On Record

Andreas Delfs has just been named the new Music Director of your Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra , and he has a long and ambitious agenda for the organization as it heads into its centenary year. Julia Figueras sat down with Maestro Delfs in an empty Restaurant Good Luck to talk with him about that to-do list, with a speed round to wrap it up.

This is a week of two large and beloved Russian works: Tchaikovsky's daunting Violin Concerto and Rachmaninov's lush Symphony No. 2. Marcelo Lehninger returns as guest conductor for your Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra , and violinist Blake Pouliot is making his RPO debut. Both stopped by to chat with Julia Figueras about getting through the pitfalls of the concerto, avoiding potential excesses in the symphony and, in the mix, some fashion tips.

Your Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director Ward Stare cap off the celebration of suffrage and Susan B. Anthony with "The Mother of Us All," Virgil Thomson's opera with a libretto by Gertrude Stein. The production, directed by Susan Stone Li , features singers from the Eastman School of Music . Ward and Susan stopped by to talk with Julia Figueras about putting the concert together, and about the path constructed by Thomson and Stein.

Your Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra is having a double suffrage celebration. The first of the two concerts features works by Fanny Mendelssohn, Julia Perry, and a world premiere of Gemma Peacocke 's Susan B. Anthony-inspired "All on Fire." The second half of the concert is Mark Mobley 's "True and Devoted," a collage of words and music featuring interviews with Rochesterian women. RPO Music Director Ward Stare , Gemma Peacocke, and Mark Mobley all joined Julia Figueras in studio to discuss the many facets of the program.

It's a program of music inspired by times of oppression, filled with themes of resistance. Conductor Fabien Gabel returns to Kodak Hall to guest conduct the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and pianist Juho Pohjonen makes his RPO debut in an evening of Beethoven, Poulenc, and Prokofiev. Julia Figueras sat down and chatted with them about the works, the power of Beethoven, and the joys of French music.

There are journeys we take in life. Sometimes, we go through darkness to find light; sometimes we leave the light and descend into darkness. In the next Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra concerts , we will do both. Guest conductor JoAnn Falletta , Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and RPO Principal Flute Rebecca Gilbert joined Julia Figueras to talk about those musical journeys in a program of Tailleferre, Berlioz, and former Eastman School of Music professor Christopher Rouse . Also joining the conversation: Kevin Wade and Byron Bounds, both participants in ROC Restorative, the dedicatee of the concerto performance.

Tessa Lark 's star is shining brightly. She brings her luminous presence into Kodak Hall this week for a performance with your Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra to perform Alban Berg's Violin Concerto. Tessa and RPO music director Ward Stare came by our studios to talk with Julia Figueras about this deeply moving piece, as well as Bach, Bartok, Webern, and the freedom of fiddling.

Cellist Andrei Ionita brought down the house when he played Shostakovich for his RPO (and American!) debut just over a year ago. He's back in town, this time to play a concerto that struggled to gain a foothold in the concert hall. Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra music director Ward Stare has framed the concerto with touches of spring, dashes of melancholy, and a lengendary ballet. Both came to our studios to chat with Julia Figueras.

The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra 's Conductor Laureate, Christopher Seaman , is back in town for a concert of audience favorites, including Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 with soloist Simone Porter . Christopher and Simone came to our studios to talk with Julia Figueras about the program, as well as giving us the inside scoop on Simone's new violin and what's on their reading lists.

This week, your Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra welcomes a new maestro and the return of a fan favorite. Conductor David Danzmayr and pianist Orli Shaham combine forces with the RPO for a concert of two temperamentally different symphonies and a songbird's concerto. Julia Figueras sat down in our studios to talk about the pieces, programming, and the power of music for our youngest listeners in Orli's Bach Yard.

It's a bold opening night for the new Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra season: four works of our time, never before performed by the RPO. Needless to say, the orchestra, under the baton of Music Director Ward Stare , is up to the challenge. Anchoring the program is John Adams ' Scheherazade.2 , a work premiered by RPO guest soloist Leila Josefowicz . Ward and Leila walk us through that piece - and the three others - and explain why playing contemporary music is important...and thrilling.

Garrett McQueen is a man of many talents: overnight host for Classical 24 , creator and producer of the podcast Trilloquy , and bassoonist extraordinaire. He's in town to moderate the opening day panel discussion for the Gateways Music Festival , but found a moment or two to sit down and chat with Julia Figueras about his life path, and why Gateways is inspiring and important to him...and to us.

As has become Ward Stare 's tradition, your Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra closes the Philharmonics season with an opera. This year, it's Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, and Ward brought two people into our studios who have been largely responsible for shaping the production: fortepianist Kinza Tyrrell and stage director Grant Preisser . They talked to Julia Figueras about the plot, the editing, and why this opera was not a big hit when it was first performed.

Cinema is a magic place where sound and image collide and mesh. Jazz trumpeter and Emmy Award winning composer Jeff Beal is in town to conduct EFAME in a live score screening of The Biggest Little Farm for the One Take Film Festival . He and festival programmer Linda Moroney sat down with Julia Figueras to talk about that magic place, the beauty of documentaries, and why the Eastman School of Music became the home for the Beal Institute for Film Music and Contemporary Media .

It's been five years since Michael Francis has been in town to work with your Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra , and he's returned for a concert of just two pieces...but those pieces are mighty. In the first half, Sir William Walton 's searing Symphony No. 1, with Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 featuring Van Cliburn Gold medalist Yekwon Sunyoo in the second half. Maestro Francis stopped by to chat with Julia Figueras about the two works and the universal language of music.

Stephen Hough is in town to play the Dvorak Piano Concerto with your Rochester Phiharmonic Orchestra , a piece that musicians either love or hate. Stephen falls on the "love" side, although it did take a little time. So he and Ward Stare (who is meeting this work for the first time) discussed with Julia Figueras why the pros outweigh the cons...with a little chat about Brahms and Richard Strauss surrounding it. And then the phone rang...

On Saturday, April 6, Feminine Fusion joins our line up at 8 PM. The show, which highlights all facets of women in classical music, is produced and hosted by Diane Jones , who is also the midday host at WCNY in Syracuse. Diane took a road trip to our studios to chat with Julia Figueras about Feminine Fusion, the quiet (and sometimes not so subtle) bias against women in the world of classical music, and her journey from executive secretary to composer and radio host.

Clara Schumann blazed a path for women in music, composing and soloing at a time when it was unheard of for women to have a professional career in that world. Yet, we still hear murmers of discontent: she was mean, she wasn't supportive of her husband Robert, she neglected her kids. This "soft misogyny," as pianist Heather O'Donnell calls it, has tainted the legacy of a great artist.

Violinist Augustin Hadelich , a fan favorite in Rochester, is back in town to perform the Sibelius Violin Concerto with your Rochester Philhamonic Orchestra in a program that also includes Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10. He and RPO Music Director Ward Stare sat down to talk about both pieces in depth with Julia Figueras, including Augustin explaining why he thinks he's playing it better now than he did on his CD.

Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Music director Ward Stare told City Paper that Mahler's Symphony No. 7 is "... a weird symphony. Embrace the weirdness." And so he and Julia Figueras did, in a Mahler-sized podcast, with a dash of Wagner thrown in for good measure. So go ahead. Embrace it.

Christopher Seaman , the Conductor Laureate of your Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra , is in town for his annual concert. He brings with him a song of protest, a 20th century take on Shakespeare, a suite about love and friendship, and the other solo side of Mozart. Also in the mix: the Rochester debut of Angelo Xiang Yu , who brings a Stradivarius violin and a deep, abiding love for the man whose work he will play.