of lyric theater embraces spoken-word drama, especially the plays of William Shakespeare. It has been fully a decade since I have aired the recordings of the Bard's works in the BBC Radio Collection. The British Broadcasting Corporation has been presenting full-length plays of Shakespeare since 1923. Julius Caesar (1595), as directed by Eoin O'Callaghan, stars Gerard Murphy in the title role. The play is interpreted as if it took place in the Italy of 1925, the era of the dictator Benito Mussolini. The director explains his perspective on the play in a brief introductory speech. BBC Radio Three broadcast this audio production of Julius Caesar on September 26, 1999. It was released on two compact discs by BBC Worldwide, Ltd. that same year. Those discs I last played on this same date exactly eleven years ago. Stay tuned for famous scenes from Hamlet, starring Richard Burton, in Sir John Gielgud's 1964 Broadway production. The original cast recording was issued by Columbia masterworks on a single mono LP. After listening to these scenes I think you'll agree with me that Richard Burton was one of the greatest Hamlets ever to have trod the Thespic boards. SUNDAY NOVEMBER 23RD MacDermot, The Human Comedy Our American Thanksgiving holiday is actually a species of Northern hemispheric harvest home feast, and as you all know, home is where the heart is. With "home" in mind, as a lyric theater prelude to your Thanksgiving festivities, I proudly present The Human Comedy (1984), a particularly operatic piece of popular American musical theater, the music by Canadian lyric theater composer Terence Galt MacDermot (b.1928), and lyrics by Bill Dumaresq. Galt MacDermot gave the world Hair (1967), the hippie rock musical. The Human Comedy is based on the novel by American author and playwright William Saroyan (1908- 81). Saroyan's story is set in a small town in California called Ithaca in 1942, in an era when people and goods travelled much more by rail than highway. We look in on the joys and sorrows of the Macauley family and other townspeople on "the home front" in World War Two. News arrives that one of Ithaca's soldier boys has been killed in action. Communications by telegraph figure importantly in the drama. The Human Comedy is a heartfelt musical tribute to hometown America, with all the nostalgia that clings to the concept. It was produced on Broadway by the Shubert Brothers Organization. Kilmarnock Records issued the original Broadway cast recording on two compact discs. SUNDAY NOVEMBER 30TH Wagner, Rienzi Here's a Wagner opera that I can broadcast in its entirety on one Sunday afternoon! Frankfurt Opera has made a series of recordings of their live concert performances of Richard Wagner's early operas, this in celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of the composer in 1813. The German label Oehms Classics released Frankfurt Opera's Rienzi on three compact discs in Wagner's bicentennial year. Sebastian Weigle directs the chorus and orchestra. The opera's story is based on the novel Rienzi, The Last of the Roman Tribunes by the English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Wagner read it in German translation and prepared his own libretto from it. His "Great Tragic Opera" rivals in its grand operatic scale the works of Spontini and Meyerbeer. Tenor Peter Bronder stars in the title role in the new Frankfurt Opera production. The last time I aired Rienzi the starring tenor was Rene Kollo. That was way back on Sunday, August 5, 1984, when I presented Rienzi on five LP's in its 1976 world premiere recording for EMI of the first published edition of the score. It was a production of Staatsoper Dresden, the city where Rienzi was first staged in 1842. (The premiere performance ran for six hours!) I struggled to squeeze that old recording into my three-and-a-half hour time-slot, cutting the ballet music in my effort to make it fit. The new Oehms Classics CD concert version of the opera has been considerably abridged. But the cuts made reduces its playing time to the proper length for broadcast. Actually, there no longer is a complete definitive autograph score for Wagner's third opera. It was destroyed in World War Two.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 7TH PREEMPTED by broadcast of a University of Hartford women's basketball game
SUNDAY DECEMBER 14TH PREEMPTED by broadcast of a University of Hartford women's basketball game.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 21ST Berlioz, L'Enfance du Christ On this last Sunday in Advent you get to hear how a composer of the Romantic period reinterpreted the body of traditional material associated with the Christmas story. Hector Berlioz looked back with nostalgia to the music of olden times in crafting his "Sacred Trilogy" L'Enfance du Christ (1854). Berlioz did not, however, slip into a pseudo-archaic musical style in telling his tale of the babyhood of Jesus. He decided not to imitate the past. Rather, he wholly reinvented it through the bold orchestral tone painting for which he had become famous. The choruses of L'Enfance du Christ possess particular charm. This work is a sacred cantata or perhaps a small triptych of an oratorio. I first aired it on December 29,1991 on Denon CD's with Eliahu Inbal leading the musical forces in a 1989 radio production for Hessian Radio of West Germany. Then on Christmas Sunday, 2005 came the Hyperion CD's presenting a very British and more operatic treatment of "The Infancy of Christ" with Matthew Best directing the Corydon Orchestra and Singers, plus the boy choristers of St. Paul's Cathedral, London. That 1995 Hyperion release has been superceded by one under the Swedish Linn Records label. Again, this is a radio production of the cantata. Robin Ricciati directs the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir. French tenor Yann Beuron is the narrator, Mary is French soprano Veronique Gens and the "Father of the Family" is British bass/baritone Alastair Miles. The Linn recording was made in Stockholm in December of 2012 in co-production with Swedish Radio, and came out the following year on two compact discs. My presentation of L'Enfance du Christ will begin at approximately 2:00 PM so as to accommodate the broadcast of a women's basketball game.