The strongest unified movement toward Russian nationalistic expression in 19th century concert music occurred during the 1860s with the formation of a group of composers dubbed “the five” or “the mighty handful.” They included Mily Balakirev, Alexander Borodin, Cesar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. It was the beginning of a nationalistic sound that would…
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Savannah Music Festival LIVE is a weekly radio series produced for Georgia Public Broadcasting, which is now in its 16th season. The show has been licensed to public radio stations across the country and is available to stream online anytime. GPB Radio's weekly statewide broadcasts are on Sunday nights at 8 p.m. and WUGA on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 9 p.m
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 1648 – Samara Joy 2024
On this episode, we listen to a portion of the 2024 season kickoff concert featuring powerhouse jazz vocalist Samara Joy. In the two year span since her first Savannah Music Festival appearances at house concerts in the surrounding area, Samara Joy has won three Grammy Awards and delighted audiences around the globe, all before reaching 25 years of age. This time, Samara brought an ensemble made up of her musical peers, with a standard trio augmented by trombone, trumpet, and tenor and alto saxophones.
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 542 – Daniel Hope’s AIR
The Baroque is a period of artistic style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance and grandeur in sculpting, painting, architecture, literature, dance and music. The Baroque style began around 1600 in Rome and spread to most of Europe over approximately the next 150 years. Tune in to…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 541 – Two Russian Sonatas
Though Russia got a late start in developing its native tradition of classical music, by the late 19th and early 20th century, the country was well into its third generation of classical composers. Two of the giants from this period were pianists/composers whose first name was Sergei, however their musical conceptions were completely different from…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 539 – Russian String Masterworks
The history of Russian music over the past 125 years has been every bit as tempestuous as its political leadership. As nationalist music began to envelope Europe toward the end of the 1800s, Russian composers were creating some of the most beautiful and powerful music of this period. Tune in to hear performances of Tchaikovksy’s…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 537 – Paco de Lucia – Part Two
When flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia brought his group for their Savannah debut in 2012, he showed why he is the most renowned flamenco guitarist playing today. With great singers, dancers and virtuoso instrumentalists, the ensemble lit up the stage for nearly two hours, bringing the sold-out crowd to their feet numerous times throughout the…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 536 – Paco de Lucia – Part One
His real name is Francisco Gustavo Sanchez Gomez and he was born in 1947 in Algeciras, a city in the province of Cadiz in Spain. He likes to eat soup and drink wine, but is also internationally renowned as a flamenco guitarist, for which he uses the stage name Paco de Lucia. Tune in for…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 534 – Tony Trischka & Bruce Molsky
Using fearless musical curiosity as a guiding force for more than 35 years, Tony Trischka has become one of the world’s foremost banjo players, inspiring an entire generation of bluegrass and acoustic musicians. Besides being one of the instrument’s top pickers, he has also long been one of it’s best teachers, working with young musicians…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 533 – Freddy Cole
While there are certain unmistakeable similarities in the musicianship of the two siblings, the younger brother of Nat King Cole long ago emerged from the awesome shadow cast by his elder brother. In truth, his phrasing is far closer to that of Frank Sinatra or Billie Holiday than that of his brother, and his timing…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 531 – Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out
When immigrants from Great Britain and Ireland arrived in the Appalachian region of the United States in the 18th century, they brought with them the musical traditions of their homelands. These traditions were extended, refined and combined into a variety of American roots music styles, including a distinct musical form called bluegrass. In this episode,…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 530 – Bruce Molsky
Bruce Molsky was born in the Bronx and fell in love with old-time music as a teenager. He moved to Virginia in the ’70s, learning directly from old masters like Tommy Jarrell, and seeing how music fit into people’s lives there. He has since become one of the world’s most revered fiddle players, and a…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 526 – French Masterpieces
