Spring ahead with public radio this season. Snow melts, temperatures begin to rise….well, maybe not just yet, but at least we can get into the mood. March is the perfect time of the year for renewal, growth and new experiences.
The Slowdown from American Public Media is a new program where U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith talks about poetry. The Slowdown will help listeners who are busy-but-still-curious better understand themselves and each other through five minutes of reflective, inquisitive, and thought-provoking programming. The Slowdown airs every Monday-Friday around 11:50am at the end of The Roundtable.
The Metropolitan Opera season continues Saturdays in March with Gaetano Donizetti’s comedy La Fille du Régiment. Soprano Pretty Yende stars in the title role as Marie, the young girl taken in and raised as a daughter by a regiment of French soldiers. Tenor Javier Camarena is Tonio, the boy who enlists just to marry her – and sings the show-stopping aria “Ah! mes amis,” famous for its remarkable nine high Cs. Enrique Mazzola conducts the performance, which will be heard live on WAMC at 1 p.m. March 2nd.
Next up on Saturday, March 9th at 1 p.m., Das Rheingold sets up the dramatic and theoretical issues that play out in the three subsequent music dramas by Richard Wagner. This work has a magnificent sweep with thrilling musical and dramatic coups which punctuate the confrontations and dialogue, containing some of the most striking music in its composer’s repertoire.
A deeply human farce full of humor and genuine emotion, Giuseppe Verdi’s last opera marks an unparalleled career in the theater with a finale. With the musical ideas coming fast and abundantly, Falstaff is a stylistic departure for the composer, and the score avoids traditional arias almost entirely, moving from one to the next organically and without discernible breaks. It airs March 15th at 1 p.m. on WAMC.
Saturday, March 23rd at 1 p.m. brings Samson et Dalila. This legendary biblical love story, adapted for the stage by Camille Saint-Saëns, contains a score that animates all the powerful and diverse colors in the iconic tale, from the lurid to the exotic, the crass, the sensual, and even the sublimely spiritual.
The second opera in Richard Wagner’s Ring, Die Walküre has long stood on its own as a masterpiece of extraordinarily powerful theater. Part of its appeal lies in its focus on interesting characters, who follow their destinies to some of Wagner’s most remarkable music. Listen to this opera on WAMC on Saturday, March 30th at 12:30 p.m.
The Moth Radio Hour makes its return to Fridays at 1 p.m. on WAMC after the documentary series from NPR The Gospel Roots of Rock and Soul ran in its place during February for Black History Month.
On the news side, tune in for coverage of Town Meeting Day in Vermont on March 5th. And with an earlier election season this year, campaigns for local offices are already under way in New York state. Follow the news team on Twitter @WAMCNews and on Facebook. Also, we are proud to unveil the WAMC Instagram! Follow us @wamcradio for news, interviews, and some behind the scenes pictures.
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