Classical Music

Reeder’s Movie Reviews: A Complete Unknown

By Steve Reeder
A Complete Unknown
In director James Mangold’s new film, Timothée Chalamet portrays the young Bob Dylan (the professional name he adopted at age 21) from 1961-1965. He gives a remarkably nuanced, accomplished performance in a movie that occasionally gets bogged down in truncated or unnecessary scenes, but not too often. The supporting cast shines as well.Read More

Reeder’s Movie Reviews: Maria

By Steve Reeder
Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas
“Maria Callas was someone that as she was singing, she was dying every time. Life was taken from her while she sang.” The Chilean writer-director Pablo Larrain has a fascination with mortality. The manifestations of it course throughout his work. In many respects, it inspires his art.Read More

Anton Bruckner Bicentennial

By Steve Reeder
Today, two hundred years after his birth, Anton Bruckner’s music continues to challenge and fascinate. He was a humble man. A devout Catholic. A highly trained organist. A largely self-taught composer. A singular voice in music, especially in his massive symphonies.Read More

Gigi Yellen Reflects On Her Time At NWPB

By Anjuli Dodhia
This week, we are saying goodbye to longtime classical music host Gigi Yellen. For more than ten years, Gigi has delighted NWPB listeners with music and commentary, and contributed to many more projects and initiatives. You can read or listen to her work on the Music and Culture page. We wish Gigi a happy retirement, and all the best on her next chapter. Gigi sat down with Read More

BOOK REVIEW: The Girl Who Heard The Music

By Gigi Yellen
book cover
When’s the last time you watched a Tiny Desk Concert? NPR’s popular in-office show became the Tiny Desk (Home) Concert when the pandemic hit. On June 24, 2021, one artist’s home studio performance came from a remote island in the south Pacific Ocean, two thousand miles west of Chile. The pianist Mahani Teave (teh-AH-veh) offered not only Handel and Chopin, but also a tour Read More

Women’s History Music Moment: Bach’s Daughters

By NWPB Music
You’ve heard so much about the sons of Johann Sebastian Bach, but there were daughters, too. Bach was 23, and his wife Maria Barbara was 24, when the first of their children was born. They named her Catherina Dorothea. CD grew into a singer, and helped out in her father’s music work. Fifteen years passed, her mother died, her father remarried, and finally, CD Bach Read More

Music Moment: Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà

By NWPB Music
Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà
Twenty-five years ago, Angèle Dubeau had a thriving career as a concert violinist, having studied with the legendary Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School in New York. She had become a popular broadcaster at home in Québec, where she hosted a weekly French-language program on CBC. She already had her Arthur (as she calls her prized Stradivarius violin), but she envisioned Read More
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