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Welcome to the Blog of Rich Samuels, Host of “Anything Goes”

Wednesday, 17 October 2012 | Rich Samuels

On the left is a photo of me (snapped by April 14, 2009, by Chicago Sun-Times photographer Brian Jackson)  seemingly yelling at  Rod Blagojevich.  The former Illinois governor had just exited Chicago’s Dirksen Federal Building where he had entered a “not guilty” plea to a wide variety of corruption charges, including the allegation that he had attempted to market, for personal gain, the seat in the U.S. Senate left vacant when Barack Obama was elected President.

I was part of the media scrum (a correspondent for the “Chicago Tonight” show which airs on WTTW, one of Chicago’s public television stations) that pursued Blago that day: and, to be quite frank, I only appear to be yelling at the disgraced former governor: in reality, I was trying to locate my camera operator who had disappeared into the crowd, nowhere to be seen.

A month short of three years after that picture was taken (it’s recently been recycled as the cover art for Natasha Korecki’s book “Only in Chicago”), Rod Blagojevich began serving a 14 year sentence at the Federal Correctional Center Englewood near Denver. I wasn’t around to witness the denouement of his prosecution: I retired from television journalism at the end of 2009 and, as Garrison Keillor once put it, “moved up to radio”.

Since November of 2010 I’ve been hosting WORT’s “Anything Goes” show, bringing my listeners classical music every Thursday morning between the hours of 5 and 8.

To the greatest extent possible, I try to feature the work of local artists and composers, especially those who are younger. When necessary, I have the capability of recording interviews and performances in the field.

I hope you’ll be able to join me each week. I also hope you can continue to provide WORT with the financial support that makes this kind of programming (which is obviously not for everyone) possible.

When I’m not on the air you can follow me via this blog, via Twitter, Facebook or my personal website.

The WORT 89.9 FM Madison, Wisconsin Area Classical Music Calendar for the Week Beginning April 18, 2013 Compiled by Rich Samuels, Host of “Anything Goes”

04/14/13 3:22 PM | Rich Samuels

Thursday April 18 7 pm at Capitol Lakes, 333 West Main Street, Madison Freshman recital by violist Mikko Utevsky. Includes works by Bach and Shostakovich. Piano accompanist is John Jeffrey Gibbens. Thursday April 18 8:30 pm. Morphy Hall, 455 N. Park Street, Madison. The UW Black Music Ensemble. included will be works by  works by Charles Wright, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Stevie Wonder Friday, April 19, 12:15 pm at the First Unitarian Society, 900 University Bay Drive, Madison. The Black Marigold Woodwind Quintet (Elizabeth Marshall, Laura Medisky, Bethany Schultz, Kia Karlen and Cindy Cameron-Fix). The program includes works by Anton Reicha, Bill Douglas, Ligeti and Muczynski.. Friday, April 19, 7:30 pm (also Sunday, 4/21 at 4:30 pm) Farley’s House of Pianos, 6522 Seybold Road, Madison. Parry Karp (cello) and Eli Kallman (piano). The two-concert performance will feature works exclusively by Beethoven, including all the composer’s cello sonatas, as well as variations on works by Handel and Mozart. Each performance will include variations on a different theme from Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute. Sunday will also have variations on Handel’s oratorio Judas Maccabäus. Friday April 19 at 7:30 pm, Morphy Hall, 455 North Park Street, Madison. The Aletheia Duo.  Jonathan Keeble, flute, and Ann Yeung, harp. The program will include works by Stella Sung; Jennifer Higdon; Susann McDonald and Linda Wood Rollo; Howard Hanson; Stephen Andrew Taylor; Marcel Grandjany; and Witold Lutoslawski. ] “Aletheia” means truth – truth as it first reveals itself, free of any judgment, yet also implying sincerity. The Aletheia Duo presents works to the audience in such a way – as if the works performed have just been invented anew. As the Aletheia Duo, Jonathan Keeble and Ann Yeung share a passion for bringing the creative possibilities of the music of this time to their audiences. They have been performing together since 2002 – most recently in September 2012 at the Lake Como Festival in Italy and the Les muséiques Festival in Switzerland. Their collaborations have led them to venues in Asia, Europe, and throughout North America, include a critically acclaimed recording, Voyage: American Works for Flute and Harp on Albany Records, and their most recent recording for Albany Records, Song of the Black Swan: Works inspired by Nature that also features Claude Debussy’s Sonate with Masumi Per Rostad, violist of the Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet. Friday, April 19 at 8 pm (repeated Saturday 4/20 at 4 pm) in Mills Hall, 455 North Park St, Madison. The UW Madrigal Singers directed by Bruce Gladstone. Saturday, April ….

