Press contact: Erin Allen (202) 707-7302
Website: Concerts from the Library of Congress (radio series)

October 25, 2007

"Concerts from the Library of Congress" Radio Series To Launch on Nov. 5

Beginning in November, the Library of Congress Music Division, WETA-FM and CD Syndications will be launching a 13-week classical music radio series slated for broadcast nationwide. Bill McGlaughlin, creator and host of the Peabody Award-winning program "Saint Paul Sunday Morning," hosts "Concerts from the Library of Congress," which features excerpts from past performances held in the Library’s historic Coolidge Auditorium.

Kicking off the series on Monday, Nov. 5, at 9 p.m. ET, on WETA 90.9 FM will be a terrific lineup of artists, including Joshua Bell, András Schiff, the Beaux Arts Trio, Stephen Isserlis, the Borromeo Quartet, Barry Douglas and Camerata Ireland, Luciana Souza and the Venice Baroque Orchestra with Giuliano Carmignola.

The new series marks a return to the Library’s distinguished broadcasting tradition of more than eight decades. Concerts of the 1925 Coolidge Auditorium season were broadcast by the Naval Broadcasting Service. In 1930, the five-year-old National Broadcasting Company began trial broadcasts for the Library from its studios in New York. With the 1933 season, Library concerts were aired regularly over the NBC and CBS networks, drawing a national audience for chamber music and beginning a remarkable run of weekly broadcasts that would last more than 60 years. "Concerts from the Library of Congress" aired internationally during the 1990s, with syndication by Radio France, Radio Netherlands, Italy’s RAI Tre and national networks in Australia, New Zealand and Russia.

Listeners will also have the chance to visit the treasure vaults of the Library’s Music Division in a special online series of companion packages created for each program. Original manuscripts and sketches by J. S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Copland, Gershwin and many others, as well as letters, photographs and memorabilia, will be accessible via the Library’s Web site at www.loc.gov. Offering unique documents and artifacts, such as Paganini’s private pocket diary and a handwritten 1765 account of an eyewitness interview with a 9-year-old Mozart, Library curators capture a glimpse of the Music Division’s vast collections. With more than 22 million individual items, it is the world’s largest music archive.

Executive producer for the radio series is Dan DeVany, vice president and general manager at WETA-FM. Producers are Vic Muentzer and Noelle Morris from CD Syndications and Anne McLean from the Library of Congress.

"Concerts from the Library of Congress"

Unless otherwise noted, all programs will be broadcast at 9 p.m. on WETA 90.9 FM. Programs are subject to change without prior notice.

Monday, Nov. 5: Various artists

  • Robert Schumann: Three Romances, Op. 94, for violin and piano
    Joshua Bell, violin, and Jeremy Denk, piano
  • Mark-Anthony Turnage: A Slow Pavane
    Beaux Arts Trio
  • Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge: Sonata for Oboe and Piano, excerpt
    Thomas Gallant, oboe, and Pedja Muzijevic, piano
  • Ludwig van Beethoven: Twelve Variations in F Major, Op. 66, on "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen," from Mozart’s "Die Zauberflöte"
    Miklós Perényi, cello, and András Schiff, piano
  • George Gershwin: "It’s Wonderful"
    Bill Charlap Trio
  • Gershwin/Heifetz: Three Preludes for violin and piano
    Elmar Olivera, violin, and Robert Koenig, piano

Monday, Nov. 12: Borromeo String Quartet with Wu Han, piano, and Artis-Quartett Wien

  • Felix Mendelssohn: Fugue in E-flat major, Op. 81, no. 4
  • Igor Stravinsky: Concertino for String Quartet
  • Dmitri Shostakovich: Piano Quintet in G minor

Monday, Nov. 19: Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn with Arabella Steinbacher, violin, and the Mandelring String Quartet

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Concerto for violin in A major, K. 219 ("Turkish")
  • György Ligeti: String Quartet No. 2

Monday, Nov. 26: The Bill Charlap Trio and the Luciana Souza Quartet, with Romero Lubambo, guitar

  • The American Songbook and Brazilian Jazz

Monday, Dec. 3: Camerata Ireland with Barry Douglas, piano, and Cho-Liang Lin and André-Michel Schub

  • Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto no. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 19
  • Bright Sheng: Three Fantasies for violin and piano, world premiere (2006)

Monday, Dec. 10: Soloists of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Serenade in B-flat Major, K. 361 ("Gran Partita")

Monday, Dec. 17: Venice Baroque Orchestra with Giuliano Carmignola, violin, and Alte Musik Berlin

  • Antonio Vivaldi: Sinfonia in G major for strings and continuo, RV 146
  • Concerto in C major for violin, strings and continuo RV 190
  • Giuseppe Tartini: Concerto in A major for violin, strings and continuo, D 96
  • Francesco Geminiani: Concerto Grosso "La Follia"

Monday, Dec. 24: András Schiff , Miklós Perényi, Steven Isserlis, Jeremy Denk and Beaux Arts Trio

  • Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata for cello and piano in A major, Op. 69
  • Robert Schumann: Five Pieces in Folk Style, Op. 102 for cello and piano
  • Franz Schubert: Notturno in E-flat Major, D. 897

Monday, Dec. 31: Corigliano String Quartet with Thomas Gallant, oboe, and Artis Quartett Wien

  • Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 127
  • Aulis Sallinen: Echoes from a Play, Op. 66 for oboe and string quartet

Monday, Jan. 7: Chamber Music with Steven Isserlis and Friends

  • Robert Schumann: Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 47
  • Steven Isserlis, cello; Joshua Bell, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola; Jeremy Denk, piano
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Violin Sonata in G Major, K. 379
  • Cho-Liang Lin, violin, and André-Michel Schub, piano
  • Milhuand: Scaramouche for clarinet and piano
  • Sabine Meyer, clarinet

Monday, Jan. 14: Beaux Arts Trio; Elmar Oliveira, violin; and Robert Koenig, piano

  • Dmitri Shostakovich: Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67
  • Aaron Copland: Sonata for Violin and Piano

Monday, Jan. 21: Leipzig Quartet with Ricardo Morales, clarinet

  • Johannes Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 11

Monday, Jan. 28: Belcea String Quartet with Ian Bostridge, tenor, and the Aron String Quartet

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams: "On Wenlock Edge"
  • Erich Wolfgang Korngold: String Quartet no. 3 in D Major, Op. 34

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PR 07-215
10/25/07
ISSN 0731-3527

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