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Latest Listeners’ Club Posts

André Previn’s “I Want Magic” from “A Streetcar Named Desire”: Renée Fleming April 10, 2026

I Want Magic is a key aria from the third act of André Previn’s 1995 opera, A Streetcar Named Desire. With a libretto by Philip Littell, the work, premiered by San Francisco Opera in 1998, is based on the play of the same name by Tennessee Williams. Renée Fleming appeared in the role of Blanche Dubois, a promiscuous, aging Southern belle w […]

Chopin’s Nocturne in B-flat Minor, Op. 9, No. 1: Jan Lisiecki April 8, 2026

Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki describes Chopin’s Nocturnes as intimate music one plays for oneself, alone at night. Born in Calgary to Polish immigrant parents, Lisiecki was invited to perform at the 2008 Chopin and His Europe Festival in Warsaw when he was 13. His affinity for the music is on display in a 2021 album of Chopin’s complete No […]

Dvořák’s String Sextet in A Major: A Walk Through Czech Lands April 6, 2026

After hearing Antonín Dvořák’s String Sextet in A Major, Op. 48 in 1941, conductor Václav Talich was overcome with the pure beauty of the work, exclaiming, “Beautiful musical ideas, a beautiful structure and a beautiful sound! God himself must have been walking the Czech Lands when his humble servant Dvořák bequeathed to us a work of such e […]

Bach’s “Sanfte soll mein Todeskummer”: An Easter Lullaby April 3, 2026

Sanfte soll mein Todeskummer (“Gentle shall be my contemplation of death”) is a sacred tenor aria from Bach’s Easter Oratorio, BWV 249. Sung by Simon Peter following the discovering of the empty tomb of Christ, it is a serene reflection on death as a peaceful slumber. Accompanied by recorders, with their pastoral connotations, the aria unfo […]

Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major, “Jeunehomme”: Dramatic Surprises April 1, 2026

Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major, K. 271 is revolutionary music filled with dramatic surprises. It has been called “one of the greatest wonders of the world” (Alfred Brendel), “perhaps the first unequivocal masterpiece of the classical style” (Charles Rosen), “Mozart’s Eroica” (Alfred Einstein), and the concerto in which “Mozar […]

Purcell’s “Sound the Trumpet”: Celebratory Music for a Royal Birthday March 30, 2026

In the festive countertenor duet, Sound the Trumpet, English Baroque composer Henry Purcell (1659-1695) did not use actual trumpets. Instead, he called upon the singers to imitate the regal, antiphonal calls of these “instruments of joy.” First performed in April of 1694, this music is part of Come Ye Sons of Art, Z.323, the Ode for Queen M […]

Andy Akiho’s “Pentalateral I”: Sandbox Percussion March 27, 2026

The music of American composer Andy Akiho (b. 1979) is infused with the sounds of the Caribbean. Based in Portland, Oregon and New York City, Akiho is a virtuoso percussionist whose primary instrument is the steelpan, a drum developed in Trinidad and Tobago in the 1930s. According to his biography, As a pannist, Akiho has a deeply physical […]