Story Archives of 'Classical Music'

Cellist Matt Haimovitz wants to bring a new audience to classical music. As a child prodigy, he played next to some of the world's finest musicians in Carnegie Hall. As an accomplished adult, he's just as likely to be found performing in a rock club or a coffee shop. Tonight, he'll join us on the Front Porch to talk about his incredible career so far and to perform some songs from his vast repertoire, which ranges from Bach to Hendrix.

There are two ways to look at the health of classical music in New Hampshire: On the one hand, there’s an almost surprising number of groups performing here. On the other hand, some of them are really struggling. Financial issues forced two organizations to cancel shows this year. Tonight on the Front Porch, we’ll find out how the groups are competing for funding and attention. Liz's guest is Jeff Rapsis, associate publisher and culture writer for The Hippo.

We'll also meet "The Tunnel Singer": San Francisco artist Lee Ellen Shoemaker creates her music in the resonant darkness of municipal tunnels and empty cisterns. But now she's losing her voice to disease. Producer Catherine Girardeau tells her story.

Pilobolus Dance Theatre started out as a student troupe at Dartmouth College in the early 1970s. Now the performers have appeared in car commercials, music videos and -- most recently -- the Academy Awards show. We'll talk with the group about blending high art with mainstream popularity and whether artists can ever be too successful.

Our Guests Are:

• Itamar Kubovy, executive director of Pilobolus
• Robby Barnett, one of the artistic directors of Pilobolus. Robby has been with the group since its early days at Dartmouth.

We'll also look at Igor Stravinsky and his relationship with his audience. At its premiere in Paris in 1913, his "Rite of Spring" ballet provoked a riot; six months later, he was the darling of the Paris scene. This story comes to us from producer Jackson Braider via the Public Radio Exchange.

Great composers, including Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Wagner and countless others understand the connection between love and art, especially through music. Concert pianist and astrologer Gary Goldschneider demonstrates the romantic highs and lows various composers experienced in their lives and the ways those events made their way into their compositions.

Take the intimate sound of a string quartet, add some jazz, and you have Turtle Island Quartet. Turtle Island String Quartet. The group plays John Coltrane, be-bop, hip hop and Brubeck, and they won a Grammy in the Classical Crossover category for their CD "4+4." The group played a tribute concert to John Coltrane at Keene State College this Fall, and they stopped by our studios to record some tunes and talk about their music.

***This interview originally aired October 10, 2006***

Turtle Island String Quartet has been in the news since they were on our show. Just before Christmas, a missing 127 year old violin was found and returned to the group's violinist, Evan Price. The $50,000 Praga instrument was recovered in a sting in Billings, Montana, not far from the airport where Price had accidentally left it last April.

Click here to listen to Price's interview with NPR's Melissa Block about the ordeal