The WORT 89.9 FM Madison Area Classical Music Calendar for the Week Begining April 11. 2013 Compiled by Rich Samuels, Host of “Anything Goes”

04/10/13 4:19 PM | Rich Samuels

Thursday April 11, 8 pm at Mills Concert Hall, 455 North Park Street. Madison The Wisconsin Union Theater presentspPianist Jeremy Denk. Program includes Bartok, Liszt, Bach and Beethoven. The New York Times says that Jeremy Denk is “a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs, in whatever combination – both for his penetrating intellectual engagement with the music and for the generosity of his playing.” He regularly performs around the country, and this season he will be performing at Carnegie Hall’s Stearn Auditorium and London’s Wigmore Hall, playing concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, and Ravel. Denk also keeps a popular blog, cleverly titled Think Denk, a multivalent pun on his last name, invoking think tanks, and the German word denk which means “think!” Alex Ross of the New Yorker has said, “This is a voice that, effectively, could never have been heard before the advent of the Internet: sophisticated on the one hand, informal on the other, immediate in impact. Blogs such as this put a human face on an alien culture.” Denk writes beautifully about his mundane experiences and even absurd moments in music history, recently musing, “Richard Wagner had a fetish for silk underwear, for pink women’s panties. For God’s sake, he sent Nietzsche out to buy the underwear for him!” Friday, April 12, 12:15 at the First Unitarian Society, 900 University Drive, Madison. The Noon Musicale features Mozart’s Divertimento in E-flat, K. 563 for violin, viola & cello with Gene Purdue, Rami Solomonow & Tom Rosenberg. Friday April 12, 7:30 pm at Morphy Hall, 455 North Park Street, Madison. The UW Guest Artists Series presents Jennifer Nitchman, flute, and Thomas Kasdorf, piano. The program will include Perpetual Afternoon by Kristin Kuster (b. 1973); Four Songs by Martin Kennedy (b. 1978); Sonata for flute and piano by Paul Hindemith; and Suite des Trois Morceaux by Benjamin Godard. Jennifer Nitchman holds the position of Second Flute with the St. Louis Symphony. Ms. Nitchman is the winner of numerous competitions, including first prize in both the 2001 National Flute Association Young Artist Competition and the 1999 Flute Society of Washington Young Artist Competition. Prior to her appointment with the St. Louis Symphony, Ms. Nitchman was pursuing a Doctor of Music degree at Indiana University. She holds a master’s degree in flute performance from the UW-Madison School of Music. She has formerly held summer positions as Principal Flute of the Britt Festival Orchestra and member of the artist faculty at the Brevard Music Center. She previously held the position ….

Music Featured on the April 11, 2013 Edition of “Anything Goes” Hosted by Rich Samuels on WORT 89.9 FM Madison, Wisconsin

04/8/13 7:14 PM | Rich Samuels

5:09 am: Concerto in G Major for Two Flutes TWV 53:G1 by Georg Philipp Telemann. Performed by the Hanoverian Ensemble. 5:22 am: Capriccio No. 5 in G Major ZWV 190 by Jan Dismas Zelenka. Performed by the Virtuosi Saxoniae directed by Ludwig Guettler. 5:39 am: Concerto in D Minor BWV 974 after Alessandro Marcello by J.S. Bach. Performed by Alessio Bax. 5:51 am: Prelude and Fugue in C Minor, Op. 37 No. 1 by Felix Mendelssohn. Performed by John Raforth on the Organ of Madison’s Christ Presbyterian Church. 6:08 am: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor Op. 19 by Dmitri Kabalevsky. Peformed by the NDR Philharmonie, Eiji Oue, conductor. 6:41 am: Nemisis divina by Daniel Noertz with a text by botanist Carl Linnaeus. Performed by Michala Petri (recorder) and the Danish National Vocal Ensemble directed by Stephen Layton. 6:55 am: The Modern Mandolin Quartet plays the traditional American song “Shenandoah”. 7:08 am: Hymn to the Earth by Edward Joseph Collins. Performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Chorus with soloists Jeni Bern, Jane Irwin, Peter Aury and Henry Waddington. 7:47 am: Flutist Elizabeth Marsha;; and horn player Kia Karlen, members of the Black Marigold Woodwind Quintet, talk about their concert Saturday at Madison’s Grace Episcopal Church. 7:53 am:  Mark Hetzler (trombone), Jessica Johnson (piano) and Anthony di Sanza perform “Rebellion” by Stephen Rush.      

