40 YEARS OF BRINGING PEOPLE AND ISSUES TOGETHER - WQED

PM121x128_OnAirFeb.qxd 1/8/09 1:07 PM Page 126
Letter from
Susan Johnson
WQED-FM 89.3
& WQEJ-FM 89.7
Executive Director
For the Love of Classical Music
I try to avoid writing two months in a row
about giving. But this time, I must.
I must somehow get through to more listeners,
about how important this month’s on-air
membership drive is for Classical WQED-FM 89.3
and WQEJ-FM 89.7.
We’ve tightened our belt on spending, and
applied every economy of scale possible.
There is no fat to cut.
I am proud of our lean operation that produce
more than 4500 hours a year of locally-hosted
classical music for you, on a shoestring budget.
I am proud of all the QED Morning Show’s
regional arts coverage. Of the community
concerts we broadcast and promote. Of our
Carolyn M. Byham Cultural District Studio in
the heart of Downtown.
In 22 years in the business, I’ve never known
such a small team to create so much meaningful
programming for the community it serves. We
are truly fortunate!
But we cannot do it alone. Two-thirds of the
costs of running Classical WQED-FM and
WQEJ-FM are paid by listeners making voluntary
contributions in whatever amount they can.
So I’m asking you, personally, if you can give.
If you will give. If you will give just a tiny
little bit more in this month’s campaign.
Mail your check payable to WQED-FM at 4802
Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213.
Give online at www.WQED.org .
Or call 888-621-6900 during the on-air
membership drive.
We all thank you—with great classical music!
PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS
WQED-FM 89.3 and WQEJ-FM 89.7
PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY RADIO
8 pm SUNDAYS
February 1
Yan Pascal Tortelier conducts Corigliano’s
Tournaments Overture and Elgar’s Enigma
Variations. Leonidas Kovakos performs
Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2.
February 8
Chee-Yun performs Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3.
Andres Cardenes conducts Hindemith’s Concert
Music for Strings and Bass, and Schumann’s
Symphony No. 3.
February 15
Lorin Maazel conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 7
and Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances.
February 22
Horacio Gutierrez performs Beethoven’s Emperor
Piano Concerto. Yan Pascal Tortelier conducts
the Symphony No. 4 by Vaughan Williams.
METROPOLITAN OPERA
SATURDAY AFTERNOONS
February 7
Gaetano Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor.” 1pm
start time.
February 14
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin.” 1pm
start time.
February 21
Francesco Cilea’s “Adriana Lecouvreur.” 1pm
start time.
February 28
Giuseppi Verdi’s “Il Trovatore.” 1pm start time.
HARMONIA
7 am SUNDAYS
February 8
Food and drink in music of the baroque. Plus,
a new release by organist Jonathan Dimmock.
February 15
Music by some of the finest composers of the
Portuguese Renaissance.
February 22
A look at the Renaissance lament known as the
déploration, a musical setting of a poem written
in memory of someone who passed away.
PERFORMANCE IN PITTSBURGH
7 pm FRIDAYS
February 6
Rebel plays Christmas concerti, from December’s
Renaissance & Baroque concert.
February 13
Music for Valentines, including Brahms’
Liebeslieder Waltzes and Tchaikovsky’s Romeo
& Juliet.
February 20
Harpsichordist Richard Egarr plays Bach’s
"Well-Tempered Clavier," Book 1.
February 27
The Jupiter String Quartet’s Pittsburgh debut in
works by Haydn, Shostakovich, and Beethoven.
EXPLORING MUSIC
10 pm WEEKNIGHTS
Week of February 2nd
Works of Mendelssohn, in celebration of his
200th birthday.
Week of February 9th
Composers influenced by the great elixir of love.
Week of February 16th
Music of a European golden period from
1885 to 1914—an era in which both art and
science flourished.
Week of February 23rd
Music from one of Europe’s greatest golden
periods, 1885 to 1914.
SUNDAY BAROQUE
8 am SUNDAYS
February 1
Great American musical ensembles demonstrate
their prowess playing baroque favorites in the
Super Baroque Bowl.
February 8
Birdsongs found in classical music, in honor of
National Birdfeeding Month.
February 15
For Valentine’s Day weekend, you’ll hear baroque
composers make beautiful music on the subject
of love.
February 22
A birthday party for George Frideric Handel (born
February 23, 1685)—with as much music by
Handel as you can handle.
WQED-FM 89.3 AND WQEJ-FM 89.7 CELEBRATE BLACK HISTORY MONTH
The U.S. composer and arranger William Grant Still blended jazz and the Blues into his emblematic
Afro-American Symphony. Hear Still’s Symphony and other black musicians and composers daily
throughout the month of February, as WQED-FM 89.3 honors Black History Month. You’ll hear
music by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Duke Ellington, Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and others, plus
performances by Branford and Wynton Marsalis, Andre Watts, and the Imani Winds.
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PITTSBURGH FEBRUARY 2009