The use of music in a painterly fashion by the French pioneered a direction in the creation of instrumental sound, and this attachment to visual culture has served as one of the inspirations for the unique modern tradition of the French musical language. In this episode, we listen to Daniel Hope & Friends performing the…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 525 – Piano Showdown 2012 – Part Two
Original air date: week of October 7, 2012 When writing music, most composers see a piano as the best means of trying out ideas as they commit them to paper. In fact, there is more extensive solo repertoire for the piano than for any other instrument. During the 20th century, composers like Messiaen, Debussy and…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 524 – Piano Showdown 2012 – Part One
Original air date: week of September 22, 2012 Even though you can’t pack it in your hand luggage as you might a guitar, fiddle or flute, the piano opens up the entire world of music because it can translate the full range of harmony of orchestral and choral scores. There is no substitute for the…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 522 – Cedar Walton
Original air date: week of September 17, 2012 When you’re raised by a mother who is an aspiring concert pianist as well as your piano teacher, and she takes you to hear performances by Nat King Cole, Erroll Garner, Mary Lou Williams, Earl Hines, Hank Jones and Lester Young, you’re not only a lucky guy,…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 521 – Takacs Quartet with Menahem Pressler
Original air date: September 9, 2012 Since 1975, the Takacs Quartet has been regarded as one of the great ensembles in chamber music, playing with a unique blend of drama, warmth and humor while bringing fresh insights to the chamber music repertoire. In 2012, the Takacs Quartet made their Savannah debut at our festival and…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 519 – Chopin Special feat. Leif Ove Andsnes and Nikolai Luganksy
Though he lacked the sheer power of many other keyboard artists in his day, Polish-born pianist Frederic Chopin more than compensated with his impeccable virtuoso technique and inspired musicianship. He incorporated the beauties of Italian opera into his piano compositions and performances, making them notable for their clarity of articulation, singing tone and flowing legato….
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 517 – Milos Karadaglic
Coming from a homeland with no real classical guitar tradition and a population of only 600,000, the challenges faced by Milos Karadaglic in climbing the international guitar-playing ladder were daunting. War was happening all around his homeland in Montenegro, but because he came from a musical family and his parents loved music, they encouraged his…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 516 – Bela Fleck & the Flecktones – Part Two
In 1998, when Bela Fleck formed his renowned ensemble the Flecktones, he never dreamed the group would still be performing almost 25 years later. The original creations of these four virtuosic players, fusing a wealth of musical styles using both acoustic and electric instruments, is like no other band. In this episode, we listen to…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 513 – Preservation Hall Jazz Band with the Del McCoury Band
On paper, it wouldn’t appear that the mixture of a traditional New Orleans jazz group and a classic bluegrass band on the same stage would make for a musical extravaganza. But when the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Del McCoury Band decided to make a recording and follow it up with a national tour,…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 515 – Bela Fleck & the Flecktones – Part One
Original air date: week of July 29, 2012 Nearly a quarter of a century ago, banjo master Bela Fleck formed a band that drew on bluegrass, jazz, blues and rock, combining the talents of four unique musicians that play acoustic and electric instruments. They call themselves the Flecktones, and the dexterity they use to make…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 512 – Beethoven Op. 132/Strauss Sextet
Original air date: week of July 8, 2012 Struggling with illness and deafness in the final years of his life, Beethoven rose above them to create some of his most profound works. The emotional weight of his A minor Quartet, Op. 132 is manifest evidence of what French musicologist Joseph de Marliave called “the habitual…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 510 – Edgar Meyer & Mike Marshall
Original air date: week of June 24, 2012 Throughout a lifetime of performing and composing, Edgar Meyer has turned the double bass into a modern virtuoso instrument that is equally at home in classical music and in the American vernacular. Mandolin master Mike Marshall has been blending genres in acoustic music for more than 30…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 509 – Dvorak & Menahem Pressler – Part Two
