Classical Conversations
Episodes
Duo Noire: Night Triptych
14 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Duo Noire (classical guitarists Thomas Flippin and Christopher Mallett) offer a preview of their debut album, Night Triptych – which contains works ...
The Crossing: Zealot Canticles
07 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Conductor Donald Nally joins us for a conversation about his choral group The Crossing, and their recent project Zealot Canticles – which pairs the ...
Neave Trio: French Moments
10 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The young and vibrant Neave Trio – violinist Anna Williams, cellist Mikhail Veselov, and pianist Eri Nakamura – preview their new album "French Mo...
Inbal Segev and Juho Pohjonen: Chopin, Schumann, Grieg
03 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Cellist Inbal Segev and pianist Juho Pohjonen join us for a preview of their new album from Avie Records, which includes three chamber music masterpie...
Ray Chen: The Golden Age
25 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In his new album "The Golden Age" for Decca Classics, violinist Ray Chen pays tribute to the great violinists of the past while looking to the future....
Notorious RBG in Song
13 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Soprano Patrice Michaels, along with her husband James Ginsberg, founder of Cedille Records in Chicago, join us for a conversation about their ambitio...
Amit Peled: To Brahms, With Love
06 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Cellist Amit Peled carries on the formidable legacy of the great Pablo Casals, both as the custodian of Casals' own cello and through his long-running...
Hope and Dreams: The Lullaby Project
22 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Opera luminary Joyce DiDonato joins us for a conversation about the star-studded album Hopes and Dreams: The Lullaby Project. An outgrowth of Carnegie...
Joshua Bell: Scottish Fantasy
15 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Violin superstar Joshua Bell joins us to preview his new album, which features his first recording ever of the virtuosic Scottish Fantasy by Max Bruch...
Simone Dinnerstein: Circles (Bach + Glass)
08 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Pianist Simone Dinnerstein's latest recording from the Orange Mountain Music label is called Circles, and features the Boston-based, Grammy-nominated ...
Kazem Abdullah: Daphnis & Chloe
25 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The young and dynamic American conductor Kazem Abdullah joins us for a conversation about his new recording of Maurice Ravel's masterful ballet Daphni...
Robert Prester: Rapsodya
18 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Pianist Robert Prester has received wide acclaim for his jazz recordings over the years. Now he turns his attention to the classical genre with a new ...
Norman Krieger: Brahms
11 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Pianist Norman Krieger talks Johannes Brahms and samples his new album, which features both Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 (with the London Symphony Orc...
Ariel Quartet: Bartok & Brahms
04 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Formed in Israel nearly twenty years ago, the Ariel Quartet is currently Faculty Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Cons...
Miró Quartet: Beethoven
11 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Two members of the celebrated Miró Quartet talk about the group's history and the latest entry in their Beethoven cycle: the String Quartet Opus 131 ...
As One at KCH
05 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Stage director/vocal coach Kathy Kelly and soprano Jennifer Cresswell join us for a preview of Kerrytown Concert House's upcoming production of Laura ...
UT Opera Ensemble: A Midsummer Night's Dream
22 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The University of Toledo Opera Ensemble's director Dr. Denise Ritter Bernardini joins us along with coach/accompanist Wayne Anthony and four cast memb...
Masterworks Chorale: From Darkness Into Light
21 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The Masterworks Chorale of Toledo's director Timothy Cloeter joins us to preview their spring classics concert, From Darkness Into Light, which pairs ...
Samuel Adler: One Lives But Once (Part One)
07 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Celebrated composer, conductor, teacher, and author Samuel Adler turns 90 this month. Sam joins us for an extended conversation about his life, career...
Samuel Adler: One Lives But Once (Part Two)
07 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We continue the conversation with composer, conductor, teacher, and author Samuel Adler on the occasion of his 90th birthday, featuring his recent alb...
Lara Downes: For Lenny
24 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Pianist Lara Downes talks about her intimate tribute to Leonard Bernstein and his American legacy in her new album from Sony Classical, entitled For L...
Hudson Shad & The Seven Deadly Sins
22 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The vocal ensemble Hudson Shad is in town to perform the work they know best: Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht's Seven Deadly Sins, with Storm Large and th...
Rachel Barton Pine: Elgar and Bruch
16 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Star violinist Rachel Barton Pine introduces us to her latest album, which pairs the equally romantic violin concertos of Max Bruch and Sir Edward Elg...
Opera is a Story
05 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Christina Farrell, founder of Opera Ignite, is in town to bring her Opera is a Story program to pre-schoolers throughout the area under the auspices o...
Liza Stepanova: Tones and Colors
26 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Pianist Liza Stepanova discusses her latest release, Tones & Colors - which pairs evocative pieces of music with rich examples of visual art.