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 28TH Smith, The Seasons Oftentimes at the end of the year I present one or another of the two famous oratorios The Creation (1798) and the Seasons (1801). This time around why not listen to The Seasons oratorio by John Christopher Smith the Younger (1712-95), son of Handel's copyist. You have heard something of J. C. Smith's work before, when on Sunday, March 9, 2003 I broadcast the Naxos recording of Nabal (1764), a posthumous pastiche of a Handel oratorio. For Nabal Smith assembled and arranged various Handelian numbers, and wrote his own recitative passages linking them all together. Entirely of his own composition is The Seasons (1740), a setting of lines from the Scottish poet James Thomson's popular pastoral poem which concludes with a Hymn on the Seasons. (Some of this versification found its way into the German language libretto that Baron Van Swieten prepared for Haydn's Die Jahreszeiten.) German readers had long enjoyed Thomson's poem in translation. Their admiration for it is carried forward into our own times in a 2014 Christophorus compact disc issue of Smith's oratorio. That German label has picked up the Musica Franconia recording of this work (a world premiere on disc?), made in co-production with Bavarian Radio. In the 2012 festival performance of The Seasons the Musica Franconia chorus enunciate the original English text perfectly well. Two native English-speaking vocal soloists were called in for the festival: countertenor Tim Mead and a longtime exemplar of baroque singing practice, soprano Emma Kirkby. Wolfgang Riedelbach directs the chorus and the period instrumental group La Banda. Smith's music builds upon Handel's style. It's quite progressive for the end of the baroque era. The orchestration is colorful and illustrates the poet's seasonal imagery so well, with sprightly passagework for woodwinds and horns. The two Christophorus CD's come out of my own collection of oratorio and opera on disc, as do two other recordings featured in this final two-month round of programming for the year 2014: the BBC compact discs of Julius Caesar and the Columbia LP of Richard Burton in Hamlet. Galt MacDermot's The Human Comedy comes on loan from Rob Meehan, former classics deejay here at WWUH,and a specialist collector in the field of "alternative" classical music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The rest of the recordings are to be found in our station's ever-growing classical music record library. I must thank everyone who assisted me in any way in my opera programming and broadcasting over the past twelve months,e specially our WWUH Operations Director Kevin O'Toole, who has been mentoring me in the preparation of these notes for cyber-publication.
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Celtic Airs Concert Series 2015
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Stay tuned both here in the program guide and on air for upcoming exciting news about the 2015 Celtic Airs concerts!
Celtic Airs with your host Steve Dieterich
can be heard weekly on Tuesday mornings
from 6-9am on WWUH.
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West Hartford Symphony Orchestra
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WHSO Concert Season 2014 Concert Season
In Collaboration with the WWUH Classical Programming we are pleased to partner with the West Hartford Symphony Orchestra to present their announcements and schedule to enhance our commitment to being part of the Greater Hartford Community.
Annual Holiday Concert - Sunday Dec.14, 2014 at 3 p.m. in the Roberts Theater on the Kingswood Oxford School campus, 170 Kingswood Rd, West Hartford.
For over ten years, the West Hartford Symphony has been providing a musical outlet for residents of West Hartford and the Greater Hartford Area. Musicians from the ages of 14 to 86 come together once a week to play a variety of pieces and perform four concerts each year.
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Connecticut Valley Chamber Orchestra
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Connecticut Valley Symphony Orchestra 2014 Concert Season
The Connecticut Valley Symphony Orchestra, now in its 84th season, is the Capital Region's oldest community orchestra.
November 16 and 22, 2014
Mahler: Symphony No. 1
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis
This concert is in collaboration with the
Manchester Symphony Orchestra.
Sunday, Nov. 16 at Trinity Episcopal Church at 3:00 PM
and
Saturday, Nov. 22 at Manchester High School at 7:30 PM.
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The Musical Club of Hartford
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The Musical Club of Hartford, Inc., is a non-profit Connecticut organization celebrating its 123rd anniversary this year. Each year, from October to May, ten or more concerts are presented by performing members, featuring soloists and vocal or instrumental ensembles. These concerts usually take place on Thursday mornings at Westminster Presbyterian Church, West Hartford.
The Musical Club will hold its ANNUAL OPEN HOUSE AND MEMBERS PROGRAM on Thursday, November 6, 2014, 10:00 a.m.,
Westminster Presbeterian Church, 2080 Boulevard, West Hartford.
For more information, visit:
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Hartford Symphony Orchestra
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The Hartford Symphony Orchestra, marking its 70th Season in 2013-2014, is Connecticut's premier musical organization. The Hartford Symphony is the second largest orchestra in New England and is widely recognized as one of America's leading regional orchestras.
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Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts
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Opened in December of 1955, Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts is the largest college-based presenting program in New England. Each season, Jorgensen events attract more than 70,000 students, faculty and staff from the University of Connecticut, as well as residents from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Jorgensen presents 25-30 nationally and internationally acclaimed artists and ensembles annually, ranging from classical music to world music and dance, classical and contemporary dance, comedy, family programming and contemporary entertainment.
Box Office: 860.486.4226 or
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