Midday

We learned over the weekend, to the surprise of many, that the city of Baltimore has reached an agreement with The Stronach Group, the owners of the Pimlico Race Course in Park Heights, on a plan to redevelop the aging track facility and the surrounding neighborhood, and to keep the Preakness Stakes -- the second jewel in horse racing’s prestigious Triple Crown -- permanently at Pimlico. Joining Tom in the studio to discuss the details of this momentous agreement -- and the work still ahead to implement it -- is Maryland Delegate Sandy Rosenberg. He represents the state's 41st legislative district -- which includes the Pimlico Race Course. Delegate Rosenberg has long been an advocate for the redevelopment of the track complex and for keeping the Preakness at Pimlico. We welcomed your calls, emails, Tweets and Facebook comments.This conversation was livestreamed on WYPR's Facebook page, and you can watch the video here (from 0:00 to 16:05 on the stream).

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Midday host Tom Hall began the Friday Midday on Music show with this update about an important development in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. ----A brief word on the latest revelations in the impeachment inquiry. Last night, the House Foreign Affairs, Oversight and Intelligence Committees released text messages between diplomats related to President Trump’s posture towards Ukraine. The exchanges between Special Envoy Kurt Volker and several others were released after Volker testified for nearly 10 hours behind closed doors yesterday. The messages, from late July, August and September, indicate that President Trump was unwilling to meet with President Zelensky of Ukraine unless Zelensky agreed, in writing, to investigate Hunter Biden’s involvement with a Ukrainian oil company. Democrats point to this as an illegal effort to leverage the office of the President for personal gain. So far, Republican reaction is that the text messages exonerate the President. Before leaving the White House for a trip to Florida ysterday, the President urged China to investigate the Bidens as well. And this reminder: last June, Ellen Weintraub, the Chair of the Federal Election Commission issued a statement that said in part, “It is illegal for any person to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a US election.” Weintraub Tweeted her statement yesterday with the comment: ----I would not have thought that I needed to say this.----Today, Congress hears from Michael Atkinson, the Intelligence Community Inspector General. And one last item: the Whistleblower’s complaint about the President and Ukraine isn’t the only such complaint in play in the nation’s capital. The Washington Post is reporting that an official with the IRS has expressed concerns about a political appointee at the Treasury Department attempting to interfere with the annual audit of the president and the vice president’s tax returns. And oh, BTW, the unemployment rate has fallen to the lowest level in 50 years.

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Today's edition of Midday on Music continues now with two great musician friends of Midday joining Tom in Studio A: They are Robin Bullock, who has appeared as a solo artist and as part of Helicon, and Sue Richards, who is a member of Ensemble Galilei. Both have played for us several times here in Studio A. Now, they have teamed up as a duo and recently released a terrific CD of traditional Celtic music called Highland Ramble. Robin plays guitar, mandolin and cittern, among other traditional string instruments. Sue is a four time National Scottish Harp Champion. We streamed their performance today on WYPR Facebook Page, and you can watch the video here, beginning at 36:00 into the feed.The duo plays two tunes from the Highland Ramble CD: ----Loftus Jones---- by Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan, and ----Farmors Brudpolska,---- a traditional 19th century Swedish wedding polska.Robin Bullock and Sue Richards are playing at 7:30pm tonight at the Church of the Redeemer in Baltimore, as part of the Common Ground on the Hill Concert Series.If you miss them tonight, they’ll be back in Baltimore on December 6th at Govans Presbyterian Church, and Robin will be playing a solo all-Bach concert at An Die Musik in Baltimore on November 1st.

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Today on Midday, a break from the news of the day, and focus on that which is great and good about the human condition. It’s Midday on Music. A little later, we’ll be treated to some tunes by the guitar/harp duo, Robin Bullock and Sue Richards. Their performance is posted separately here on the WYPR Website).We begin today with Hanzhi Wang. This virtuoso concert accordionist was born 29 years ago in China. She lives and teaches now in Copenhagen, Denmark, and she’s playing a concert in Columbia, Maryland Saturday night. She is the first accordionist to win the prestigious Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York. Ms. Wang is not your grandfather’s polka-playing accordionist, nor is she the organ-grinder busker in Little Italy with the dancing monkey. As you will hear, she is a virtuoso on an instrument that is not usually associated with art music. We are streaming our conversations today on the WYPR Facebook Page, so you can see that the instrument she is playing -- the button accordion -- doesn’t even look like most accordions you’ve seen before. During her live performance on Midday, Hanzhi Wang plays three pieces, in this order:“My Story” by Hanzhi Wang; “Etincelles” by Moritz Moszkowski; and “La Muerte del Angel” by Astor Piazzolla. Hanzhi Wang performs Saturday night (October 5) at a concert at the Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center at Howard Community College in Columbia. It’s part of the Candlelight Concert Society series. She'll play music of Bach, Rameau, Scarlatti, Grieg and Schnittke. The concert starts at 7:30. Wang's latest CD is called On the Path to H.C. Anderson on the Naxos label. It includes music by contemporary Danish composers. Hanzhi Wang is on the faculty of the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. She posts on Instagram.