The WORT Madison, Wisconsin Area Classical Music Calendar for the Week Beginning April 4, 2013 Compiled by Rich Samuels, Host of “Anything Goes”

04/3/13 5:38 PM | Rich Samuels

Classical Music Calendar April 4 Friday April 5, 12:15 pm at the First Unitarian Society, 900 University Bay Drive, Madison. Folk Songs of the World with sopranos Susan Savage Day, Xianghua Han, Rebekah Demaree & pianist Sharon Jensen. Songs by Donizetti, Mahler, Ravel, Britten, Zheng Quifeng and Luobing, Liping & Xiren Wang. Friday, April 5, 7:30 pm (repeated Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 2:30 pm at Overture Center-Overture Hall, 201 State Street. The Madison Symphony Orchestra’s final concert for this season featuring violinist Naha Greenholtz  vocal soloists (soprano Alexandra LoBianco, tenor Harold Meers, and baritone Hugh Russell) and the Madison Symphony Orchestra Chorus. Ms. Greenholtz makes her debut with the MSO performing Medelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Also on the profram are selections from Handel’s oratorio “Solomon”, “The Bells” by Sergei Rachmaninoff  and “Toward the Unknown Region”, Ralph Vaugn Williams’ setting of poetry by Walt Whitman. Saturday, April 6, 8 am-5 pm at the UW-Extension Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street, Madison Madison Flute Club’s 10th annual event for players & enthusiasts. An all-day event with workshops, vendors, young artist competition, and concert featuring John Thorne, Associate Professor of Flute at Northwestern University. The concert takes place 5:30 pm, at Mills Hall. The program will include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart- Sonata in F Major, K.V.13; Franz Doppler- Hungarian Pastoral Fantasy, opus 26; Gabriel Faure- Morceau de Concours; Gabriel Faure- Apres Un Reve (transcription); and Georg Philipp Telemann- Sonata in f minor. Web: madisonfluteclub.org Saturday, April 6, 7 pm at St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church 6205 University Ave. , Madison . The Lyra Vocal Ensemble from St. Petersburg, Russia. LYRA, an a cappella group of five professional vocalists from St. Petersburg, Russia, will present a concert of Russian choral music at St. Dunstan’s Church on Saturday, April 6, at 7pm. The first part of the concert, sacred music of Russian Orthodox church, includes works of famous masters and little-known but remarkable Russian composers of the 18th through the 20th centuries. The second part of their program is made up of Russian folk songs: comic, lyric, dancing, love songs. Sunday, April 7, 12:30 pm at the Chazen Museum of Art-Brittingham Gallery III, 750 University Ave. , Madison. Sunday Afternoon Live presents the winners of the Neale-Silva Young Artists’ Competition. Sunday, April 7 Sunday, April 7, 4 pm, at Mills Hall. 455 North Park Street, Madison. University of Iowa, Center for New Music Ensemble performing works by UW Professor Laura Schwendinger, Grisey, Tutschku and Van Herck. The Center for New Music, a performance organization devoted to ….

Music Featured on the April 4, 2013 Edition of “Anything Goes” Hosted by Rich Samuels on WORT 89.9 FM Madison, Wisconsin

03/29/13 9:40 AM | Rich Samuels

5:09 am: The Hanoverian Ensemble performs the Concerto in A Minor for Two Flutes by Georg Phillipp Telemann 5:20 am: Alessio Bax, piano, performs the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor BWV 545 by J.S. Bach, arranged by Feruccio Busoni 5:31 am: The Virtuosi Saxoniae directed by Ludwig Guettler perform the Capriccio in G Major ZWV 183 by Jan Dismas Zelenka. 5:44 am: The Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra conducted by Karl Karl Münchinger performs the Six Part Ricercar from “The Musical Offering” by J.S. Bach. 5:54 am :John A. Raforth, organist of Christ Presbyterian Church, Madison , plays the Chorale Prelude “Liebster Jesu wir sind hier” BWV 731 by J.S. Bach. 5:59 am: Amy Haworth (soprano) and Trevor Stephenson (harpsichord) perform “Die Voegel” by Franz Schubert. 6: 08 am: Flutist Alexa Still and the New Zealand Chamber Orchestra led by Donald Armstrong perform the Concerto for Flute with String Orchestra by Jerome Moross. 6:40 am: The NDR Philharmonic directed by Eiji Oue performs the Symphony No. 1 in C sharp minor Op. 18 by Dmitri Kabalevsky. 7:08 am: Pianists John and Richard Contiguglia perform the Suite for Two Pianos Op. 4b by Bela Bartok. 7:42 am: The Musical Arts Woodwind Quartet perform “Five Frogs” by Jenni Brandon. 7:56 am: The Modern Mandolin Quartet performs a transcription of “Hoedown” from “Rodeo” by Aaron Copland.