Original air date: week of June 17, 2012 In this episode, we listen to Antonin Dvorak’s great Piano Quintet, Op. 81, performed at the Telfair Academy of Arts & Sciences by Menahem Pressler with Daniel Hope and Benny Kim on violin, Josephine Knight on cello, and Carla Maria Rodrigues on viola. This 2012 Savannah Music…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 507 – Dvorak & Menahem Pressler
Original air date: week of June 3, 2012 This edition of SMF Live features selections from an all-Dvorak program that was part of the Daniel Hope & Friends series at the 2012 Savannah Music Festival. Joining Daniel and his colleagues on this occasion was the great pianist Menahem Pressler of the now retired Beaux Arts…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 506 – The Campbell Brothers
Original air date: week of May 27, 2012 Back in the 1930s, a group of related Pentecostal churches developed an African-American gospel music tradition known as sacred steel. The steel guitar was embraced in worship services in place of the traditional organ. This new instrument was met with great enthusiasm by musicians, many of whom…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 505 – Finckel, Han & Setzer Play Mendelssohn
Original air date: week of May 20, 2012 As arguably the greatest child prodigy the history of western music has ever known, Felix Mendelssohn produced works of extraordinary mastery throughout his entire life. His chamber music works, including the piano trios and cello sonata, continue to be favorites o musicians and audiences everywhere. In this…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 504 – Chris Thile Solo
Original air date: week of May 13, 2012 Every now and then a musician comes along with an artistic conception that is so original, he/she is incapable of sounding like anyone else. Such is the case with all great artists, but at age 30, Chris Thile has become one of the most unique American musicians…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 503 – Schubert Quintet
The only documentation from Franz Schubert’s life concerning his great string string quintet – one of the masterpieces of the chamber music literature – is a letter from 1828 written by the composer just a month before his untimely death at the age of 31. In it, he asked his publisher when he might be…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 502 – Kenny Barron
Philadelphia has been the birthplace of many great jazz musicians, including many masters of jazz. By the late 1920s, players such as Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti had put Phillip on the jazz map, followed later by Stan Getz and a jazz scene in the 1950s that would include the Heath Brothers, Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 501 – Simon Crawford-Phillips
Musical recitals offer listeners the opportunity to hear a collection of pieces selected by the performer. Such an occasion might feature the works of either a single composer, or a group of compositions that, when combined, illuminate a central theme or moment in time. During our 2012 festival, pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips gave a recital that…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 455 – Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, 2012
As the concept of a jazz orchestra approaches nearly 90 years of existence, the big bands still around and touring with their own style and identity are few and far between. One group that has persisted in sustaining an international presence, while extending and refining the tradition, continues to be lead by a man that…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 449 – Marcus Roberts Trio with Bela Fleck
The history of the banjo in jazz dates back to the earliest ensembles of the 20th century in New Orleans, when banjo players were occasionally the star of the band. Over the next 100 years, however, the banjo changed within American musical culture, gradually falling out of favor as a primary instrument within a jazz…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 448 – Leif Ove Andsnes
To describe a classical pianist as thoughtful, modest and dedicated to his craft would almost make him/her seem unexciting. Yet those traits aptly describe one of the most commanding and consummate pianists of our time, Norwegian Leif Ove Ansdnes. In February of 2012, Mr. Andsnes played with exhilaration, creativity and elegance during a recital produced…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 444 – Tim O’Brien Band
Old-time American music has always resided comfortably next to classic country, folk and bluegrass. Fans of these styles have always known they can count on a superb blend of them when listening to Tim O’Brien, who has spent the last three decades expanding the possibilities of acoustic music. In 2011, Tim O’Brien brought an all-star…
Savannah Music Festival LIVE 440 – The Infamous Stringdusters 2011 – Part One
Original air date: week of January 15, 2012 As the tradition of bluegrass music continues to evolve, the genre’s most creative musicians wield an expansive repertoire of original compositions and arrangements built on virtuosity, showmanship and a deep understanding of other American musical styles. In this episode we listen to part one of a two-day…