Week of November 18, 2024: Magnificent Magyars – Surveying the history of music in Hungary. Hungary was settled by the Magyars in the late 9th century and became a state in the year 1000. After adopting Latin Christianity in the 11th century, the country’s rich musical heritage of church music started with Gregorian plainchants, and later in the Middle Ages with fully realized polyphonic singing. Bill picks it up from there with the blending of religious music and ethnic folksongs from the countryside, reflected in the music of Liszt, Kodály, and Bartók. And let’s not forget the influences of Hungarian Roma music and Transylvanian dances.

Week of November 25, 2024: American Masters, Part IV – From the East Coast to the West, American composers developed a singular identity in the 20th century that continues to energize and influence classical music. This week is dedicated to less popular American composers like John Alden Carpenter, Marion Bauer, and Randall Thompson. Bill investigates their family history, what drove them to compose, and what artistic journey they went on to expand music during their time. Join Bill for a trip to sample everything from Carpenter’s wonky ballet Krazy Cat to Thompson’s choral takes on the poetry of Robert Frost.

Week of December 2, 2024: Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) – The finest example of late Russian Romanticism. This Russian composer held on to being a Romantic composer well into the twentieth century, a time when his fellow composers like Stravinsky and Prokofiev were forever reinventing Classical music. We will dedicate this week to exploring the private life and music of this lyrically gifted pianist and composer. Rachmaninoff once said, “If you want to know me, you must know my music.