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9 Shows to Hear this January on WVIA Radio

WVIA presents Beethoven’s 9th

Sunday, January 1, 2pm
Celebrate the New Year with Beethoven’s epic Symphony No. 9. This masterpiece concludes with an extraordinary setting of Schiller’s call for universal brotherhood, the “Ode to Joy”. Sir George Solti leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with a quartet of outstanding soloists. We’ll also marvel at a fireworks display courtesy of Handel and more. Larry Vojtko hosts.

Medea

Saturday, January 7, 1pm
Having triumphed at the Met in some of the repertory's fiercest soprano roles, Sondra Radvanovsky stars as the mythic sorceress who will stop at nothing in her quest for vengeance. Joining Radvanovsky in the Met-premiere production of Cherubini's rarely performed masterpiece is tenor Matthew Polenzani as Medea's Argonaut husband, Giasone; soprano Janai Brugger as her rival for his love, Glauce; bass Michele Pertusi as Glauce's father, Creonte, the King of Corinth; and mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova as Medea's confidante, Neris. Carlo Rizzi conducts.

Luigi Cherubini was about four years younger than W.A. Mozart, but out-lived Beethoven by more than a dozen years. Considered one of the preeminent composers of the era, he was particularly admired for his vocal music with about three dozen operas in his output. However, Medea was not a success when it premiered in 1797 in Paris as Médeé. It wasn’t until an Italian translation with recitatives replacing spoken dialogue was prepared that the true beauties of the score became appreciated. Medea became a signature role for Maria Callas in the mid-twentieth century. Since that time the opera has attracted sopranos that possess the great vocal power and dramatic ability required of artists who choose to take on the role.

Pittsburgh Symphony

Sunday, January 8th, 2pm
In Tchaikovsky’s day, Ukraine was known as “Little Russia”, a nickname that today is not acceptable and commentators are advocating for the use of “Ukrainian” to identify Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2, a highly attractive work that makes use of Ukrainian folk tunes as material that the composer employs masterfully. Ukrainian conductor, Kirill Karabits, is likely to agree to that name change. He also leads the Pittsburgh Symphony in a suite from Stravinsky’s ballet Pulcinella and two works featuring the talents of the orchestra’s principal trumpet, Micah Wilkinson, including the famous Trumpet Concerto of Haydn.

Fedora

Saturday January 14, 1pm
Umberto Giordano’s exhilarating drama returns to the Met repertory for the first time in 25 years. Packed with memorable melody, showstopping arias, and explosive confrontations, Fedora requires a cast of thrilling voices to take flight, and the Met’s new production promises to deliver. Soprano Sonya Yoncheva, one of today’s most riveting artists, sings the title role of the 19th-century Russian princess who falls in love with her fiancé’s murderer, Count Loris, sung by star tenor Piotr Beczala. Soprano Rosa Feola is the Countess Olga, Fedora’s confidant, and baritone Artur Rucinski is the diplomat De Siriex, with Met maestro Marco Armiliato conducting.

Though Giordano wrote about a dozen operas only Fedora and Andrea Chenier remain in the active repertoire. He is in the generation of composers of verismo opera such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Francesco Cilea and, most famously, Giacomo Puccini. Fedora was premiered in 1898 in Milan starring Enrico Caruso. It is based on the 1882 play of the same name by Victor Sardou which was written for the great actress Sarah Bernhardt. Upon seeing the play, Giordano immediately asked Sardou for the rights to transform the stage work into an opera.

Pittsburgh Symphony

Sunday, January 15th, 2pm
Slovak conductor, Juraj Valčuha, is on the podium for this program that presents a piece by another conductor, Esa Pekka Salonen, titled Helix. The concerto on the program is by another Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius. The soloist is violinist Augustin Hadelich. The concert concludes with the first of the important cycle of symphonies by Dmitri Shostakovich. Before the Russian was known to poke fun at Stalin in his music, he instead thumbed his nose at other composers. Interwoven in his First Symphony, the young 18-year-old filled his score with schoolboy pranks that listeners immediately fell in love with.

