Fishko Files

This week marks the centenary of the birth of Thelonious Monk. In this archival episode from the Jazz Loft Radio Series, WNYC’s Sara Fishko explores the chemistry between Monk and Hall Overton leading up to their legendary 1959 performance at New York’s Town Hall. (Produced in 2009)

To hear more episodes from the Jazz Loft Radio Series, visit wnyc.org.

This fall marks the 60th anniversary of the opening of West Side Story on Broadway. The show, as Sara Fishko tells us, emerged from the unease of the 1950s, which extended to the cast and creators of this historic hit. (Produced in 2001)

Google Arts and Culture has launched a digital collection exploring the legacy and history of West Side Story, featuring archival content, photographs and videos, interviews, and more.

A coincidence of dates and events has Sara Fishko thinking about some memorable artists - whose personal myths and mysteries fought with their work - in this edition of Fishko Files.

Robin D.G. Kelley's 2009 book, Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, is out now in an updated paperback edition.

Jazz Standard pays tribute to the Monk centennial with their month-long series Brilliant Corners: Celebrating Monk's 100th. For tickets and more information, visit the club's website.

In September of 1955, Louis Armstrong recorded an unlikely blockbuster song that had originated in the late '20s in Germany. Sara Fishko talks to George Avakian, who tells the story of how "Mack the Knife" became an American hit. (Produced in 2002)

In honor of the birthday of John Cage (September 5, 1912-August 12, 1992) and because we could always use a little quiet - an episode of Fishko Files on a great interest of Cage’s: silence. (Produced in 2003)

Woody Sez, the Irish Repertory Theatre production now in New York through September 10th, is the latest in a long line of biographical and musical treatments of the life and work of Woody Guthrie. Sara Fishko visited Nora Guthrie, his daughter, for this Fishko Files. (Produced for the Guthrie centennial in 2012)

For tickets and more information, visit the Irish Repertory Theatre's website.

With Monday's eclipse still resonating in our memory, here's a Fishko Files meditation on music and moonlight, with thanks to Beethoven and a dozen or so pianists. (Produced in 2000)

It's the 150th birth anniversary of the conductor Arturo Toscanini this year. As WNYC's Sara Fishko tells us in this Fishko Files replay, the celebrated and demanding Maestro dominated classical music for decades.

The New York Philharmonic, where Toscanini also conducted, has opened its digital archive of the Toscanini years. It can be found on their website.

For the next two weekends, every aspect of the composer Frédéric Chopin will be examined at the annual Bard Music Festival, up the Hudson. It has WNYC's Sara Fishko considering the sources of that composer's inspiration, in this edition of Fishko Files.

"Chopin and His World" opens tomorrow at Bard. For more details, visit their website.

Jan Lisiecki's Chopin: Works for Piano & Orchestra is available on Amazon.

Featured Music:

Frédéric Chopin
Étude Op. 10, No. 5 in G flat minor
Jan Lisiecki, piano
 
Johann Sebastian Bach
Capriccio in B flat major, BWV 992 – III: Adagissimo
Wilhelm Kempff, piano (1976)
 
Gaetano Donizetti
Al Dolce Guidami (from “Anna Bolena”)
Maria Callas
Conducted by Nicola Rescigno
 
Frédéric Chopin
Nocturne Op. 15, No. 1 in F major
Maria João Pires, piano
 
Vincenzo Bellini
Casta Diva (from “Norma”)
Renée Fleming
Conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras
 
Frédéric Chopin
Mazurka Op. 33, No. 2 in D major
Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano
 
Frédéric Chopin
Variations on “Là ci darem la mano” from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Op. 2 – Var. I
Jan Lisiecki, piano
 
Frédéric Chopin
Étude Op. 10, No. 11 in E flat major
Jan Lisiecki, piano

It’s 50 years since the release of the movie “Bonnie and Clyde.” The film opened during the “Summer of Love,” which was also the era of the Vietnam war.  As WNYC’s Sara Fishko tells us in this Fishko Files replay, the divided response to the film put its director, the late Arthur Penn, at the center of a swirl of controversy.

Arthur Penn was an American director and producer of television and films including the 1967 "Bonnie and Clyde." (Produced in 2007)