Toledo Opera: Rigoletto Roundtable
22 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We welcome two cast members of Toledo Opera's upcoming production of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto, soprano Magali Simard Galdès and baritone Anooshah G...
Ola Gjeilo: Winter Songs
22 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo joins us to preview his lovely holiday album Winter Songs, from Decca Classics.
Teddy Abrams: All In
18 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Conductor, pianist, clarinetist, composer, and Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra Teddy Abrams tells us all about his album All In from the Lo...
Amit Peled and the Peabody Cello Gang
11 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Grammy-nominated cellist, conductor, and pedagogue Amit Peled joins us to talk about his first recording with the Peabody Peled Cello Gang, composed o...
UT Concert Chorale
30 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Brad Pierson, director of the University of Toledo Concert Chorale, joins us for a preview of their season, including an in-studio performance from me...
Kathy Kelly: SongSLAM at KCH
22 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Opera conductor, coach and University of Michigan faculty member Kathy Kelly joins us for a tribute to the late Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, ...
Anne Akiko Meyers: Fantasia
15 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers previews her 35th album, entitled Fantasia – the centerpiece of which is a work she commissioned from the revered Finnis...
Rachel Barton Pine and the TSO
15 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In advance of her Toledo Symphony debut this weekend, star violinist Rachel Barton Pine tells us about her magnificent Guarnieri violin, the "ex-Bazzi...
O'Riley & Haimovitz: TROIKA
08 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Pianist (and From The Top host) Christopher O'Riley joins forces with cellist Matt Haimovitz for their latest collaboration: TROIKA – a portrait of ...
Audra McDonald and the TSO
31 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In advance of her appearance with the Toledo Symphony Nov. 4, star of stage and screen Audra McDonald joins WGTE's Brad Cresswell to talk about her ca...
A Tribute to Bill Engelke
16 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We offer a tribute to longtime WGTE FM 91 radio personality and Music Director Bill Engelke, who passed away in September. Joining FM 91's Brad Cressw...
Sharon Isbin and Isabel Leonard: Alma Española
27 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
GRAMMY Award-winning guitar star Sharon Isbin joins us to talk about her new album, a collaboration with GRAMMY Award-winning opera star Isabel Leonar...
Juliana Soltis: Entrez, le Diable!
29 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In 1736, composer Salvatore Lanzetti created a bit of a scandal when he brought the heretofore lowly and unsophisticated cello to the Concert Spiritue...
Lou Harrison Marathon at the TMA
09 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Toledo Symphony's Merwin Siu and the Toledo Museum of Art's Scott Boberg (both pictured) join us to talk about the fascinating music of American c...
Stephen Edwards: Requiem for my Mother
02 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Hollywood composer and Ann Arbor native Stephen Edwards has more than 60 film scores to his credit, but his most personal project to date is a Requiem...
Jack Gallagher at 70
17 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Composer Jack Gallagher celebrates his 70th birthday this summer, and we celebrate some of his recent recordings in this conversation recorded a few d...
Jose Federico Osorio: Final Thoughts
03 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Pianist Jose Federico Osorio joins us to sample his latest album Final Thoughts, which documents the last piano works of Franz Schubert and Johannes B...
Rachel Barton Pine: Bel Canto Paganini
13 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Violinist Rachel Barton Pine has a new album out which explores both the virtuosity and the lyricism of the legendary violinist/composer, Nicolò Paga...
The Toledo Symphony Has A New Music Director
09 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It was announced today that after a two-year search, the Toledo Symphony has found a new Music Director: Alain Trudel. Alain (don't call him "Maestro"...
The Fraternity - Requiem
05 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Two members of The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, Fr. Zachary Akers and Fr. Garrick Huang, join us to preview their new album "Requiem," available ...
Masterworks Chorale: What a Wonderful World
02 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Timothy Cloeter, artistic director and conductor of Toledo's own Masterworks Chorale joins Brad Cresswell for a conversation about their upcoming Coll...
Simone Dinnerstein: Mozart in Havana
08 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Piano powerhouse Simone Dinnerstein chats about her latest album, which brings two Mozart piano concertos to Cuba and the wonderful Havana Lyceum Orch...
Martina Filjak and the TSO
03 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Croatian-born international concert pianist Martina Filjak is in town for concerts with the Toledo Symphony which also bid farewell to the TSO's longt...
Alain Trudel and the TSO
06 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Conductor and trombonist Alain Trudel joins us in the studio to preview his concerts with the Toledo Symphony this weekend at the Peristyle.
An Iliad with Paul Causman
03 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Actor Paul Causman and composer Burton Beerman preview An Iliad, a one-man show which is a modern-day retelling of Homer's classic about the waning we...
Toledo Opera: Vanessa
28 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We're joined for performance and conversation by Metropolitan Opera soprano Jennifer Rowley, mezzo Christine Amon, stage director Kristine McIntyre, a...