L’Elisir d’Amore

Saturday January 21, 1pm
Donizetti’s classic comic opera L’Elisir d’Amore has delighted audiences since its premiere in Milan in 1832. In its early years the comedy was the most-performed opera in Italy. In this Met production Golda Schultz portrays the feisty and beautiful Adina who draws the attention of the poor, but good-hearted country boy, Nemorino, sung by tenor Javier Camarena. However, Sergeant Belcore, portrayed by baritone Davide Luciano, also has set his eye on Adina and immediately asks for her hand in marriage. To win her love, Nemorino spends all his money on a magic elixir of love sold by the traveling “doctor” Dulcamara (baritone, Ambrogio Maestri). Believing he is irresistible to Adina after drinking the potion, Nemorino feigns indifference, but his actions leave her surprised, hurt and ready to wed Belcore. At the wedding, a single tear on Adina’s cheek is all Nemorino needs to know her true feelings, and at long last, they confess their love for one another. Michele Gamba conducts.

Pittsburgh Symphony

Sunday, January 22nd, 2pm
Music from the Viennese Classical Period (and a bit beyond) is featured in this program, opening with an opera overture by Joseph Haydn and concluding with the first in Mozart’s final great trilogy of symphonies, No. 39 in E-flat. All three were written in an eruption of creative energy in the summer of 1788. The 39th is unjustly overshadowed by the dramatic 40th in G minor and the exciting 41st, “Jupiter”, but the 39th has both a grandeur and a warmth that is supremely satisfying. Rounding out the Classical triumvirate is Beethoven. This program features his Piano Concerto No. 3 with soloist Till Fellner. Manfred Honeck conducts.

Dialogues de Carmélites

Saturday January 28, 1pm
Poulenc’s classic is a devastating story about the power of faith. Poulenc transports us to the “Reign of Terror” in 18th century Paris. After being held up by a mob, the fearful and nervous Blanche returns home to explain the incident to her father, the Marquis de la Force, and brother Chevalier de la Force, declaring that she has made up her mind to become a nun. Weeks later, Blanche is interviewed by the ailing prioress, Madame de Croissy, who makes it clear to Blanche that the Carmelite convent is a house of prayer, not a refuge from the horrors of war. Later, Blanche befriends Sister Constance, who shocks Blanche by telling her that she knows they will both die young.

Following the agonizing death of Madame de Croissy, Madame Lidoine is appointed the new prioress of the convent. While she is addressing the convent, Blanche’s brother Chevalier arrives, urging Blanche to return home to their father who is about to flee the country. She rejects her brother’s advice, stating that her duty is to her sisters. Following a final mass, an angry crowd approaches the convent and commissioners inform the sisters that they have been expelled. In the devastated chapel, the sisters decide by a unanimous vote to take a vow of martyrdom, causing a fearful Blanche to run away. As the revolution rages on, Blanche must choose between living a life in constant fear of the revolution or joining her sisters in their vow.

Dialogues de Carmélites is one of the most-powerful operas of any era. Betrand de Billy conducts this Met production that features Ailyn Perez as Blanche, Eva-Maria Westbroek and Mme. Lidoine, Alice Coote and Mme. de Croissy, Jamie Barton as Mère Marie, Sabine Devieilhe as Sr. Constance, Piotr Buszewski as Le Chevalier de la Force, and Laurent Naouri as the Marquis de la Force.

Pittsburgh Symphony

Sunday, January 29th, 2pm
20th century masterworks are featured today. Two pieces by Ravel frame the concert. One of his “Miroirs”, Alborada del gracioso with its Spanish warmth and his take on the fairy tales of Mother Goose, Ma Mère L’Oye. Claude Debussy captures the beauty, power, and mystery of the ocean in La Mer. Plus, Alexi Kenney, acclaimed by The New York Times for virtuosity that is “breathless and often daring,” plays Bartók’s scorching Second Violin Concerto. Matthias Pintscher conducts.