Classical Conversations

Two members of The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, Fr. Zachary Akers and Fr. Garrick Huang, join us to preview their new album "Requiem," available from Demontfort Music & Sony Classical.

Timothy Cloeter, artistic director and conductor of Toledo's own Masterworks Chorale joins Brad Cresswell for a conversation about their upcoming Collage Concert, "What a Wonderful World," happening this weekend at the Valentine Theatre.

Piano powerhouse Simone Dinnerstein chats about her latest album, which brings two Mozart piano concertos to Cuba and the wonderful Havana Lyceum Orchestra.

Croatian-born international concert pianist Martina Filjak is in town for concerts with the Toledo Symphony which also bid farewell to the TSO's longtime Principal Conductor Stefan Sanderling. The dynamic young pianist joins us in the studio to sample a few of her recordings and preview the concert, which includes Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 13.

Conductor and trombonist Alain Trudel joins us in the studio to preview his concerts with the Toledo Symphony this weekend at the Peristyle.

Actor Paul Causman and composer Burton Beerman preview An Iliad, a one-man show which is a modern-day retelling of Homer's classic about the waning weeks of the Trojan War. An Iliad plays April 6-9 in Studio A at the Valentine Theatre.

We're joined for performance and conversation by Metropolitan Opera soprano Jennifer Rowley, mezzo Christine Amon, stage director Kristine McIntyre, and pianist Kevin Bylsma from Toledo Opera's upcoming production of Samuel Barber's Vanessa.

This weekend, Bowling Green State University's Opera Theatre and Department of Theatre and Film are staging Kurt Weill's opera Street Scene. Director Nicholas Wuehrmann and pianist/vocal director Kevin Bylsma join us for a preview, with members of the cast performing in the WGTE studios: soprano Kate Pomrenke, tenor Mark Tenorio, and baritone Ben Ganger.

Coloratura soprano Rachele Gilmore drops by the WGTE studios in advance of her appearances with the Toledo Symphony in Mahler's Symphony No. 4, to talk about her life and career, her return to Toledo and her distinction as having sung the highest note ever on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera (the "new" Met, that is!). Please note: due to copyright, the musical recordings in this interview have been truncated.

In his latest album, Russian-American violinist Yevgeny Kutik essays a collection of works that exemplify the famous quote by Hans Christian Anderson: "Where words fail, music speaks." The highly-acclaimed young artist joins us to talk Mendelssohn, Mahler, and two works that he commissioned himself: Timo Andres' "Words Fail" and "Arioso Doloroso/Estatico" by Michael Gandolfi.