Midday

U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin has been a fixture on the Maryland political scene for 56 years, and a member of the United States Senate since 2007. Earlier this month, he announced that he will not seek re-election when his term expires on January 3, 2025.

As the Chair of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, a long time member of the Foreign Relations Committee, the Finance Committee and the Environment and Public Works Committee, Sen. Cardin has been a champion for small businesses in MD, a dedicated protector of the Chesapeake Bay and a fierce advocate for human rights around the world.

His career began in 1967. As it continued in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, he never lost an election.

Sen. Cardin joins Tom in Studio A.

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It's time for another visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins us each week with her reviews of the mid-Atlantic regional stage.

Today, she tells us about the new touring company production of Six — now in an eight-performance run at Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre — in which the six wives of Henry VIII take the stage to spin their infamous 500-year-old heartbreaks into an exuberant, 21st century "her-storical" musical.

Written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, Six won 23 awards in the 2021-2022 Broadway season, including a Tony Award for Best Original Score (Music and Lyrics) and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical.

The touring production is co-directed by Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage, with music direction by Julia Schade.

Six continues at the Hippodrome Theatre through Sunday, May 14.

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Viola da gambist Carolyn Surrick and Grammy-nominated lutenist Ronn McFarlane have joined together again for their latest album "And So Flows The River."

The celebrated artists will perform selections from their new project at a benefit concert at the Church of the Nativity and Holy Comforter in Baltimore on Saturday, May 20, from 3:00 – 4:00pm. For more details, click here.

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Today, it’s Midday on the Arts. We begin with a conversation about a program designed to help further the educations and careers of young people of color in classical music. It’s called Shared Voices, and it connects students studying at HBCUs with the top schools of music and conservatories across the country.

It is the brainchild of Denyce Graves, one of the most acclaimed opera singers of her generation. As a performer, teacher and the founder and artistic director of the Denyce Graves Foundation, she has been a fierce advocate for artists of color, and a leader in advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in classical music.

Denyce Graves is the Rosa Ponselle Distinguished Faculty Artist in Voice at Johns Hopkins University's Peabody Institute here in Baltimore. She also teaches at the Julliard School in New York City, and at the University of Toronto. She joins us on Zoom…

And with Tom in the studio is JoyAnne Amani Richardson. She’s an acclaimed pianist, composer and conductor, who serves as the Music Director of the Denyce Graves Foundation. 

(Photo credit: Denyce Graves-Montgomery by Devon Cass)

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Today is another installment in our series, Midday in the Neighborhood, which we produce in cooperation with our news partners, the Baltimore Banner.

The series examines issues facing some of Baltimore’s 278 different communities.

Today, we turn our focus to Locust Point, and a community garden that is facing an existential crisis.

The Banner’s Cadence Quaranta reports that, “Under Armour owns the garden plot located near its Tide Point headquarters. It opened it up to the community around 2018, but it expects to put the land on the market, according to a spokesperson. The sports apparel company is set to wind down operations in Locust Point and move to its new corporate headquarters in the Baltimore Peninsula by the end of next year.”

Tom speaks with Dave Arndt, the manager of the Locust Point Community Garden.

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Today on Midday, a heated impasse over the debt ceiling. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Congress that the Treasury will soon run out of the “extraordinary measures” currently being employed to maintain the full faith and credit of the federal government.

After a meeting on Tuesday with Congressional leaders, neither President Joe Biden nor Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy expressed great optimism that either side had budged in the standoff over whether budget cuts can be tied to a deal on raising the debt ceiling.

Our guests are Kathleen Day, a lecturer at the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business, and Luke Broadwater, congressional reporter for The New York Times.

The guests join Tom in Studio A.

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Harborplace in Baltimore has been in a steady decline for years, as store after store and restaurant after restaurant closed. Only a couple of places remain open and the entire Light Street Pavilion has been shuttered.

Now, the reimagining of Harborplace has begun. Late last year, a local developer named P. David Bramble purchased the property, and pledged to revive this centerpiece of downtown that was once a proud symbol of Baltimore’s Renaissance.

Bramble is the managing partner at MCB Real Estate.

Christopher Mfume, a son of Congressman Kweisi Mfume, is the managing partner of CLD Partners. His development portfolio includes a number of residential properties across Baltimore.

David Bramble and Christopher Mfume join Tom in Studio A.

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A new installation at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore showcases art from across Asia and the region's Islamic cultures.

The new exhibition is called Across Asia: Arts of Asia and the Islamic World.The museum's recent renovations have been a few years in the making. The re-imagined space allows the museum to display more than 90 works from its collection for the first time.

Dr. Julia Marciari Alexander is the Andrea B. and John H. Laporte Director of the Walters Art Museum.

Theresa Sotto is the Ruth R. Marder Director of Learning and Community Engagement.

Today's guests join Tom in Studio A.

(Photo: A display of ceramics from Islamic artisans across West and South Asia, part of the Walters Art Museum's new exhibition.)

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This week, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed into law bills focused on economic development.

Today on Midday, we discuss some of the other bills passed during the 2023 session of the Maryland General Assembly that could have an economic impact on Baltimore.

Tom talks with Benjamin Orr, the founding president and CEO of the Maryland Center on Economic Policy, a nonpartisan policy think tank.

Benjamin Orr joins Tom in Studio A.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

On Saturday, people across the world turned their attention to the pomp and pageantry of the coronation for King Charles III in London's Westminster Abbey.

We open the show with sound from the site of the coronation, as the Ascension Gospel Choir performed ‘Alleluia’ (O Sing Praises) for the Gospel reading of King Charles III’s coronation.

The coronation ceremony drew on traditions more than a thousand years old. But the ceremony featured new changes, such as the inclusion of a gospel choir and roles for women and clergy of different world religions.

NPR international correspondent Frank Langfitt joins Tom to discuss how the coronation was received, in Britain and across the world. For nearly two decades, Langfitt has been an international correspondent for NPR, reporting from more than 50 countries. For the past nearly 6 years, he’s been based in London. Later this month, he is set to return to the United States to take on a new role as NPR’s Global Democracy Correspondent.

Frank Langfitt speaks with us from London our digital line.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.