Street Scene at BGSU
20 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This weekend, Bowling Green State University's Opera Theatre and Department of Theatre and Film are staging Kurt Weill's opera Street Scene. Director ...
Rachele Gilmore and the TSO
17 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Coloratura soprano Rachele Gilmore drops by the WGTE studios in advance of her appearances with the Toledo Symphony in Mahler's Symphony No. 4, to tal...
Yevgeny Kutik: Words Fail
06 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In his latest album, Russian-American violinist Yevgeny Kutik essays a collection of works that exemplify the famous quote by Hans Christian Anderson:...
Cypress String Quartet: Brahms Sextets
27 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
After an illustrious 20 year career, the members of the San Francisco-based Cypress String Quartet decided to disband for good this past June. They s...
Benjamin Grosvenor: Homages
13 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Leading British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor joins us to preview his latest album Homages, a collection of works by Busoni, Mendelssohn, Chopin and othe...
Solzhenitsyn on Shostakovich
26 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This weekend, conductor Ignat Solzhenitsyn leads the Toledo Symphony Orchestra in Shostakovich's complex and revolutionary Symphony No. 5, and solos i...
Michael Daugherty: Once Upon a Castle
13 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Nashville Symphony's latest recording of music by composer Michael Daugherty is up for three Grammy Awards next month. One of the works on that di...
Semyon Bychkov: The Tchaikovsky Project
19 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Eminent conductor Semyon Bychkov has recently embarked on a multi-year series of performances and recordings of the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky....
Kirill Gerstein: Transcendental Études
12 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In his latest recording, pianist Kirill Gerstein turns his attention to Franz Liszt and the Transcendental Études - considered to be among the most d...
Yolanda Kondonassis: Ginastera One Hundred
05 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Star harpist Yolanda Kondonassis celebrates the centennial of Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera's birth with a new album, Ginastera: One Hundred. T...
Joshua Bell: For the Love of Brahms
28 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Superstar violinist Joshua Bell teams up with colleagues Steven Isserlis and Jeremy Denk for his latest album, entitled For the Love of Brahms.
Mark Kosower and the TSO
28 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Kosower, principal cello of The Cleveland Orchestra, stops by the FM 91 studio with the Toledo Symphony's Merwin Siu to preview Mark's appearance...
Jennifer Koh: Tchaikovsky
12 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Violin powerhouse Jennifer Koh discusses her new Tchaikovsky album; modern vs. classic works and the secret that her first violin teacher kept from he...
Chiara String Quartet: Bartók by Heart
29 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Following up on their 2014 album Brahms by Heart, the Chiara String Quartet has just released Béla Bartók’s six string quartets on Azica records, ...
Cypress Quartet: Swan Song
01 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
After two decades of spectacular music-making, the San Francisco-based Cypress String Quartet has decided to disband. They leave behind a rich discogr...
Rachel Barton Pine: Testament
25 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Rachel Barton Pine’s relationship with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach runs deep. The best-selling violinist joins us to preview her latest album...
J.S. Bach: The Cello Suites According to Anna Magdalena
18 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Fifteen years ago, cellist Matt Haimovitz famously brought the Bach Cello Suites to folk clubs and rock venues. Now, he brings us a completely new int...
Claire Jones: Royal Harp Strings
19 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Welsh harpist Claire Jones became a household name in Britain when she performed at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Buckingham Pal...
Quartetto di Cremona: Beethoven, Vol. V
21 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The Quartetto di Cremona (Cremona Quartet) has released another volume in their acclaimed series of Beethoven string quartets. Violist Simone Gramalia...
China Forbes & Pink Martini
24 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In advance of her appearance with the Toledo Symphony, singer/songwriter China Forbes joins WGTE-FM's Brad Cresswell for a chat about her band Pink Ma...
Anthony de Mare: Liaisons
29 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Anthony de Mare's latest release is the culmination of a four-year recording project that features 36 "re-imaginings" of Stephen Sondheim tunes by mod...
Gabriela Montero: Ex Patria
22 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Venezuelan-born Gabriela Montero is not only a world-famous pianist, she's also a human rights activist who has been an outspoken opponent of her home...
Avi Avital: Between Worlds
08 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Grammy-nominated mandolinist Avi Avital joins us to preview his album Between Worlds - a genre-defying tour of the globe exploring the nexus between ...
Max Richter: Sleep
01 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Composer Max Richter introduces us to his eight-hour project SLEEP, designed to be listened to while sleeping.
Jonas Kaufman's Winter Journey
25 Jan 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Superstar tenor Jonas Kaufmann takes us on a tour of Franz Schubert's final song cycle Die Winterreise (The Winter Journey) - a profoundly moving and ...