PLEASE NOTE: Playlists for this program can be found on the right-hand side of the WFMT Orchestra Series page! Please subscribe to the WFMT Orchestra Series on PRX by following the link on the right-hand sidebar.
The WFMT Radio Network is pleased to present Orchestras from the European Broadcasting Union, with performances from the Dresden Staatskapelle, The Hallé, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the German Symphony Orchestra and the Oslo Philharmonic. Conductors include Christian Thielemann, Sir Mark Elder, Domingo Hindoyan, and Marin Alsop.
Each broadcast includes select music from commercial recordings to complement the concerts and ensure that each program is the appropriate length.
The WFMT Orchestra Series begins in January with a set of 5 broadcasts from the European Broadcasting Union, comprised of performances from Germany, England, and Norway.
- The first broadcast kicks off the New Year with the Dresden Staatskapelle conducted by Christian Thielemann in a concert of works by Weber, Wagner, and R. Strauss (EBU24-01 / WOS23-27);
- Sir Mark Elder leads Manchester’s The Hallé, with a stunning performance of Sibelius’s The Oceanides. Concertmaster Roberto Ruisi performs Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto in D, and The Hallé Choir joins for the complete ballet score to Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé (EBU24-02 / WOS23-28);
- The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra presents a concert of work by Americans, including Symphonic Dances by Bernstein and Rachmaninov. Paul Lewis joins the orchestra for a double feature of Copland’s Piano Concerto and Gershwin’s delightful Rhapsody in Blue (EBU24-03 / WOS23-29);
- Marin Alsop leads the German Symphony Orchestra, Berlin, in a performance of Montgomery, Dean, and Dvořák. Drawing on American folk idioms and the spirit of dance and movement, Montgomery’s Strum moves from nostalgia to ecstatic celebration. Dean’s Cello Concerto, here exceptionally performed by Alban Gerhardt, plays with recurring motives and rhythms that moves seamlessly between intimate, dreamy, and agitated emotions. The concert closes with Dvořák’s familiar and timeless New World Symphony.
(EBU24-04 / WOS23-30); - Pianist Yuja Wang joins the Oslo Philharmonic and its Chief Conductor Klaus Mäkelä for a program of 20th-century masterpieces by Ravel and Shostakovich. In a rare side-by-side performance, Yuja Wang brings her exceptional virtuosity to Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand and the jazz-influenced Piano Concerto in G. Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony concludes the concert (EBU24-05 / WOS23-31);
