Tag: Classical music

WRR101 Focus on the Arts: Dallas Opera’s Ian Derrer with a sneak peek at what to expect in their ambitious 24-25 season

In this interview, WRR’s Kurt Rongey and Ian Derrer, The Dallas Opera’s Kern Wildenthal General Director and CEO, go in-depth about the 2024-25 productions, singers, guest conductors, and special TITAS recital with Christian Gerhaher and family operas.Photo credit: Kyle Flubacker

WRR101 Focus on the Arts: DFW musicians unite to help animals in need

“I think my favorite thing, being a Dallas Symphony musician, is seeing the Meyerson lobby on that day filled with animals,” says Erin Hannigan, Principal Oboe for the DSO, referencing Artists for Animals’ annual benefit concert for shelter animals. In this feature with WRR’s Amy Bishop, you’ll hear more about the organization’s mission, history, and… Read more »

WRR101 Focus on the Arts: Rock meets Bach with this classical crossover group coming to North Texas

“I think when you have people who are doing something that they are so passionate about – that’s their life’s work – where every moment onstage, they are doing what were meant to do, the audience knows that,” says violinist Lindsay Deutsch of the Classical Crossover group, Take Three. Ahead of their concert at the… Read more »

WRR101 Focus on the Arts: These four Dallas arts groups are getting $$$ for NEW works

“There’s such incredible work happening here and we are so proud to do our part,” says Maura Sheffler, the Donna Wilhelm Family President & Executive Director of TACA – The Arts Community Alliance – which recently distributed $125,000 to four Dallas arts organizations. Hear more about those groups and the works they’re creating in this… Read more »

WRR101 Focus on the Arts: A Puccini Double Bill with SMU’s Meadows Lyric Theatre

“I think what makes these works still so viable today is that Puccini had this amazing ability to get to the heart of the human condition,” says Michael Scarola, Interim Director of SMU’s Meadows Lyric Theatre, referencing the two enduring operatic masterpieces they’ll perform February 15-18, 2024. In this feature with WRR’s Amy Bishop, Scarola… Read more »

WRR101 Focus on the Arts: Branford Marsalis set to play Glazunov, Williams with Plano Symphony

“To be intermingled with that sound is really incredible… I don’t think of it as me in the front and them in the back,” says saxophonist Branford Marsalis, the GRAMMY Award-winning instrumentalist and composer who will join the Plano Symphony Orchestra Feb. 17, 2024. In this feature, Marsalis chats with WRR’s Amy Bishop about the… Read more »

WRR101 Focus on the Arts: Expect the Merz Trio’s Dallas concert to be a ‘collage’ of sound

“We love the artform that is concert curation – the kind of conversational possibilities it offers both between ourselves and the composers whose works we choose to play,” says violinist Brigid Coleridge of the Merz Trio. Dallas Chamber Music Society will welcome the group in concert at SMU Feb. 12, 2024, marking the organization’s inaugural… Read more »

WRR101 Focus on the Arts: This ensemble may be NYC-based, but it has Fort Worth ties

Sahun Sam Hong is the pianist and Executive Director of NYC-based chamber music collective Ensemble132, but TCU can also claim him as their own: As one of the school’s notable alumni, he graduated in 2011 at the age of 16. WRR’s Kurt Rongey had an opportunity to speak with two members of the group about… Read more »

WRR101 Focus on the Arts: Ofra Harnoy’s lost (and found) Abbey Road session

“We recorded it in 1996 and then companies changed hands and I don’t really know what happened,” explains cellist Ofra Harnoy, in reference to her Abbey Road recording of Elgar’s Cello Concerto, which was recently found after nearly 27 years. Get the details in this feature with WRR’s Amy Bishop.

WRR101 Focus on the Arts: Why this Mozart concerto is dear to Alessio Bax’s heart

“Every Mozart concerto is an absolute gem and they’re all different from one another in different ways,” says pianist Alessio Bax. “This one is very dear to me because it is actually the one piece that made me fall in love with the piano.” Bax revisits Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 with the Dallas Symphony… Read more »