Wrcj In-studio Guests

Flutist Jeff Zook and Guitarist Bret Hoag will be featured at WRCJ’s Classical Brunch at the Birmingham Community House this Sunday morning. Doors open at 11:20am with brunch at 11:30 and music from 12:30 to 1:30. More information and tickets at WRCJFM.org. Jeff and Bret joined Peter Whorf in the WRCJ studios on Monday for this preview performance and conversation…

Flutist Jeff Zook and Guitarist Bret Hoag will be featured at WRCJ’s Classical Brunch at the Birmingham Community House this Sunday morning. Doors open at 11:20am with brunch at 11:30 and music from 12:30 to 1:30. More information and tickets at WRCJFM.org. Jeff and Bret joined Peter Whorf in the WRCJ studios on Monday for this preview performance and conversation…

Christopher Allen leads the Michigan Opera Theatre in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Detroit Opera House. WRCJ’s Peter Whorf has this preview conversation with Allen about the Mozart masterpiece…and why Christopher is so thrilled about his stellar cast…

Christopher Allen leads the Michigan Opera Theatre in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Detroit Opera House. WRCJ’s Peter Whorf has this preview conversation with Allen about the Mozart masterpiece…and why Christopher is so thrilled about his stellar cast…

This week marks two return engagements with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Jader Bignamini conducted Puccini’s Turandot at Orchestra Hall in June of 2018. He rejoins former DSO concertmaster Yoonshin Song to conduct Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto in g minor. Soprano Janai Brugger then makes her DSO debut in Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. WRCJ’s Peter Whorf speaks with Bignamini about the program…and how Mahler follows his massive symphonies 2 and 3 with the more intimate number four…

Pianist David Fung will be one of the many talents on stage at Orchestra Hall this weekend as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra opens its 2019-20 season. Fung joins pianists Christina and Michelle Naughton in J.S. Bach’s Triple Concerto in a program that also includes Mozart’s Concerto for 2 pianos and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. WRCJ’s Peter Whorf speaks with David about this weekend’s concerts and his new recordings of the complete Mozart piano sonatas…

Since his 2007 Grand Prize-winning performance at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, tenor Michael Fabiano has been one of opera’s fastest-rising stars. The University of Michigan grad has headlined performances around the world including those with the San Francisco Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, Deutche Oper Berlin, Vancouver Opera and more. Fabiano currently appears in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Puccini’s Manon. Michael Fabiano is featured in the Michigan Opera Theatre’s season-opening gala concert on October 12th at the Detroit Opera House. WRCJ’s Peter Whorf speaks with Michael about his days at the University of Michigan..and two experiences that helped Fabiano to prepare for a life in performance…high school debate and baseball umpiring.

Sharon Isbin, one of the leading guitarists of our time, was recently in Michigan for two performances. She gave the world premiere of Chris Brubeck’s Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra a few seasons back. Isbin also played Joaquin Rodrigo’s popular Concierto de Aranjuez with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra. In her newest project, she partners with the Pacifica Quartet in music from Spain and Italy. In her conversation with WRCJ’s Peter Whorf, Sharon Isbin talks about her admiration for the Indiana University quartet-in-residence…

This Sunday, September 15, historic Ste. Anne de Detroit Catholic Church presents its annual cultural festival “Rendez-Vous” from 11am-7pm. Metro Detroiters will gather to celebrate the founding heritages of Detroit with French Canadian, Metis, and Native American music, dancing, food and cultural exhibits. The fest also includes a beer and wine tent, children’s activities, and artisans featuring French, Native American, Michigan and Detroit themed merchandise. WRCJ’s Dave Wagner and Ron Nolan speak with Rendez-Vous participants Geno Picor, Elizabeth Bourne-Nido and Sheila Graziano about Sunday’s events.

The Miro Quartet opens the Chamber Music Society of Detroit’s 2019/20 at the Seligman Performing Arts Center on Saturday, September 14 at 8pm. They joined us in our studios today to play Beethoven and Kevin Puts and spoke with Midday Music Host Peter Whorf.

The Miro Quartet opens the Chamber Music Society of Detroit’s 2019/20 at the Seligman Performing Arts Center on Saturday, September 14 at 8pm. They joined us in our studios today to play Beethoven and Kevin Puts and spoke with Midday Music Host Peter Whorf.

Violinist Nicola Benedetti and the Philadelphia Orchestra have just released a live concert recording of the 2015 Violin Concerto by Wynton Marsalis. Detroit listeners were among the first to hear the work; Benedetti has performed the concerto at Orchestra Hall in 2017 with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The BBC has also created a television documentary about the making of the concerto. WRCJ’s Peter Whorf recently spoke with Nicola Benedetti about her partnership with Marsalis in introducing the piece to audiences through the music’s direct language…

Hamilton Philharmonic Music Director Gemma New leads the DSO this weekend as part of the Davidson Neighborhood Series. WRCJ’s Peter Whorf speaks with Gemma about the program of Haydn, Mozart and Edvard Grieg’s Holberg Suite: In The Olden Style.

David Gier is a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance. He holds a Doctorate of Music from Yale University. After serving as the University of Iowa’s music school Dean, Gier returned to UM last summer as the new Dean at the SMTD. He caught up with WRCJ’s Peter Whorf in our studios this week to talk about the school’s newest projects, and remember his days as a Michigan undergraduate trombone student…

Michigan Opera Theatre's Director Of Education Andrea Scobie speaks with Dr. Dave about the Operetta Workshop which offers professional training for students ages 13-18 and running July 8-26.

The Passacaglia is a stately triple-time dance of Renaissance Spain. Later re-workings of the three-step open and close this weekend’s Detroit Symphony Orchestra program – first in music by Anton Webern, then in Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 4. Simone Young leads the DSO in the concert of Viennese composers, and talks with WRCJ’s Peter Whorf about Brahms’ take on the Passacaglia…

Starting on May 29th, Ann Arbor-based Akropolis Reed Quintet brings their “Together We Sound” series of outreach concerts to neighborhoods in Detroit and Ann Arbor. Akropolis saxophonist Matthew Landry speaks with WRCJ’s Peter Whorf about the series and a bit of the group’s history…

Kent Nagano is Music Director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and leads the DSO in performances this weekend of music by Anton Bruckner and Sergei Prokofiev. Nagano stopped by the WRCJ studios after Wednesday’s rehearsal to speak with Peter Whorf about his Orchestra Hall program and his new book, Classical Music: Expect the Unexpected…

Ricky Ian Gordon’s opera The Grapes of Wrath tells the iconic American story by John Steinbeck and premieres at Michigan Opera Theatre this Saturday. WRCJ’s Peter Whorf speaks with Gordon about the adaptation of the literary classic, his work with librettist Michael Korie and creating the piece in cooperation with the Steinbeck estate…

Dave Wagner talks with Dr. Robert A. Harris, respected African-American composer and Professor of Music, at the 41st Annual Classical Roots Celebration.