Week of July 22, 2024: Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) – From his birth in a town near Frankfurt through his time in Egypt and Turkey, then his eventual emigration to America, Paul Hindemith had a lasting impact on the music of the 20th century. Bill follows his journey from an avant-garde composer to his works being outlawed by the Nazi Party. He never let a setback get in his way: the year after Nazi Germany banned his music (1937), Hindemith released his masterpiece, Matthias the Painter. Witness the progression through Hindemith’s early pieces into his signature style combining the tonal experimentation of Arnold Schoenberg with the strict counterpoint of JS Bach. Violist Geraldine Walther and the San Francisco Symphony will perform Trauermusik, and we will hear “When Lilacs Last in The Dooryard Bloom’d” performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Robert Shaw.

Week of July 29, 2024: Five Fabulous New Albums – Our theme for this week is simple – just five fabulous new albums. Bill starts with Yuja Wang performing a recital in Vienna, then on to the remarkable trio of Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, and Leonidas Kavakos performing Beethoven’s Archduke Trio and an interesting piano trio transcription of Beethoven’s second symphony. Thursday we will hear a French album from Lang Lang, and then on Friday enjoy a summer concert with the Vienna Philharmonic performing in the Schönbrunn Gardens. Great music, great recordings!

Week of August 5, 2024: Music In 19th Century Paris, from Waterloo to Bismarck – Music in Paris during the middle of the 19th century was dominated by one supreme composer, Hector Berlioz, along with a stellar supporting cast whose works remain in heavy rotation to this day. Join us to explore the Parisian scene from roughly 1813 to 1870, the period between the fall of Napoleon I and the start of the Franco-Prussian War. We will listen to works by Hector Berlioz, Georges Bizet, Jacques Offenbach, Camille Saint-Saëns, and some of the foreigners who flocked to Paris to make their contributions: Vincenzo Bellini, Franz Liszt, and Richard Wagner. It was an era of great artistic change that brought Realism and Naturalism to the novels of Victor Hugo and Gustave Flaubert and led to impressionism in painting.

Week of August 12, 2024: The Spanish School – Borrowing our title from the storied Spanish Riding School in Vienna, home of the Lipizzaner horses, this program explores the wealth of musical output from Iberian composers. Following a lineage from the 18th century on to those creating new music today, we consider the Spanish School as a living tradition, blending the values of the past with the passion of the present. From the guitar to the piano, and every instrument in between, this week features selections from Pablo de Sarasate, Andrés Segovia, Antonio Soler, and many other Spanish composers and performers.

Week of August 19, 2024: Under the Hood, Pt. 2 – Back by popular request, Bill takes us through the inner workings of five great symphonies by Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and Jean Sibelius. Thus, allowing us to understand some of the deeper meanings hidden in these symphonies. Bill will highlight the workings of Haydn’s Symphony No. 101 “The Clock,” performed by the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields under the baton of Sir Neville Marriner, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2, played by the London Philharmonic with Mstislav Rostropovich conducting.