Live From FM 91

The leading cast members of Toledo Opera's production of The Merry Widow by Franz Lehar stop by the WGTE studios for conversation and performance. Joining us in this audio preview are (pictured) Co-Artistic Directors Kevin Bylsma and James Norman, baritone Keith Phares, WGTE's Brad Cresswell, soprano Alyson Cambridge, and Co-Director Jamie Offenbach. We also hear a musical selection from tenor Drake Dantzler and soprano Caroline Miller (not pictured).

We're joined in the studio by the husband and wife team of Douglas and Megan Amos for a wide-ranging program of duets, from Mozart to Debussy and more. Megan is principal horn of the Toledo Symphony, while Doug has played trumpet in a number of orchestras, including the Toledo Symphony, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and the Detroit Symphony. Check out the duo's website at this link: https://dougamosmusic.com/the-amos-duo/

Our new classical host Mary Claire Murphy brings her musical talents to the Dana performance studio, playing her own music at the piano and providing the backstory to those works.

It's Live from FM 91, as we welcome star singers from Toledo Opera's double bill of Puccini's Suor Angelica and Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. It's a singers' roundtable, with discussion and performance from soprano Jill Gardner, contralto Lauren Decker, and tenor Brian Cheney. We're also joined by conductor Geoffrey McDonald and Co-Artistic Director Kevin Bylsma, who accompanies our singers on piano.

The star string trio Time for Three performs for us (with composer Kevin Puts on the piano). In this session, we talk about their new album Letters for the Future, which contains concertos written for them by Kevin Puts and Jennifer Higdon.

Our old friends the Tower Brass Quintet (with three new members) return to the FM 91 studios to perform a program of Christmas favorites!

Four star singers from Toledo Opera's production of Il Trovatore join us for conversation and performance: soprano Leah Crocetto; tenor Carl Tanner; mezzo Deborah Nansteel, and baritone Kyle Pfortmiller. Also joining us are Co-Artistic Directors Kevin Bylsma (also the pianist) and James Norman.

In this virtual edition of Live from FM 91, we welcome two members of The Sylvan Trio: flutist (and Sunday Baroque host) Suzanne Bona, and pianist (and former WGTE host) Greg Kostraba. Suzanne and Greg talk about and share tracks from their latest album, Music for Flute, Cello & Piano by Women Composers, which you can find here: https://www.amazon.com/Music-Flute-Cello-Piano-Composers/dp/B08L22XY5C. The Sylvan Trio Website: http://www.sylvantrio.com/Sylvan_Trio/Home.html Sunday Baroque's "Beautiful Music in Difficult Times" blog: https://sundaybaroque.org/category/blog/ Please note: due to copyright restrictions, some musical selections have been truncated for this podcast.

For this episode of Live From FM 91, we connect virtually with composers Evan Ziporyn and Christine Southworth as they introduce their own music. On the program: Christine's Sharktooth Frenzy (from pianist Yevgeny Yontov) and Evan's Tunggal (from New Music Detroit and vibraphonist Ian Ding). Both performances come from last year's New Music Festival at Bowling Green State University, when Evan was the featured composer. https://www.ziporyn.com/ http://www.christinesouthworth.com/ https://www.bgsu.edu/festival

Baroque cellist Juliana Soltis stops by the studio for a conversation about (and performances from) her new album Going Off Script: The Ornamented Suites for Cello. Juliana brings a fresh approach to the solo cello suites of Johann Sebastian Bach by looking to the past for inspiration: specifically, the ornamental, improvisatory performance style of the baroque era. Photo by Teresa Tam Studio.