The WORT 89.9 FM Madison Area Classical Music Calendar for the Week Beginning March 28, 2013 Compiled by Rich Samuels, Host of “Anything Goes”

03/28/13 5:20 AM | Rich Samuels

Friday, March 29, 7 pm at All Saints Lutheran Church, 2951 Chapel Way Drive, Fitchburg “At the Ninth Hour”, a Good Friday cantata by Allen Pote and Tom Long. Monday April 1, 7 pm at Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church, 7337 Hubbard Avenue, Middleton. The Gustavus Symphony Orchestra of Gustavus Adolphus College (Saint Peter, Minnesota) under the direction of Ruth Lin (a native of Zhang Zhou, China, trained at Northwestern University) The Symphony will perform two works by Mozart: Overture to Cosi fan Tutte followed by the Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola in Eb Major and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Op. 35. The Gustavus Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Professor Ruth Lin, is celebrating its 125th anniversary. The Symphony Orchestra has earned international acclaim and has performed in Great Britain, China, and South Africa. The Symphony has also been featured on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. Wednesday, April 3, noon at Luther Memorial Church, 1021 University Avenue, Madison. Organ concert featuring organist Bruce Bengston.

Music Featured on the March 28, 2013 Edition of “Anything Goes”, Hosted by Rich Samuels on WORT 89,9 FM, Madison Wisconsin

03/24/13 12:09 PM | Rich Samuels

  5:09 am: The Kyrie, Gloria and Credo from the “Missa Dei Patris” (1740) of Jan Dismas Zelenka. Performed by the Virtuosi Saxoniae directed by Ludwig Guettler. 6:08 am: The Sanctus and Agnus Dei from the “Missa Dei Patris of Jan Dismas Zelenka. 6:27 am: Sarabande in G Major from the French Suite No. 5 by Johann Sebastian Bach, recorded in Christ Presbyterian Church, Madison 6:38 am: Interview with Bruce Bengston, organist at Madison’s Luther Memorial Church, who performs the Prelude and Fugue in G Major BWV 541. 6:50 am: The world premier performance of Chen Yi’s “Faith and Perseverance” by the Gustavus Symphony under the direction of Ruth Lin. 7:08 am: Interview with composer Steven Bryant followed by a performance (recorded in Mills Hall 2/23/2013) of his “Concerto for Wind Ensemble” by the UW Madison Wind Ensemble conducted by Scott Teeple. 7:55 am: The “Biguine” (usually spelled “Beguine”) composed by Jerome Moross in 1938, performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by JoAnn Falletta.

The WORT 89.9 FM Madison Area Classical Music Calendar for the Week Beginning March 21, 2013 Compiled by Rich Samuels, Host of “Anything Goes”

