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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…

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…

The sound of the Hammond B-3 organ with a Leslie speaker evolved in mid-20th century America through a range of musical genres that included blues, rock, gospel, and most notably, jazz. Many of the finest players on the instrument were jazz musicians, and the trail they blazed on the instrument is still being traveled today….

Original air date: week of November 27, 2011 Tucked between Togo to the west and Nigeria on the east, the West African nation of Benin is one of the smallest on the continent, yet it has produced one of Africa’s finest contemporary musicians. During the Spring of 2011, we premiered a special production featuring guitarist…

Original air date: week of November 6, 2011 Though nine of Ludwig Van Beethoven’s ten violin sonatas date between 1797 and 1803, the early years of his maturity, he still managed to leave the genre irrevocably changed. These enduring works have influenced generations of performers and composers, and they remain as profound today as when…

Original air date: week of October 31, 2011 Duke Ellington is widely regarded as one of the most important composers in the history of music and his orchestra in the mid-1930s was at the beginning of his creative peak, featuring some of the finest soloists in the history of jazz. During the years 1936-1940, a…

Brazilian music has produced many creative composers and a wealth of great guitarists, but rarely do these talents reside within the same individual. One such exception is the brilliant young musician Chico Pinheiro, who was born in Sao Paolo in 1974, and has distinguished himself as a remarkable presence both in and outside the Brazilian…

The Hungarian-born Franz Liszt was one of the greatest and most charismatic virtuosos in music history. Liszt exerted an almost otherworldly control over his audience due to his technical and interpretive mastery, and it was not uncommon for members of the audience to faint during a Liszt recital. Tune in as we listen to pianist…

There have been many outstanding piano trios throughout the history of jazz, each with its own signature sound. There is the majestic swing of the Oscar Peterson Trio, the classy bop of the Hank Jones Trio, the great independence of the Bill Evans Trio, and the powerful virtuosity of Bud Powell’s trios. Each great jazz…

Original air date: week of August 28, 2011 Though the repertoire of composition for violin and cello is not especially large, there are many colorful and dramatic duos that span the period from the late nineteenth through the first quarter of the 20th century, some of which have become staples of the literature. In this…

Original air date: week of August 26, 2011 When people talk about jazz piano music, more often than not they are referring to a jazz piano trio, which has generally been jazz pianists’ favorite format. There’s good reasoning behind this notion, too, because the jazz piano trio can represent the essence of jazz in the…

Original air date: week of August 19, 2011 Bassist Edgar Meyer and banjoist Bela Fleck had collaborated for nearly thirty years, but in 2008 when they formed a trio with tabla master Zakir Hussain, they created a small group in which each member offered up original compositions based upon their virtuosity and shared musical ideas….

Original air date: week of August 14, 2011 When banjoist Bela Fleck, bassist Edgar Meyer and tabla player Zakir Hussain decided to form a trio, they committed to creating a group with rich and varied compositions, virtuosic playing and a plan to grow the ensemble’s sound and repertoire over time. In this episode, we tune…

Original air date: week of August 7, 2011 Taking vocal cues from Sam Cooke and James Brown and wrapping them in the cozy warmth of rhythm and blues, singer/guitarist James Hunter hails from England but has American soul running through his blood. In this episode, we listen to Hunter’s 2011 SMF performance from the Trustees…

Original air date: week of July 24, 2011 In the world of chamber music, there are many masterworks of the idiom – pieces that are continually performed year in and year out at festivals and chamber music series around the world. The piano quintet by Schumann and the D minor trio by Mendelssohn are two…

Original air date: week of July 17, 2011 When American engineer Laurens Hammond invented the electric Hammond organ in 1934, he knew he had created an organ that could be sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ. However, by the 1950s and 60s, it had become a standard keyboard instrument…

Original air date: week of July 10, 2011 Players who win piano competitions don’t always become great pianists, but now in his late 30s, Nikolai Lugansky has all the makings of a modern virtuoso. Born in Moscow in April of 1972 to a couple of research scientists, Mr. Lugansky was just five years old when…

