Composers Datebook™ is a daily two-minute program designed to inform, engage, and entertain listeners with timely information about composers of the past and present. Each program notes significant or intriguing musical events involving composers of the past and present, with appropriate and accessible music related to each.
Latest episodes
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2 min
'Eating Greens' with Mackey
SynopsisOn today’s date in 1994, Dennis Russell Davies conducted the Chicago Symphony in the premiere performance of a 23-minute orchestral work by American composer Steven Mackey.…
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2 min
Robert Ward panned and prized
SynopsisFor composers of new operas, all too often, after the heady champagne of opening night comes the strong black coffee of “the morning after” — sipped anxiously while reading…
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2 min
Corigliano's 'Poem in October'
SynopsisOn today’s date in 1970, a new chamber work by American composer John Corigliano received its premiere performance at a concert given by the Chamber Music Society of Lincol…
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2 min
Cindy McTee's Symphony No. 1
SynopsisOn today’s date in 2002, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Leonard Slatkin conducted the National Symphony in the premiere of a new symphony by American composer C…
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2 min
Schneider's 'Carlos Drummond de Andrade Stories'
SynopsisOn today’s date in 2008, at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, soprano Dawn Upshaw and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra gave the first performance of a new song cycl…
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2 min
Adams at the opera
SynopsisRoyalty was often flattered by the composers of the Baroque age. Handel wrote glorious ceremonial music for British monarchs, and Bach was not above working up an obsequiou…
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2 min
Marga Richter's 'Fragments'
SynopsisAmerican composer Marga Richter was born on today’s date in 1926, in Reedsburg, Wisconsin. She began piano lessons by 4, started composing at 12 and had her first work perf…
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2 min
Ancerl and the Czech Philharmonic
SynopsisOn today’s date in 1950, Karel Ančerl was named the artistic director of the Czech Philharmonic, a position he would hold for the next 18 years.He had first conducted the o…
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2 min
Honegger plays rough
SynopsisRugby is a style of football that originated in England at Rugby School and was played at British public boy’s schools during the 19th century.It’s also the name of a tone…
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2 min
Premiere of Brahms' 'Schicksalslied'
SynopsisOn today’s date in 1871, Hermann Levi conducted the premiere of a new choral work by Johannes Brahms: Schicksalslied, or Song of Destiny. It’s a setting of a poem by Friedr…
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2 min
Boulez and Jarre
SynopsisToday’s date in 1946 marks an important moment in Parisian theatrical history with the debut performance of a legendary acting company created by husband-and-wife actors Je…
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2 min
A domestic postscript from Richard Strauss
SynopsisOf all the works of Richard Strauss, the one that premiered in Dresden on today’s date in 1925 ranks amount the least-known.For starters, it has an odd title, Parergon to t…
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2 min
Missa Salisburgensis
SynopsisThe hills surrounding the Austrian town of Salzburg, according to Rogers and Hammerstein, are “alive with the sound of music.” Well, the same could have been said for the v…
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2 min
Dvorak's Violin Concerto
SynopsisOn today’s date in 1883, the premiere of Antonín Dvořák’s Violin Concerto was given in Prague by Czech violinist František Ondrícek with the National Theatre Orchestra, led…
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2 min
Zwilich celebrates
SynopsisAs far as housewarming gifts go, a nice bottle of champagne is common, or maybe a bouquet of flowers. But if you’re a composer, and the occasion is the ceremonial opening p…
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2 min
Prokofiev's Sixth and Seventh
SynopsisBy a coincidence, the last two symphonies of Soviet composer Sergei Prokofiev premiered on today’s date: his Symphony No. 6 premiered in Leningrad in 1947, and his final, S…
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2 min
The school of Monk
SynopsisAmerican jazz composer and pianist Thelonious Sphere Monk was born on today’s date in 1917. Largely self-taught, he began playing piano at 6. At 17, he dropped out of New Y…
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2 min
Vivaldi’s 'Juditha Triumphans'
SynopsisOn today’s date in 2001, the release of a CD of Vivaldi’s oratorio Juditha Triumphans launched an ambitious project to record nearly 450 works of the famous Italian Baroque…
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2 min
Ligeti's 'out there' Violin Concerto
SynopsisOn today’s date in 1992, one of the strangest — and some would say most strikingly original — violin concertos of the late 20th century had its premiere performance in Colo…
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2 min
Jake Heggie's opera 'Dead Man Walking'
SynopsisAs the 20th century drew to its close, some who followed the development of opera were struck by the number of new American operas on American themes.On today’s date in 200…