03/19/13 1:25 PM | Rich Samuels

Thursday March 21 7:30 pm at Mills Hall, 455 North Park St., Madison The UW Madison Symphony Strings conducted by David Grandis. Music of George Bizet. Excerpt from L’Arlesienne. Selections from Les pecheurs de perles with soloists Jennifer D’Agostino, Daniel O’Dea and Michael Roemer. Friday, March 22, 12:15 pm at the First Unitarian Society, 900 University Bay Drive, Madison. Jaime Gusicafré, guitar. Friday March 22, 7 pm at River Arts on Water,590 Water St. , Prairie du Sac. The Camerata String Quartet. Friday March 32, 7 pm at Edgewood College-St. Joseph Chapel 1000 Edgewood College Drive, Madison. The Edgewood College Concert Band under the direction of Walter Rich. Along with other featured works, the band will perform Franz von Suppe’s Poet and Peasant Overture, Claude T. Smith’s Incidental Suite, and Brian Balmages’ Summer Dances. Admission is free. This event is presented as part of the Year of the Arts at Edgewood College, a celebration of music, theatre and art for 2012-2013. Supporters of our Year of the Arts programming include the Kohler Foundation, BMO Harris Bank, the Madison Arts Commission, with additional funds from the Wisconsin Arts Board, DANE Arts with additional funds from the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, Native Capital Investment, and the Ahrens-Washburn Community Fellows Program. Friday March 22, 7:30 pm at the First Unitarian Society, 900 University Bay Drive, Madison. The Dream Songs Project presents “We the People”. Guitarist Joseph Spoelstra and soprano AlyssaAnderson present folk-inspred music od Ameida, Beaser, Britten, Brahms, Foster and Seiber. Tickets at the door  or at brownpapertickets.com. Friday March 22, 8 pm at the Overture Center-Capitol Theater, 201 State St. , Madison. Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra with Anne Marie McDermott, piano. Mozart | Concerto No. 24 for Piano in C Minor, K. 491 Bruckner | Symphony in D Minor (Nullte, or Symphony Number Zero). Friday, March 22, 8 pm (repeated Saturday 3/23 at 8 p, and Sunday 3/24 at 2 pm) at Overture Center-Playhouse 201 State St. , Madison. Fresco Opera Theatre’s “The Real Divas of Dane County” This is the true story of opera singers… picked to live in a house… to have their lives taped… to find out what happens… when they exit the stage and get real. Call: 258-4141 Web: frescooperatheatre.com Friday March 22, 8 pm at the Electric Earth Cafe 546 W. Washington Ave. , Madison. AnyWhen Ensemble, Classical Revolution Madison Cooperative. Classical Revolution Madison Cooperative (CRM) presents the dynamic chamber-jazz quintet AnyWhen Ensemble in a double-bill concert at Electric Earth Cafe that includes the Madison premiere of Douglas ….

Music Featured on the March 21, 2013 Edition of “Anything Goes” Hosted by Rich Samuels on WORT 89.9 FM Madison, Wisconsin

03/19/13 1:25 PM | Rich Samuels

Note: This is an all-Bach broadcast airing on J.S. Bach’s 328th birthday. Performances by Madison area Bach enthusiasts predominate. 5:09 am: Olga Samaroff Stokowsi (a/k/a Lucy Hickenlooper) recorded in June, 1930 “Fugue from G Minor Prelude and Fugue BWV 578 5:12 am: The Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra conducted by Karl Karl Münchinger “Sections 1-12 of “The Musical Offering” (composed after a visit to Sans Souci in Potsdam in 1747)” 5:57 am: Samuel Hutchinson, organist and the Overture Concert Organ “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (from Cantta 147)” 6:08 am: Bruce Bengston, organist “Prelude: Ebarm Dich mein, O Herre Gott (God Have Mercy on Me) BWV 721” 6:14 am: Tim Adrianson, pianist “Prelude and Fugue in E Minor from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II” from Prelude and Fugue in E Minor from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II. 6:28 am:  Dennis Simonson (soprano saxophone) and Pete Ross (alto saxophone) “Three Duetti originally published for organ, BWV 802-802, beginning with No. 2” from Three Duetti originally published for organ, BWV 802-802. 6:48 am: The Isthmus Vocal Ensemble (introduced by Ena Foshay) “The motet Komm Jesu komm, BWV 229; and an excerpt from the motet “Jesu meine freude” BWV 227.” from The motet Komm Jesu komm, BWV 229; and an excerpt from the motet “Jesu meine freude” BWV 227. 7:08 am: Renee Farley (piano), Tim Farley (guitar), Shannon Farley (viola), Gregg Punswick (piano) “Three Bach selections performed by members of the Farley family” from Three Bach selections performed by members of the Farley family 7:21 am:  Trevor Stephenson, harpsichord “Selections from the Well Tempered Clavier, Book I” from Selections from the Well Tempered Clavier, Book I 07:40 am: Karlos Moser, piano “B minor Fugue from The Well Tempered Clavier Book I” from B minor Fugue from The Well Tempered Clavier Book I. 07:47 am: Kathy Otterson, mezzo soprano with Cindy Whip, violin, and Michael Keller, piano “Arias from Cantatas 75 and 129” from Arias from Cantatas 75 and 129. 7:55 am: Soprano Rachel Eve Holmes, oboist Kostas Tiliakos and pianist Tom Kasdorf perform the aria “Sich ueben im Lieben” from Cantata 202 (the “Wedding Cantata”).

Bach’s Birthday Promo

03/13/13 9:57 AM | Rich Samuels

  Here’s a link to the promo for my 5-8 am Bach’s Birthday broadcast of 3/21: Bach Birthday Promo. When the new window opens, you’ll have to click again on the highlighted “Bach Birthday Promo” text to open the mp3 player and listen to the promo.