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It's time for another of theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck's weekly reviews of the Maryland stage. Today, she spotlights Mr. Wolf , a new production by Single Carrot Theatre being staged at the Rectory of St. John's Church at 3009 Greenmount Ave. in Waverly.Co-directed for Single Carrot by ensemble members Genevieve deMahy and Lauren Erica Jackson, the play by Rajiv Joseph explores the complex issues surrounding missing and abused children, and our definitions of family. Ensemble Member Paul Diem (as Michael) teams up with Zara Cojocaru (as Theresa), Phil Gallagher (as Mr. Wolf), Ama Brown (as Julie) and Elizabeth Darby (as Hana).Mr. Wolf by Single Carrot Theatre continues at the St. John's Church Rectory through Sunday, October 13. For ticket information, click here.

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It’s the October edition of Midday at the Movies, our monthly look at films and filmmaking. Tom begins the show by noting that the Maryland Film Festival has named interim executive director Sandra L. Gibson as its new permanent director.Then, MdFF founder and retired director Jed Dietz joins Tom to discuss the crop of new fall films showing this weekend on local screens, including Joker, Judy, Ad Astra, Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, and Monos, among others. After the break, Tom and Jed are joined by Phil Davis, a Baltimore filmmaker, TowsonU. professor of film and animation, and the founding director of the Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival, a newly expanded 3-day event running Oct. 4-6 at the Parkway. And we speak by phone with Portland-based animator Joanna Priestley, the Festival's visiting guest artist and director-producer of 30 award-winning animated films. She shares her perspectives on the weekend event and trends in the artform.

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Will the political polarity that has accompanied the Trump Presidency continue, or will some Republicans join the independents who are slowly beginning to peel away from the President amidst revelations about self-dealing with foreign leaders. GuestsAdam Sewer is a Staff Writer at The Atlantic. Liz Harrington is the National Spokesperson for the Republican National Committee. Josh Gerstein is a Senior Legal Affairs Contributor at POLITCO

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From a comedian who lost his shot at SNL to the New York Times, which was criticized for publishing hints as to the identity of a Whistleblower, social media has jacked-up the vitriol, and access to an unprecedented level of Schadenfreude.

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Tom’s guest today is the acclaimed writer Ann Patchett. She is the winner of the Pen Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for fiction, and her work has been translated into more than 30 languages.Patchett is the author of eight novels, the latest of which, The Dutch House, was just published last week. It is a gem. As with some of her other immensely popular books -- novels such as Commonwealth, State of Wonder and Bel Canto -- in The Dutch House, Patchett writes with grace, authority and limitless compassion. Her characters navigate a complicated world with humility and fortitude, and she reveals their stories with a masterful touch, peppered with brilliant and straight-forward observations that elucidate that which is poignant and important about the human condition.

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Today, Live in Studio A, we welcome French guitar virtuoso Thomas Viloteau. A child prodigy who has lived, studied and performed all over the world, he’s won a guitar case full of prestigious international guitar competitions. In 2019, he joined the guitar faculty at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.Today, he performs two pieces for us: Le Passage des Alpes by Napoleon Coste, and Tango En Skai by Roland Dyens. Mr. Viloteau is one of three guitarists who will be playing at the Monument City Brewing Company in Baltimore Saturday night (9/28) to kick off the new Bach in the Brewery Concert Series, a project of the Baltimore School of Music. The BSM's owner and CEO James Lowe will host the event and also perform, along with Isaac Greene. For directions and Eventbrite ticket info, click here.This performance was livestreamed on WYPR's Facebook page; watch the video here.

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