Original air date: week of July 3, 2011 In this episode, we listen to the complete 2011 performance by Junior Brown at the Lucas Theatre for the Arts, where he played an hour-long, non-stop set on his original instrument made up of a 6-string electric and a lap steel guitar. He calls it the “guit-steel”,…

Original air date: week of June 26, 2011 The five sonatas for cello and piano that Beethoven composed are milestones of the literature. They redefined the possibilities for these two instruments by creating music in which each part had an equally important role, setting a standard for every composer who followed. Tune in for part…

Original air date: week of June 19, 2011 During the 18th century, the cello had gradually become regarded as a solo as well as an accompanying instrument. While neither Mozart nor Haydn composed a cello sonata, Beethoven more than made up for them. Not only did he write five sonatas for the instrument, but he…

Original air date: week of June 12, 2011 The forward movement of contemporary American stringband music has always been fueled by a tradition that existed outside the classroom setting. When a young person attempts to pursue an American style such as bluegrass, Cajun, country or blues, the earliest method of learning often begins with imitating…

Original air date: week of June 5, 2011 While Beethoven is generally acknowledged as the first great composer of cello sonatas, there have been numerous outstanding works written for the cello as a solo instrument over the last three centuries. Composers such as Boccherini, Grieg, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Shostakovich and Britten all wrote compositions that…

Original air date: week of May 29, 2011 The string quartets written in the late 19th and early 20th century by Debussy and Ravel both dazzled and disturbed people in their first performances. Debussy’s fantastic, spiraling variations were shocking, but the exotic beauty of his writing excited many (including the young Ravel). Over time, passionate…

Original air date: week beginning May 23, 2011 The tradition of stringband playing in the United States dates back at least 200 years. In the early 19th century, the fiddle-banjo duo that was essential to the dance music of the day eventually incorporated other instruments such as the guitar, mandolin and double bass. Such an…

Original air date: week of May 15, 2011 When people hear the term “chamber music”, more often than not they think of a form of Classical music from the European tradition written for a small number of instruments. In the past 100 years, however, chamber music has grown to include any art music that is…

Original air date: week of May 8, 2011 At an audition to become the principal player on your instrument in a symphony orchestra, technical proficiency is only part of the test. Members of the orchestra weigh whether a candidate plays with strong character, yet can blend and match the ensemble’s style while also being a…

Original air date: week of May 1, 2011 The art of playing jazz piano is something that Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes pursued for more than 20 years before they met one another. After these two premiere pianists fell in love and became a couple, they realized that one of the biggest challenges of being…

Original air date: April 24, 2011 In the decade between 1781 and 1791 in Vienna, the preeminent keyboard virtuoso of the day was a young man named Mozart. During the final ten years of his life, Mozart was undeniably the absolute piano star in this music capital, but the keyboard he played was not the…

Original air date: week of February 20, 2011 When the family band Cherryholmes burst onto the scene seemingly out of nowhere during the first few years of the new millennium, they quickly developed a loyal audience, followed by a wealth of honors and awards. On January 12, 2011, after more than a decade together, Cherryholmes…

Original air date: week of February 13, 2011 Growing up in the South Carolina low country, Shannon Whitworth was always surrounded by water, before she decided to make her home in the North Carolina mountains. It’s the reason that the themes of water and mountains surface regularly in her songs, alongside the women about whom…

Original air date: week of February 6, 2011 When you think of American roots music, one of the most distinct styles is bluegrass. Bill Monroe once characterized the genre of music he helped create as: “Scottish bagpipes and old-time fiddlin’. It’s Methodist and Holiness and Baptist. It’s blues and jazz, and it has a high…

Original air date: week of January 30, 2011 The most common piano trio format in jazz has usually included a pianist, a bassist and a drummer. Communication between these three players is built around the talents they have amassed through extensive training, so that their reflexes are to the point where the music takes over…

Original air date: week of January 23, 2011 The musical heritage of French West Africa includes a wealth of traditional and popular music styles from a variety of countries including Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin and Mali. The arid, landlocked nation of Mali is a cultural colossus. Its contemporary music serves as a rich and…